i-Micronews: Steve Jobs announced that the next generation iPhone 4 will have 5MP BSI sensor based on 1.75um pixels. The sensor also supports 720p/30fps HD video.
CNet speculates that the sensor is made by Sony, and that HD video in iPhone can affect Cisco Flip camcorder sales.
Monday, June 07, 2010
Omnivision Launches 5MP 1.4um BSI SoC
PR Newswire: Omnivision introduced a complete 5MP SOC camera solution aimed at the high-volume AF camera phone market. Built on OmniVision's 1.4-micron OmniBSI technology, the new OV5640 is optimized to offer a cost-effective, complete camera solution for still photography and 720p/60fps or 1080p/30fps HD video in camera phones. The 720p/60 HD video is captured in full field of view with 2 x 2 binning. Additionally, a unique post-binning re-sampling filter function removes zigzag artifacts around slant edges and minimizes spatial artifacts to deliver even sharper, crisper color images.
"Industry analysts predict that one-third of mobile phones will employ cameras with 5-megapixel resolution by 2012. Consequently, there is an increasing need for performance worthy of a 5-megapixel camera at cost levels that meet the requirements of the mainstream market," explained Vinoo Margasahayam, product marketing manager for OmniVision.
The OV5640 is available in CSP, RW and COB packaging options and is sampling now. It is expected to enter mass production in the second half of 2010.
"Industry analysts predict that one-third of mobile phones will employ cameras with 5-megapixel resolution by 2012. Consequently, there is an increasing need for performance worthy of a 5-megapixel camera at cost levels that meet the requirements of the mainstream market," explained Vinoo Margasahayam, product marketing manager for OmniVision.
The OV5640 is available in CSP, RW and COB packaging options and is sampling now. It is expected to enter mass production in the second half of 2010.
Qualcomm Makes Strategic Investment in Anteryon
PRNewswire: Qualcomm makes a strategic investment in Anteryon as part of its European investment fund. Qualcomm Ventures Europe is leading this round, with BNP Paribas Private Equity and Biggell Finance participating as existing shareholders, and Quest for Growth, a Belgium-based investment fund, also as a new investor. Terms of the investment have not been disclosed.
Anteryon's WaferOptics product portfolio is ranging from VGA to 5MP, and manufacturing facilities in Eindhoven and China that produce millions of WaferOptics lens stacks monthly at an extremely high yield for several top-tier mobile phone manufacturers around the globe.
"This new investment will enable us to boost our worldwide manufacturing facilities, including extension of the facilities in Eindhoven and the set up of a new state of the art production facility in the Far East. In order to meet the high-volume market demand, we will also investigate additional ways of scaling our business, such as partnering with other players in the supply chain and/or licensing our technology," said Gert Jan Bloks, CEO of Anteryon.
Anteryon's WaferOptics product portfolio is ranging from VGA to 5MP, and manufacturing facilities in Eindhoven and China that produce millions of WaferOptics lens stacks monthly at an extremely high yield for several top-tier mobile phone manufacturers around the globe.
"This new investment will enable us to boost our worldwide manufacturing facilities, including extension of the facilities in Eindhoven and the set up of a new state of the art production facility in the Far East. In order to meet the high-volume market demand, we will also investigate additional ways of scaling our business, such as partnering with other players in the supply chain and/or licensing our technology," said Gert Jan Bloks, CEO of Anteryon.
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Omnivision BSI in HTC EVO 4G
Chipworks reverse engineering revealed the 8MP Omnivision BSI sensor in one of the first WiMax mobile phones HTC EVO 4G, launched by Sprint just few days ago. The sensor's pixel size is 1.4um and Chipworks published its cross-section:
The phone also contains a second camera equipped by a more conventional Omnivision 1.3MP FSI sensor.
The phone also contains a second camera equipped by a more conventional Omnivision 1.3MP FSI sensor.
Friday, June 04, 2010
OptoPAC Technology Presentation
OptoPAC kindly sent me an interesting presentation describing NeoPAC packaging. The 62 slides in the presentation are too many to publish here, I tried to select the most interesting ones (click on them for a bigger picture):
NeoPAC advantages are said to be:
NeoPAC Keyi Advantages:
NeoPAC Lens-On-Glass (LOG) module:
Precisely assembled NeoPAC No-Focus Module (N2M):
NeoPAC AF module with 1/4-inch 3MP 1.75um sensor (S5K4CDGX):
Thanks to Peter Elenius for sending me the presentation!
- AdvantagesCSP –Low mass, Thin, and Small
- Excellent co-planarity between Image Sensor and Glass( << 5μm )
- Minimal Shift and Rotation in Image sensor( << 5μm )
- Peripheral area allows for direct lens holder attachment (suitable for LOG module)
- Optimal co-planarity between sensor and lens through LOG structure
- NeoPAC RED does not need separate IR filter glass, improves transmittance and reduces module height
- Cost effective no focus module using NeoPAC RED and LOG structure
- Minimal tilt between sensor and lens leads to excellent resolution in AF module
- Excellent electrical and thermal performance through flip chip solder joint technologySimpler camera module process and better reliability / quality vs. Chip-On-Board (COB)
- Proven image sensor package for the mobile market
• Leading solution with 20M/month shipping to China
- Contamination is possible through air vent
• No issue with good assembly process control
• Issue at a limited number of assemblers but needed to be addressed - Removal and re-use of package requires placement of new solder balls
• OptoPAC provides a re-balling service in its Shenzhen office - Board level reliability for TC and/or bending without using underfill
• Required for reflowable mobile, PC cam, and automotive camera module
NeoPAC Keyi Advantages:
- With NeoPAC Keyi there is no possibility of contamination during:
• IPA glass cleaning,
• Solder reflow,
• Side fill and holder attach. - Board level reliability with polymer core balls significantly improved
• Drop, Bending and Thermal Cycle testing passed without using underfill
–Competitive CSPs and TSV based products required underfill to pass same tests
NeoPAC Lens-On-Glass (LOG) module:
Precisely assembled NeoPAC No-Focus Module (N2M):
NeoPAC AF module with 1/4-inch 3MP 1.75um sensor (S5K4CDGX):
Thanks to Peter Elenius for sending me the presentation!
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Aptina Announces 1.9um Pixel HD Video Sensor
Business Wire: Aptina launched the MT9M114 720P/30fps HD video SoC. The new Aptina 1/6-inch SoC enables low profile camera modules to easily meet thin sub-4mm height specifications and is able to deliver 60fps when summing in VGA mode. The sensor is targeted to netbooks, notebooks, monitors, televisions, and other applications using embedded web cameras. The sensors’s 1.9um pixel rivals the performance of a 3.6um pixel.
The SOC provides a unique perspective correction feature to reduce the need for physical camera position adjustment. It also features weighted average exposure, adaptive backlighting, and 3CCM Auto White Balance.
The MT9M114 is available in CSP packaging and is presently sampling with availability in mass production in calendar Q3 2010.
The SOC provides a unique perspective correction feature to reduce the need for physical camera position adjustment. It also features weighted average exposure, adaptive backlighting, and 3CCM Auto White Balance.
The MT9M114 is available in CSP packaging and is presently sampling with availability in mass production in calendar Q3 2010.
Cypress Introduces 25MP 53fps Global Shutter Sensor
Business Wire, EETimes: Cypress 25MP VITA 25K 53fps sensor claims to offer the market's highest throughput for a device with a pipelined and triggered global shutter. The sensor has 32 10-bit LVDS outputs, each runs at a 620 Mbps, which results in a high frame rate of 53fps at full 25MP resolution. The sensor is intended for high-end machine vision applications, such as inspection machines; biometric inspection, such as next-generation palm print readers; and intelligent traffic systems.
The VITA 25K sensor has 5120 x 5120 active pixels with 4.5um pixel size. The sensor's datasheet gives few more details: The pixel fill factor is 80% and FF x QE is 52% at 550nm. FPN is 0.5%rms of the full scale. PRNU is 2%. Dark current is 133e/s at 25C. The power dissipation is 2.5W out of a triple supply (1.8V, 3.3V and 4.5V). Its ADC has 10 bit resolution.
The sensor offers a 35-mm optical format with monochrome or color digital output. Samples of the VITA 25K image sensor are currently available, with production devices expected in the first half of 2011.
