Silicon Photodiode QE Extended to 80% due to Surface Plasmon Resonance

OptoIQ: In a paper to be presented on the upcoming IEDM a team led by the National Nano Device Laboratories (Hsinchu, Taiwan) will report an external QE of >80% for photodiodes in the visible range. The QE extension was achieved by harnessing a local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect "due to self-accumulated local electric field in these corners" of a metal pattern on top of the photodiode. Each pattern has a period of 2.4µm and unit area of 1.44µm2.

Aptina Presents HDR Demo Video

Aptina uploaded a nice Youtube presentation video showing the need in HDR imaging and performance of its MT9V022 VGA sensor:

Omnivision Announces 1/10-inch Sensor for Endoscopy

PR Newswire: Omnivision announced a start of mass production of the ultra-compact 1/10-inch OV6930 sensor with a packaged footprint of only 1.8 x 1.8 mm. It is targeted to serve a broad range of medical endoscopy applications, including bronchoscopy, colonoscopy, gastroscopy, OB/GYN and urology, and can facilitate development of medical devices that require an outside diameter under 2.6 mm.

The OV6930 relies on OmniPixel3-HS pixel with low-light performance of 3300 mV/lux-sec and is capable of operating up to 30fps in 400 x 400 HVGA or 60 fps in 400 x 200 resolution. The sensor allows cabling up to 14 ft.

OmniVision also announced OV6930 design wins for two new medical device modules from Hong Kong based COMedia, Ltd. The OV6930 is now shipping in volume to multiple customers.

Advasense Offers Low-Noise Sensor IP

Advasense is now offering low-noise image sensor IP blocks coming from its CIS technology.

Two basic families of IP are offered:

1. FCP IP for small pixels of 1.1u and with high FWC that is said to pave the way to small pixels

2. CDS (4T) Readout and ADC with very low read noise for 4T pixel designs:

The ADVA004 CDS based Readout Pipeline is said to have the lowest temporal noise in the industry of 40uV. The design is compact and low power. The Readout (RO) Pipeline can be connected to any 4T pixel array.

ADVA004 Key Parameters:

• Readout noise level is 40uV
• Column level ADC- 2nd order sigma delta,
  12bit resolution (scalable via decimation filter length),
  Conversion time is less than 2us.
• Easily connected to any 4T pixel array
• Soft IP Block or Hard IP block

The ADC and CDS Readout are also offered as separate blocks ADVA002 and ADVA003 respectively. Advasense is already working with several companies and probably license them its IP.

Thanks to A.G. for sending me the link!

Image Sensors at ISSCC 2011

ISSCC 2011 advance program has been published and, as always, has a lot of interesting image sensor content:

Session 23 - Image Sensors

23.1 An 80μVrms-Temporal-Noise 82dB-Dynamic-Range CMOS Image Sensor with a 13-to-19b Variable-Resolution Column-Parallel Folding-Integration/Cyclic ADC,
Shizuoka University; Brookman Technology; Sanei Hytechs

80uV noise is an excellent number. However, 19db ADC seems to be an overkill for the stated DR of 82dB.

23.2 A Sub-Electron Readout Noise CMOS Image Sensor with Pixel-Level Open-Loop Voltage Amplification,
Heliotis; CSEM; EPFL

23.3 A 320×256 90dB SNR and 25μm-Pixel-Pitch Infrared Image Sensor,
CEA-LETI-MINATEC; Sofradir

23.4 A 16 Mfps 165kpixel Backside-Illuminated CCD,
Kinki University; DALSA PI; University of Arizona; NHK Science and Technical Laboratories

23.5 A 300mm Wafer-Size CMOS Image Sensor with In-Pixel Voltage-Gain Amplifier and Column-Level Differential Readout Circuitry,
Canon

23.6 A 128×96 Pixel Event-Driven Phase-Domain ΔΣ-Based Fully Digital 3D Camera in 0.13μm CMOS Imaging Technology,
University of Edinburgh; STMicroelectronics

23.7 An Angle-Sensitive CMOS Imager for Single-Sensor 3D Photography,
Cornell University

Seems that many groups work on single-lens 3D cameras.

23.8 A 1/13-inch 30fps VGA SoC CMOS Image Sensor with Shared Reset and Transfer-Gate Pixel Control,
Aptina Imaging

23.9 A 1/2.33-inch 14.6M 1.4μm-Pixel Backside-Illuminated CMOS Image Sensor with Floating Diffusion Boosting,
Samsung Electronics; Samsung Semiconductor

23.10 An APS-C Format 14b Digital CMOS Image Sensor with a Dynamic Response Pixel,
Aptina Imaging

23.11 A 17.7Mpixel 120fps CMOS Image Sensor with 34.8Gb/s Readout,
Sony; Sony LSI Design

- Sony steadily increases speed of its sensors. Just at this year ISSCC Sony presented 10MP/50fps sensor and now there is a new advance.

Session 6 - Sensors & Energy Harvesting

6.6 Indirect X-ray Photon-Counting Image Sensor with 27T Pixel and 15erms Accurate Threshold,
Caeleste; Vrije Universiteit Brussel

6.7 A 1.32pW/frame∙pixel 1.2V CMOS Energy-Harvesting and Imaging (EHI) APS Imager,
University of Idaho

There is also a forum on "CMOS Image Sensors for 3D Capture" and Jed Hurwitz tutorial on "Layout — The Other Half of Nanometer Analog Design".

Caeleste and SensL Present SPAD Ranging Array

Cealeste published its recent SPIE presentation on SPAD ranging array with nice explanations of its operation and measurement results. The presentation itself is a continuation of one from a year ago. The summary page shows impressive performance level:

CCD Romantic Story

Electronics Weekly: David Manners wrote a sentimental story about Kazuo Iwama, Sony's president in 1976-1982.

In 1973 as a deputy president he ordered Sony to start developing CCD for a consumer video camera.

The development was much more difficult than anyone had imagined. The project dragged on, and on. At every board meeting Iwama was asked: "When are you going to get a return on the investment in CCD?" His invariable response was: "Maybe not while I'm alive."

In 1985 Sony produced the first camcorder using a CCD and it was a huge success.

Iwama had died in 1982. In Iwama's granite tombstone there is embedded a CCD.

Sony CCD history is digested here.

Tessera Imaging & Optics Head Replaced

Tessera appointed John Keating as interim EVP of Imaging & Optics, reporting directly to Tessera's Chairman and CEO Henry Nothhaft. Keating has been with Tessera since 2003, and is the company's SVP of Corporate Development. He replaces Michael Bereziuk, who is leaving the company for personal reasons.

Small Camera Modules Review

OptoIQ published a popular review of camera module technologies: wafer-scale optics integration, multi-layer TSV integration inside module and traditional camera modules.

AWAIBA 250x250-pixel NanEye for medical applications

Primesense 3D Sensing Portion of Kinect Costs $17

EETimes quotes UBM TechInsights' reverse engineering of Microsoft Kinect revealing that of the roughly $56 BOM, about $17 is attributed to the cost of the PrimeSense 3D sensing reference system. Microsoft is planning to retail the Kinect system for $149, and stands to make a healthy profit on each unit, UBM TechInsights said.

17$ 3D system BOM is a tough target to meet for TOF camp.