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Wednesday, July 29, 2020

e2v Unveils ToF Image Sensor

Teledyne e2v introduces Hydra3D, an 832 x 600 pixel resolution ToF CMOS sensor. Hydra3D is based on a 10µm three-tap pixel.




Update: GlobeNewswire: Ha Lan Do Thu, Marketing Manager for 3D imaging at Teledyne e2v says, “We are very pleased to announce our newest Time-of-Flight sensor, the first multi-tap high resolution sensor in the market. Our partnership with Tower allows us to provide customers with the highest level of 3D performance, including uncompromised image quality in both 2D and 3D mode, in all operation conditions.

Hydra3D comes with an evaluation kit (Hydra3D EK), enabling customers to evaluate the sensor in multiple application setups. The kit includes a compact 2/3-inch optical format calibrated module, which includes a light source for near infrared illumination and an optic. Two versions will be available targeted at performing the Time-of-Flight principle at short-range distances (up to 5 metres) or mid-range distances (up to 10 metres) and with a field-of-view of 60° x 45° or a field of view of 40° x 30°, while capturing real-time 3D information at a full resolution.

Rafael Romay, VP of Professional Imaging at Teledyne e2v, says: “The great technology innovation and partnership with Tower has been key in the development of this innovative new ToF image sensor, helping us to bring to market this best-in-class solution.

Avi Strum, SVP and GM of Sensors and Display BU at Tower, added “We are very excited about the release of Hydra3D. Our strong partnership with Teledyne e2v goes back more than 15 years and many of their state-of-the-art products are manufactured by Tower. The Hydra3D ToF product is aligned well with Tower’s strategic investment in the ToF market. We look forward to many other Teledyne e2v products utilizing our world class CIS technology.

Samples will be available in August 2020 and evaluation kits will be available in September 2020.

5 comments:

  1. wavelength, QE, modulation contrast?

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  2. QE is given to 18.4% at 940nm. Modulation contrast is not given - charge transfer claimed to take longer than 20ns. So modulation contrast will be degraded at ~50 MHz

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  3. Read noise is super low, and flexibility in timing are far superior to other vendors, at cost of $ and having to develop a pretty complex back-end interface (FPGA). If you look at datasheet (you have to request from them), you can see it'll be great for very long range light-starved pulsed TOF applications vs eg. Sony/Melexis TOF which are designed for 50% duty cycle modulation & shorter ranges, but with simpler standardized interfaces (MIPI). Noise levels are similar to latest Sony consumer BSI sensors (not TOF), i.e. few e-. We evaluated a prior version (Onyx) that had only 1 charge storage capacitor per pixel and had longer minimum gating, so couldn't do effective (for us) ambient light subtraction (on-chip). That sensor had some spatial gain variation/fixed pattern noise, but was very low temporal noise & impressive. The variation could be easily fixed in post-processing, but we lacked the time to do so during the evaluation. The Hydra can do some flatfield correction on-chip.

    I'm still waiting for an OEM camera developer to do the heavy lifting of making an OEM camera out of the Hydra3D sensor, with some standard computer interface and API. You can get eval kit$$ from Teledyne.

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