The VITA 25K sensor has 5120 x 5120 active pixels with 4.5um pixel size. The sensor's datasheet gives few more details: The pixel fill factor is 80% and FF x QE is 52% at 550nm. FPN is 0.5%rms of the full scale. PRNU is 2%. Dark current is 133e/s at 25C. The power dissipation is 2.5W out of a triple supply (1.8V, 3.3V and 4.5V). Its ADC has 10 bit resolution.
The sensor offers a 35-mm optical format with monochrome or color digital output. Samples of the VITA 25K image sensor are currently available, with production devices expected in the first half of 2011.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Aptina History on Youtube
Aptina published a short video on its history on Youtube. Among other things, the video talks about Eric Fossum role, as it's seen from Aptina side:
Update: Eric Fossum wrote few historical remarks about JPL and Photobit times in comments. I'm copying them below:
This video was initiated by NASA's Hallmarks of Success project to document various successful tech transfer stories. The main tech transfer path was JPL->Photobit->Micron->Aptina so that is why Aptina features so prominently.
Roger Panicacci was a key chip design engineer in our group at JPL, a founding member of Photobit, and now a big honcho at Aptina and it was great to see him in this video (hey Roger!).
Besides Roger and me, the B&W JPL photo also shows Bob Nixon (retired), Barmak Mansoorian (now President of Forza Silicon), Bedabrata Pain (at JPL until recently - now in the Bollywood business), Orly Yadid-Pecht (now a Prof. in Calgary, I think), and others. Missing are team members Suni Mendis, Sabrina Kemeny, Junichi Nakamura (a Distinguished Visiting Scientist at JPL) and also Marty Agan who was a communications engineer at JPL and worked with us on a miniature wireless camera. I am sure I am forgetting other people known to readers of this blog and sorry about that.
I was not involved much at all in the making of this video and I can't say the video is 100% accurate, esp. as it is not aimed at image sensor technologists. It would have been good if it had mentioned other companies that licensed the technology directly from Caltech or indirectly through Photobit. And of course, APS was named by Tsutomu Nakamura of Olympus, and "3T APS" imagers (as they are now called) were around since the late 60's. What we claimed for inventions are spelled out in the claims of the actual issued patents but this would be way too much detail for this video.
At the time, in the early 1990's, CCDs were the indisputable king of imaging technology. The power dissipation of CCDs and associated electronics were enormous, and for space missions, CCD cameras were very bulky, power hungry, and prone to all kinds of failures. But their performance was/is extraordinary.
Our goal was to come up with a miniaturized scientific-quality image sensor technology that would maintain the performance but allow miniaturization. At that time, almost everyone (and I refer to the establishment of CCD guys) thought putting an ADC on chip was a BAD idea, much less integrating timing and control circuits, drivers, or digital processing. So, a CMOS based camera-on-a-chip (meaning camera electronics) was a radical idea. I did not know at that time of the notable work going on in Edinburgh or Sweden - but those efforts were definitely not geared towards image quality - they were geared towards low cost and minimal imaging quality (and in Linkoping, speed). They all used what I subsequently termed passive pixels to distinquish them from APS. (This was also what VVL and Omnivision used when they went into business. The Edinburgh and Linkoping teams definitely were part of making this whole camera-on-a-chip technology become ubiquitous today.
Anyway, after showing promising performance with intra-pixel charge transfer APS (first with MOS photogate and then JFET photogate (Pinned PD) with Kodak under tech transfer agreement) we launched Photobit because industry was moving at the speed of a snail. We also found that 3T APS worked pretty well for webcams and other applications and dropped the photogate approach for a few years until we could find someone who would make it in a timely way (Photobit continued to work with Kodak but that was sooo slow that it was dead before you knew it).
Update: Eric Fossum wrote few historical remarks about JPL and Photobit times in comments. I'm copying them below:
This video was initiated by NASA's Hallmarks of Success project to document various successful tech transfer stories. The main tech transfer path was JPL->Photobit->Micron->Aptina so that is why Aptina features so prominently.
Roger Panicacci was a key chip design engineer in our group at JPL, a founding member of Photobit, and now a big honcho at Aptina and it was great to see him in this video (hey Roger!).
