Samsung Starts Mass Production of 0.64um Pixel Sensor

BusinessWire: Samsung announces mass production of its first 0.64μm pixel sensor, the 1/2.76-inch 50MP JN1. The JN1 employs ISOCELL 2.0 technology with added enhancements that improve light sensitivity by around 16%. For low-light environments, the sensor utilizes Samsung’s four-to-one pixel binning technology, Tetrapixel, which merges four adjacent 0.64μm pixels into one 1.28μm pixel for brighter 12.5MP photographs.

For enhanced DR, the  JN1 comes with Smart-ISO, a technology that changes the conversion gain based on the environment’s illumination level. Using Smart-ISO, the JN1 also offers inter-scene HDR in mixed-light settings for optimum exposure levels derived from two separate readouts, from Low and High ISOs, that are merged to create a final image.

For faster auto-focus, the JN1 integrates improved Double Super PD. The previous Super PD technology used specially designed oval-shaped micro-lenses over two adjacent pixels arranged side by side to detect phases. Double Super PD features twice the density of pixels (1/16) used for phase detection than Super PD (1/32), enabling the same auto-focus performance in environments with about 60% less illumination levels. For smooth videos, the image sensor supports up to 4K resolution video recording at 60fps or full HD at 240fps.

The Samsung ISOCELL JN1 is currently in mass production. The announcement is accompanied by a 15-min long video presentation: