ISSCC 2021: Albert Theuwissen Delivers Plenary Presentation

Albert Theuwissen delivers Plenary presentation "There’s More to the Picture Than Meets the Eye (and in the future it will become only much more)"

"Over the last five decades, solid-state imaging has gone through a difficult “childhood”, changing technology during its “adolescence”, and finally growing up to become a mature, “adult” that can compete with the human visual system when it comes to image quality.

State-of-the-art mobile devices enjoyed by consumers, rely on a multi-disciplinary mixture of analog electronics, digital circuits, mixed signal design, optical know-how, device physics, semiconductor technology, and algorithm development. As a result, CMOS image sensors utilized in today’s mobile phones come close to perfection as far as imaging characteristics are concerned. However, this does not mean that further developments in the field are no longer necessary. On the contrary, new technologies and new materials are opening up new dimensions and new applications which complement the classical imaging functionality of sensors.

This trend will ultimately convert the image sensor landscape from image capturing to smart vision. Consequently, the future of solid-state imaging will not only revolve around the shooting of beautiful images, as the market driver will no longer be limited only to mobile phones."