Imec SWIR Plans

 Imec has updated its page on SWIR imagers, including a new Vimeo video:

The Pixel Technology Explore activity is looking at two methods for cost-effective uncooled IR detection:

1. thin film on silicon – Materials such as organic and colloidal quantum dots offer low-cost synthesis, compatibility with a variety of substrates and processing feasibility on a large area. This article gives you an in-depth view.
2. hybrid infrared imagers – Both III-V hetero-epitaxy on silicon and III-V material transfer on silicon are compatible with processing in a silicon wafer fab and reduce the manufacturing costs of IR sensors.

Luminar CTO Explains Major Advantages of InGaAs Sensors in LiDARs

Luminar co-founder and CTO Jason Eichenholz discusses the company’s acquisition of its exclusive InGaAs sensor provider and advantages of the SWIR LiDAR photon budget:

SiLC Unveils First Commercial-grade FMCW LiDAR

BusinessWire: SiLC launches the new Eyeonic LiDAR providing accurate instantaneous depth, velocity, and dual-polarization intensity information while enabling immunity to multi-user and environmental interference. No performance data has been released.

“Eyeonic will be transformational to many industries across the globe by enabling the anticipated mass migration to coherent imaging,” explained Mehdi Asghari, founder and CEO, SiLC. “Our unique technology and innovative manufacturing process puts SiLC in the optimal position to provide the key building blocks needed for this next wave of significant innovation – at a competitive price.”

MIPI D-PHY Introduction

MIPI publishes a video introduction into different D-PHY standards:

Canon to Start Mass Production of Low-Light SPAD Sensor for Security Cameras in 2022, Builds New CIS Fab in 2023

Nikkei-Asia: Canon plans to start mass-production of the 3.2MP SPAD sensor for security cameras in 2022. The sensor is said to provide a color night vision, as well as ToF feature:

"The sensor can recognize light at one-tenth the brightness conventional sensors need, lending itself to a range of industrial applications such as driving and surveillance.

The number of pixels in a sensor is key to image clarity, and Canon's SPAD sensor boasts 3.2 million, making it the world's densest, more than three times the number of the company's conventional sensor. It can recognize the time of light returning in units of less than a nanosecond, allowing for more accurate object recognition.

Canon's factory in Kawasaki will begin mass-producing the new sensor in the second half of 2022. The company plans to install the sensors in its own security cameras that it is to introduce by the end of next year. It will also market the sensors to other companies.

In 2023, Canon will invest more than 21 billion yen ($185 million) to build a new image sensor plant in the Kanagawa Prefecture city of Hiratsuka, where it plans to gradually increase production of the sensor. The sensor can be made with the production technology used for CMOS sensors and at around the same cost."

Update: Few slides from the company's 2020 presentation:

Sony SPAD Presentation

Sony Technology Day features SPAD sensor presentation:

Sony SWIR Presentation

Lucid Vision presents its SWIR camera based on Sony SenSWIR InGaAs stacked sensor:

Q3 Smartphone Sensor Shipments Drop by 24% YoY

Aiji Micro App: According to Qunzhi Consulting’s (English name Sigmaintell) market report, global smartphone CIS shipments in Q3 2021 were approximately 1.21B, a YoY decline of approximately 24.0%. Qunzhi Consulting estimates that global smartphone image sensor shipments in 2021 will be approximately 5.05B, a YoY decrease of 10.3%:

Samsung, DxOMark, and Counterpoint on Mobile Camera Innovations and Trends

Tecno Mobile publishes a webinar "Mobile Camera Trends 2022: Innovation Talk:"

Among other things, Samsung presents a 64MP GWB mobile sensor:

Sony SenSWIR White Paper

Sony publishes a white paper promoting its InGaAs SWIR sensors: