SeekingAlpha: ST updates on its Q2 imaging business results:
"During Q2, we had at least an Imaging sensor and/or a MEMS device in all of the top 10 smartphones currently on this market. We also continue to earn design wins and ramp shipments for our time-of-flight sensor, analog products and RF products for 4G front-end modules.
Clearly, in Q2, the performance of growth which was higher than the midpoint of our range is mainly related to specialized imaging product.
Well, about specialized imaging also, again, I will not comment on our competitor, but I will comment, okay, the visibility we have and what ST is doing. Well, it is clear that you know that ST is a key player in the 3D sensing for the face recognition. Since 2017 second half, the unique foolproof technology is based on what we call structured light where ST is a key player, and we are still, let's say, growing in this kind of application.
In parallel, components in the smartphone, there is clearly some other components like ambient licensing or, let's say, Time-of-Flight based proximity sensor or autofocus assist or ranging sensor. And clearly, okay, I repeat that we have accumulated a huge volume in this Time-of-Flight and we continue. That's the reason why, as I told you, in the top 10 smartphones on the market today, we have either a special imaging sensor, including this Time-of-Flight or a MEMS sensor. Also, we disclosed to you during the recent quarter that now ST is important player on imaging licensing on the smartphone or, let's say, other wearable application. Now in term of trend of the industry, it is clearly that one trend we are seeing is introduction of indirect Time-of-Flight for the world-facing camera first, which certainly will be, let's say, a future competitive solution to address the depth map sensing. Now ST here, I confirm to you that we have a very strong road map with a very competitive and high-performing product that we will deliver to the market, whatever in iOS or Android phone. So, this is, let's say, the dynamic specific to ST we have on this application for the smartphone.
I confirm to you that we are in competition -- for the time, you have only one unique solution for face recognition 3D sensing, it is the structured light. The other, let's say, architecture in term of system are, let's say, less foolproof. Well -- and again, this is what we confirmed. We said to the Capital Market Day and we know that in the near future, certainly, architecture like structured light improved and indirect Time-of-Flight will be in competition. ST addressed the two technology architecture. And for sure, certainly, Sony is more addressing the indirect Time-of-Flight kind of architecture, and we will be in competition. But we do not see, let's say, dramatic or material change in the dynamic for the short term."
...for the time being, the structured light for the front-facing is a technology, okay, again, since H2 2017 and certainly will continue for a while. As we disclosed to you, we do believe that at a certain moment of time, indirect Time-of-Flight base architecture will certainly come up on this kind of application. Presently, as far as the performance is, let's say, consistent with the structured light. Presently, okay, some advantages in form factor or something like that. Well, this trend, okay, is confirmed and ST will compete overall on both architecture. And then you know that as, let's say, generic trend for semiconductor, the challenge will be always to reduce the form factor to improve the sector offering and to reduce the cost of ownership.
Then on the world-facing, it is clear that indirect Time-of-Flight based solution will be certainly the winning architecture. And again, okay, here, you will see maybe this year and certainly next year introduction of this kind of technology. For the short term, I mean this year, it is not revenue for ST, but we are offering a solution for 2020 and beyond and we will be a key competitor in this market. Now then other competitors like ambient licensing or, let's say, ranging sensor based on direct Time-of-Flight will continue as the RGB camera will have more and more pixel and you need to have to focus assist and this kind of stuff. So, no major change, no change compared to what we said at Capital Market Day."
Thursday, July 25, 2019
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Image Sensor Americas Agenda
Image Sensors Americas conference to be held on October 15-16, 2019 in San Jose, CA announces its agenda. Naturally, a good part of it is image sensor presentations:
- Towards Large-Scale, SPAD-Based ToF Imagers for Automotive, Robotic and EdgeAI Applications
Wade Appelman | VP of Sales and Marketing of SensL Technologies - CMOS Image Sensors for Bio-medical, Industrial and Scientific Applications: Current Challenges and Perspectives
Renato Turchetta | CEO of IMASENIC Advanced Imaging S.L. - Near Field Depth Generation From a Single Image Sensor
Paul Gallagher | Vice-President of Strategic Marketing of Airy3D - Ge-on-Si ToF Imager Sensor SoC
Neil Na | Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Artilux - Imaging Sensors and Systems for a Genomics Revolution
Tracy Fung | Sr. Staff Engineer, Product Development CMOS Lead of Illumina - Far-Infrared thermal camera an effortless solution for improving ADAS detection robustness
Emmanuel Bercier | Strategy and Automotive Market Manager of ULIS-SOFRADIR
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
TechInsights' State of the Art of Smartphone Imagers Review - Part 3
Techinsights' posts "The state of the art of smartphone imagers" are based on Ray Fontaine presentation at IISW 2019 in June. Part 3 covers "Back-Illuminated Active Si Thickness, Deep Trench Isolation (DTI)."
"DTI was first introduced to back-illuminated pixels with conventional or slightly thicker active Si, and then optimized to enable substantially thicker active Si over time. For example, DTI came to early 1.0 µm pixels with a 2.5 µm to 2.7 µm active Si thickness and later enabled active Si up to 3.9 µm thick. Studying the 0.8 µm and 0.9 µm pixel generations it is clear an active Si thickness of >3.5 µm was selected to achieve sufficient pixel performance."
"DTI was first introduced to back-illuminated pixels with conventional or slightly thicker active Si, and then optimized to enable substantially thicker active Si over time. For example, DTI came to early 1.0 µm pixels with a 2.5 µm to 2.7 µm active Si thickness and later enabled active Si up to 3.9 µm thick. Studying the 0.8 µm and 0.9 µm pixel generations it is clear an active Si thickness of >3.5 µm was selected to achieve sufficient pixel performance."
2013 Review of 3D Cameras
Not much has changed since 2013 when Nova Science Publishes unveiled a book with chapter of 3D imaging "A Review on Commercial Solid State 3D Cameras for Machine Vision." The review talks about PMD, MESA, Raytrix, TriDiCam, Fotonic, and Sick approaches:
Monday, July 22, 2019
Verge of CFA Diversity Era?
MDPI paper "The Effect of the Color Filter Array Layout Choice on State-of-the-Art Demosaicing" by Ana Stojkovic, Ivana Shopovska, Hiep Luong, Jan Aelterman, Ljubomir Jovanov, and Wilfried Philips from Ghent University, Belgium comes up with an interesting statement:
"In this study, by comparing performance of two state-of-the-art generic algorithms, we evaluate the potential of modern CFA-demosaicing. We test the hypothesis that, with the increasing power of NN-based demosaicing, the influence of optimal CFA design on system performance decreases. This hypothesis is supported with the experimental results. Such a finding would herald the possibility of relaxing CFA requirements, providing more freedom in the CFA design choice and producing high-quality cameras.
From this study, we derive a conclusion about the constantly increasing reconstruction power of the modern learning based demosaicing algorithms towards adaptiveness to any CFA design without loss in the reconstruction quality (which used to be dependent on the quality of the CFA design). This conclusion leads to a finding regarding the future opportunities for camera manufacturing and image reconstruction, specifically in combining lower hardware requirements with powerful reconstruction techniques. In other words, this means that, with the modern learning-based demosaicing methods, camera manufacturers have more freedom in the choice of the CFA pattern layout, without a noticeable loss in the image quality. In that direction, the patterns can be adapted to improve other image properties and facilitate various imaging tasks, such as the Quad Bayer that was designed to improve noise reduction in low-light imaging."
"In this study, by comparing performance of two state-of-the-art generic algorithms, we evaluate the potential of modern CFA-demosaicing. We test the hypothesis that, with the increasing power of NN-based demosaicing, the influence of optimal CFA design on system performance decreases. This hypothesis is supported with the experimental results. Such a finding would herald the possibility of relaxing CFA requirements, providing more freedom in the CFA design choice and producing high-quality cameras.
From this study, we derive a conclusion about the constantly increasing reconstruction power of the modern learning based demosaicing algorithms towards adaptiveness to any CFA design without loss in the reconstruction quality (which used to be dependent on the quality of the CFA design). This conclusion leads to a finding regarding the future opportunities for camera manufacturing and image reconstruction, specifically in combining lower hardware requirements with powerful reconstruction techniques. In other words, this means that, with the modern learning-based demosaicing methods, camera manufacturers have more freedom in the choice of the CFA pattern layout, without a noticeable loss in the image quality. In that direction, the patterns can be adapted to improve other image properties and facilitate various imaging tasks, such as the Quad Bayer that was designed to improve noise reduction in low-light imaging."