Besides Roger and me, the B&W JPL photo also shows Bob Nixon (retired), Barmak Mansoorian (now President of Forza Silicon), Bedabrata Pain (at JPL until recently - now in the Bollywood business), Orly Yadid-Pecht (now a Prof. in Calgary, I think), and others. Missing are team members Suni Mendis, Sabrina Kemeny, Junichi Nakamura (a Distinguished Visiting Scientist at JPL) and also Marty Agan who was a communications engineer at JPL and worked with us on a miniature wireless camera. I am sure I am forgetting other people known to readers of this blog and sorry about that.
I was not involved much at all in the making of this video and I can't say the video is 100% accurate, esp. as it is not aimed at image sensor technologists. It would have been good if it had mentioned other companies that licensed the technology directly from Caltech or indirectly through Photobit. And of course, APS was named by Tsutomu Nakamura of Olympus, and "3T APS" imagers (as they are now called) were around since the late 60's. What we claimed for inventions are spelled out in the claims of the actual issued patents but this would be way too much detail for this video.
At the time, in the early 1990's, CCDs were the indisputable king of imaging technology. The power dissipation of CCDs and associated electronics were enormous, and for space missions, CCD cameras were very bulky, power hungry, and prone to all kinds of failures. But their performance was/is extraordinary.
Our goal was to come up with a miniaturized scientific-quality image sensor technology that would maintain the performance but allow miniaturization. At that time, almost everyone (and I refer to the establishment of CCD guys) thought putting an ADC on chip was a BAD idea, much less integrating timing and control circuits, drivers, or digital processing. So, a CMOS based camera-on-a-chip (meaning camera electronics) was a radical idea. I did not know at that time of the notable work going on in Edinburgh or Sweden - but those efforts were definitely not geared towards image quality - they were geared towards low cost and minimal imaging quality (and in Linkoping, speed). They all used what I subsequently termed passive pixels to distinquish them from APS. (This was also what VVL and Omnivision used when they went into business. The Edinburgh and Linkoping teams definitely were part of making this whole camera-on-a-chip technology become ubiquitous today.
Anyway, after showing promising performance with intra-pixel charge transfer APS (first with MOS photogate and then JFET photogate (Pinned PD) with Kodak under tech transfer agreement) we launched Photobit because industry was moving at the speed of a snail. We also found that 3T APS worked pretty well for webcams and other applications and dropped the photogate approach for a few years until we could find someone who would make it in a timely way (Photobit continued to work with Kodak but that was sooo slow that it was dead before you knew it).
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
PTC Articles Continue
Albert Theuwissen continues PTC article series, with recent post starting to discuss various effects of light. The previous articles mailny dealt with effects in the dark.
Panasonic Announces D-IMager, a 3D ToF Imager
Business Wire: Panasonic announced the release of its new time-of-flight 3D image sensor, the D-IMager. The sensor is aimed at various gesture control applications, such as out-of-home entertainment, immersive multi-media, interactive digital signage and video arcade games. Panasonic has a web site devoted to the new D-IMager, including a video with many ideas for 3D sensor applications.
One thing I like about D-Imager is that Panasonic is quite open in publishing its spec. The sensor is capable of resolving 160x120 pixels at 20 fps (standard mode) or 30 fps (optional) and is available with a USB2.0 interface. Its viewing angle is 60deg horizontally and 44deg vertically. Its range is from 1.2m to 9m. The sensor is said to be able to work in wide range of lighting conditions, including outdoor at less than 20,000Lux. The depth resolution is from 3cm (max) at 0Lux illumination to 14cm at 20,000Lux. The power is supplied from 18V DC supply with 0.4A avarage current consumption.
The sensor's design is intended to blend with TV displays:
One thing I like about D-Imager is that Panasonic is quite open in publishing its spec. The sensor is capable of resolving 160x120 pixels at 20 fps (standard mode) or 30 fps (optional) and is available with a USB2.0 interface. Its viewing angle is 60deg horizontally and 44deg vertically. Its range is from 1.2m to 9m. The sensor is said to be able to work in wide range of lighting conditions, including outdoor at less than 20,000Lux. The depth resolution is from 3cm (max) at 0Lux illumination to 14cm at 20,000Lux. The power is supplied from 18V DC supply with 0.4A avarage current consumption.
The sensor's design is intended to blend with TV displays:
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