Kodak CMOS Sales Start in 2H 2009

Seeking Alpha publishes Kodak Q3 2008 earning call transcript. One of the questions adresses CMOS image sensor sales targets:

Joan Lappin - Gramercy Capital:

So when do you think that significant sales of these CMOS sensors could -- I thought the original target was the second half of next year. Are we able to stick with that target as to when the CMOS sensors start to become a revenue and earnings contributor? Or must we--

Antonio Perez, CEO:

That is the target that we put for ourselves for a significant increase in volume. And that still is the target, Joan.

Joan Lappin - Gramercy Capital:

Okay. So you haven't had to -- no alterations in that.

Antonio Perez:

No.

---

To me this sounds like Joan is a bit skeptical about Kodak being able to achieve its sales target.

Pixelplus Q3 2008 Results

Yahoo: Pixelplus revenue for the Q3 of 2008 was $3.7M, compared to $3.1M in Q2 2008, and $3.9M in Q3 2007. Net loss in Q3 2008 was $2.9M, compared to a net loss of $2.3M in Q2 2008, and a net loss of $1.2M in Q3 2007. Gross margin for Q3 2008 was 15.3%, compared to 4.9% in Q2 2008.

The company sold approximately 7.4M image sensors in Q3 2008, which represents an increase of about 0.3M units from its sale of around 7.1M units in Q2 2008.

Pixelplus CEO and President S.K. Lee says: "The economic slowdown in China had a negative impact on our business in the third quarter, and this impact was much greater and broader than we had ever imagined. In response to the unprecedented financial turmoil arising from the Global Financial Crisis and the severe economic burden this has placed on the Asian economies, we continue to adapt to unfavorable market conditions."

Cypress-Fillfactory Celebrates 100th Cusom Design

Yahoo: Cypress-Fillfactory announced that it has completed its 100th custom CMOS image sensor design.

Cypress’s portfolio of applications includes industrial and medical x-ray imaging, endoscopy, machine vision, star tracking and remote sensing for space, barcode readers, biometrics, high-speed line sensors and high-speed motion analysis sensors. The company designed sensors for Vision Research, Toshiba Teli, Micro Imaging, ARRI Gmbh, along with more than forty other custom-sensor customers.

Sony Image Sensors Profit Declined

Tech-On: Sony announced its financial results for Q2 (July to September) of FY2008. Its operating income plunged 90.1% on year over year basis. Image sensors were cited as one of the fields where income declined more than the average.

ST and Vistec Reveal Their Color Filter Monitoring System

Semiconductor International: ST talks about its method for optical inline monitoring of colorization effects on CMOS image sensors in its fab.

Typical defects in the manufacturing process are streaks on the color filter array. They occur after liquid processes, mainly after resist spin-coating steps. A new, automatic and fast optical inspection method for colorization effects was developed by Vistec Semiconductor Systems in collaboration with ST. The successful detection of colorization problems became possible by using an automated macro defect inspection system (Vistec LDS3200) with a combined microscope module and special optimized analysis software. The tool scans a wafer in less than 6 minutes and delivers the inspection result for the full wafer.

Micron Imaging Business Lost $31M in FY2008

Micron just published its FY2008 10-K form. Micron confirms that Aptina already operates as a separate entity: "We are exploring partnering arrangements with outside parties regarding the separation of our Aptina Imaging business to an independent entity in which we would retain a significant minority ownership interest. To that end, we began operating our Imaging business as a separate, wholly-owned, subsidiary in October 2008."

Some noteworthy numbers reported:

• Image sensor sales were $653M, $687M and $749M in 2008, 2007 and 2006 respectively.
• Imaging products represent 11%, 12% and 14% of Micron’s total net sales in 2008, 2007 and 2006 respectively.
• Imaging operation's gross margins were 28%, 34% and 43% in 2008, 2007 and 2006 respectively.
• Imaging R&D expenses were $144M, $158M and $82M in 2008, 2007 and 2006 respectively.
• Imaging business loss was $31M in FY2008, vs income $8M in 2007 and income $153M in 2006
• Aptina quarterly loss in Q4 2008 was $4M vs Q3'08 income $3M

Melexis Announces Automotive HDR Sensor

Melexis announces MLX75307 sensor primarily intended for automotive front vision applications, like Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), high beam assist and night vision. The 750x400 pixel sensor is said to have up to 128dB DR.

Production of the MLX75307 sensor is scheduled for 2009.

EETimes on Magnachip CIS Decision

EETimes comes with a post-mortem article on Magnachip exiting image sensor business. Nothing new is there, just re-iteration that the company is in a difficult cash position and it has no choice but to make the hard decisions.

Digitimes also repeats the same info. These reports are mostly based on Magnachip announcement of its Q3'08 results (Yahoo).

RIT Team to Develop Photon Counting Sensor

Democrat and Chronicle: Donald Figer and his colleagues at Rochester Institute of Technology got $2.8M grant to develop a light detector that would count individual photons for astronomy applications.

Current technology uses sensors that can be triggered by electronic "noise" within the electronic device itself, resulting in a grainy, speckled image, especially in low-light conditions.

"In our detector we're doing something radically different. Each photon of light is being counted," said Figer, director of the Rochester Imaging Detector Laboratory at RIT's Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science.

Panasonic Develops 3D CCD Range Sensor

Tech-On: Panasonic has developed a 3D range sensor that uses a CCD and can be used at 100,000lux illumination. The range sensor irradiates a signal light on the measurement target and observes the reflected light. In extremely bright ambient light such as direct sunlight, the CCD sensor is saturated with only the ambient light, making it almost impossible to detect the signal light.

In the new sensor, the electric charge corresponding to that generated by the ambient light is removed from the charge generated in the photosensitive unit so that only the charge generated by the reflected light remains. I assume it uses some sort of fast gating to minimize the stray ambient light influence. The 3D CCD resolution is 16x120.