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In this webinar replay, we first explore the role of single-photon detectors in advancing quantum technologies, with a focus on superconducting nanowire detectors (SNSPDs) and the benefits they offer for quantum computing and high-speed quantum communication.

After which, we discuss the evolving needs of the field and describe IDQ’s user-focused detector solutions, including our innovative photon-number-resolving (PNR) SNSPDs and our new rack-mountable SNSPD system. We show real-world experiments that have already benefited from the outstanding performances of our detectors, including an enhanced heralded single-photon source and high key-rate QKD implementation.

Finally, we conclude with our vision on the future of single-photon detection for quantum information and networking, and the exciting possibilities this can unlock.

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The 2024 International SPAD Sensor Workshop is happening this week in Trento, Italy. Full program is available here: https://issw2024.fbk.eu/program

Talks:

Posters:

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From PR Newswire: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/db-hitek-advances-global-shutter-and-spad-302157652.html

DB HiTek Advances Global Shutter and SPAD

SEOUL, South Korea, June 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- DB HiTek, a leading foundry specialist in South Korea, is enhancing its global shutter and single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) process technologies, which are highly utilized in the automotive, industrial, robotics, and medical fields, to expand its specialized image sensor business.

The global shutter is a sensor that captures images of fast-moving objects without distortion. The demand for global shutters is rapidly increasing in various fields, including machine vision, automotive, drones, robotics, and medical devices, with an expected annual average market growth rate of 16% from 2022 to 2029.

DB HiTek's 7 Tr charge domain global shutter achieves PLS≥35,000 at 5.6 um pixels using light shield and light guide technologies and supports various sizes down to a minimum of 2.8 um pixels (PLS≥10,000).

Parasitic light sensitivity (PLS) is a concept indicating sensitivity to light, and a PLS of 10,000 or higher demonstrates a shutter efficiency level significantly high enough to achieve a light detection rate of 99.99% (with a noise occurrence rate of less than one in 10,000).

DB HiTek's 6 Tr charge domain global shutter has secured PLS ≥10,000 and a memory dark current ≤20e/s at 60C in the 2.8 μm pixel. This process is expected to be completed and provided to customers by the end of this year.

SPAD is an ultra-high-sensitivity 3D image sensor that detects weak light signals at the particle level. It has high precision and allows for long-distance measurement, making it a key component in implementing future advanced technologies such as autonomous vehicles, AR/VR devices, robotics, and smartphones.

DB HiTek's second-generation SPAD process, utilizing a backside scattering technology (BST) and backside deep trench isolation (BDTI) in a BSI structure, achieves an advanced technological level with a photon detection probability of 15.8% at a wavelength of 940 nm. In addition, it ensures improved quality by securing a dark current rate (DCR) performance equivalent to 0.69 cps/um2, corresponding to the dark current of a typical CIS.

Building on the upgraded global shutter and second-generation SPAD process, DB HiTek plans to actively support fabless customers in expanding their specialized image sensor business.
A DB HiTek official said, "Currently, our company is collaborating with leading global companies in the United States, Europe, China, Japan, and other regions to develop products," adding, "We plan to enhance customer support by providing services such as customized processes, TDK for pixel development simulations, as well as multi-layer mask (MLM)."

Meanwhile, DB HiTek has recently expanded its X-ray CIS business by successfully developing products in collaboration with a leading medical sensor specialist in Europe. It is reported that the advanced quality and yield characteristics lead positive response from the customer, and the company will expand its business into the manufacturing sector following the medical field.

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From Yahoo Finance news: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/finance/news/tsmc-sells-shares-optical-sensor-015509757.html?guccounter=1

TSMC Sells Shares in Optical Sensor Unit Before Planned Spinoff

(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. sold shares in VisEra Technologies Co. before a planned initial public offering of the image sensor provider.

Taiwan’s largest chipmaker sold 38 million shares in VisEra at NT$240 ($8.60) apiece, cutting its stake in the company to 73.9%, according to a filing to the Taiwan stock exchange Tuesday. It sold the stock to 17 investors, including Fidelity International, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte and domestic institutions Cathay Life Insurance Co. and Fubon Life Insurance Co.

The transaction was to facilitate a proposed listing of VisEra in Taiwan, TSMC said in the filing without providing further details.

TSMC set up VisEra in 2003 together with Santa Clara, California-based OmniVision Technologies Inc. before buying out its partner in 2015. The company is now seeking to spin off the unit just as a boom in semiconductor demand drives a surge in prices of chipmakers and other companies that supply to the industry. TSMC’s shares have nearly doubled over the past 12 months, making it the world’s 10th most valuable company at about $589 billion.