SmartSens Launches Two Industrial Grade Sensors - SC2310T and SC4210T
PRNewswire: SmartSens announced two new CMOS sensors SC2310T and SC4210T with unique pixel architecture to deliver superior low-light sensitivity and HDR of 100db, combined with industrial temperature range from -30C to 85C.
The new product are said to be leading the market with SNR1s of 0.21 lux. The 2MP SC2310T and 4MP SC4210T SmartClarity Sensors are based on 3um BSI pixel technology and support video capture in 60 fps in HDR mode.
"Over the last nine years, we have built a rich portfolio of imaging sensors used in electronics and hardware products, including sports cameras, drones, robot cleaners, consumer automotive cameras, surveillance and smart home cameras. With the growing demand for superior quality imaging sensors outside of traditional consumer applications, SC2310T and SC4210T will extend our product line for our customers," said Chris Yiu, CMO, SmartSens. "The ability to deliver unparalleled image quality in extreme lighting conditions, and being able to operate under critical environmental temperature ranges, makes the devices an attractive choice for next-generation catch-all video applications."
SC2310T and SC4210T are currently available for sampling and are expected to enter volume production in July.
The new product are said to be leading the market with SNR1s of 0.21 lux. The 2MP SC2310T and 4MP SC4210T SmartClarity Sensors are based on 3um BSI pixel technology and support video capture in 60 fps in HDR mode.
"Over the last nine years, we have built a rich portfolio of imaging sensors used in electronics and hardware products, including sports cameras, drones, robot cleaners, consumer automotive cameras, surveillance and smart home cameras. With the growing demand for superior quality imaging sensors outside of traditional consumer applications, SC2310T and SC4210T will extend our product line for our customers," said Chris Yiu, CMO, SmartSens. "The ability to deliver unparalleled image quality in extreme lighting conditions, and being able to operate under critical environmental temperature ranges, makes the devices an attractive choice for next-generation catch-all video applications."
SC2310T and SC4210T are currently available for sampling and are expected to enter volume production in July.
Rumor on 5 New Sony Full Frame Sensors
Sony E-Mount Rumors publishes what it calls "leaked datasheets" of 5 full-frame CMOS sensors: IMX311, IMX313, IMX409, IMX521, IMX554. The most unusual one is IMX311 having 45-deg angled pixels. Note that the resolution of ~12,000 x ~4,000 of square pixels does not have the same aspect ratio as the optical format 41mm x 30mm, possibly due to 45 angle:
IMX521 is a high speed sensor with quad CFA:
IMX521 is a high speed sensor with quad CFA:
Depth Sensing in Automotive Applications
First part of RSIP webinar series on automotive AI talks about ways to sense depth in ADAS and autonomous driving applications:
Sunday, July 21, 2019
ToF News: Broadcom, Renesas, Opnous
ToF market becomes rather crowded. Many companies enter it anticipating a fast growth.
Broadcom AFBR-S50MV85G is APD pixel-based distance and motion measurement ToF sensor. It supports up to 3000 frames per second with up to 16 illuminated pixels. The sensor is aimed to industrial applications and gesture sensing and is said to have best-in-class ambient light suppression of up to 200k Lux. So, the use in outside environments should not be a problem.
Features:
Renesas ISL29501 (Intersil) ToF processor external emitter and detector. The sensor operates on i-ToF in-phase/out-phase priciple:
Shanghai, China-based Opnous offers a number of ToF sensors with different resolutions:
Broadcom AFBR-S50MV85G is APD pixel-based distance and motion measurement ToF sensor. It supports up to 3000 frames per second with up to 16 illuminated pixels. The sensor is aimed to industrial applications and gesture sensing and is said to have best-in-class ambient light suppression of up to 200k Lux. So, the use in outside environments should not be a problem.
Features:
- Integrated 850 nm laser light source
- Between 7-16 illuminated pixels
- FoV of up to 12.4°x 6.2°
- Very fast measurement rates of up to 3 kHz
- Variable distance range up to 10m
- Operation up to 200k Lux ambient light
- Works well on all surface conditions
- Laser Class 1 eye safe ready
- Accuracy better than 1%
- Drop-in compatible within the AFBR-S50 sensor platform
Renesas ISL29501 (Intersil) ToF processor external emitter and detector. The sensor operates on i-ToF in-phase/out-phase priciple:
Shanghai, China-based Opnous offers a number of ToF sensors with different resolutions:
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