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A recent video from GalaxyCore discusses their single wafer CIS arguing against the need for 3D stacking for higher resolution:

GalaxyCore's innovative single-wafer, high-resolution CMOS image sensor solution solves the problem of incompatibility between logic circuits and pixel technology through FPPI process and unique circuit architecture. Without the need for stacking, this advancement reduces silicon usage while maintaining performance equivalent to stacked CIS. The world's first 32-megapixel single-wafer CIS is already in mass production, and the 50-megapixel CIS has also been unveiled.

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XMC CIS Technology Platform [https://www.xmcwh.com/en/site/nor_flash]

XMC builds a full-loop & one-stop CIS (CMOS Image Sensor) technology platform. XMC has mass production capability of high-performance, low-power image sensor products. This technology can be widely used in smartphones, automotive electronics, machine vision, professional imaging and other market segments.

TrendForce News: https://www.trendforce.com/news/2024/05/15/news-xmc-initiates-ipo-plan-potentially-becoming-chinas-first-hbm-foundry/

(Also on DigiTimes Asia, but paywalled: https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20240514PD200/xmc-ipo-china-foundry-market.html)

 XMC initiates IPO in Chinese competitive foundry market

NOR Flash manufacturer Wuhan Xinxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (XMC) recently disclosed an IPO counseling filing with the Hubei Securities Regulatory Bureau, according to the official website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Its recently announced bidding project may indicate its ambition to become China’s first HBM foundry, according to the report by Chinese media Semi Insights.

As per information from its website, XMC provides 12-inch foundry services for NOR Flash, CIS, and Logic applications with processes of 40 nanometers and above. Originally a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC), XMC announced in March its first external financing round, increasing its registered capital from approximately CNY 5.782 billion to about CNY 8.479 billion. Its IPO counseling filing also indicates that it is still majority-owned by YMTC, with a shareholding ratio of 68.1937%.

According to market sources cited in the same report, XMC’s initiation of external financing and IPO plan is primarily aimed at supporting the significant expansion during a crucial development phase for YMTC. Given the substantial scale of YMTC, completing an IPO within three years poses challenges. Therefore, XMC was chosen as the IPO entity to enhance financing channels.

It is noteworthy that XMC also announced its latest bidding project on HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) – related advanced packaging technology R&D and production line construction, according to local media.

The project indicates the company’s capability to apply three-dimensional integrated multi-wafer stacking technology to develop domestically produced HBM products with higher capacity, greater bandwidth, lower power consumption, and higher production efficiency. With plans to add 16 sets of equipment, XMC’s latest project aims to achieve a monthly output capacity of over 3000 wafers (12 inches), showing its ambition of becoming China’s first HBM foundry.

On December 3, 2018, XMC announced the successful development of its three-dimensional wafer stacking technology based on its three-dimensional integration technology platform. This marks a significant advancement for the company in the field of three-dimensional integration technology, enabling higher density and more complex chip integration.

Currently, XMC has made much progress in the research and development of three-dimensional integrated multi-wafer stacking technology, which has been evident in the successful development of three-wafer stacking technology, the application of three-dimensional integration technology in back-illuminated image sensors, advancements in HBM technology research and industrialization efforts, as well as breakthroughs in the 3D NAND project.

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Luxima Technology

Arcadia, California, USA     Career page link

Junior position - Analog Design Engineer

Senior position - Staff Analog Design Engineer 

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Title: Excellent Responsivity and Low Dark Current Obtained with Metal-Assisted Chemical Etched Si Photodiode

Author: Kexun Chen, Olli E. Setälä, Xiaolong Liu, Behrad Radfar, Toni P. Pasanen, Michael D. Serué, Juha Heinonen, Hele Savin, Ville Vähänissi

Affiliation: Aalto University, Finland

Abstract: Metal-assisted chemical etched (MACE, also known as MacEtch or MCCE) nanostructures are utilized widely in the solar cell industry due to their excellent optical properties combined with a simple and cost-efficient fabrication process. The photodetection community, on the other hand, has not shown much interest towards MACE due to its drawbacks including insufficient surface passivation, increased junction recombination, and possible metal contamination, which are especially detrimental to pn-photodiodes. Here, we aim to change this by demonstrating how to fabricate high-performance MACE pn-photodiodes with above 90% external quantum efficiency (EQE) without external bias voltage at 200–1000 nm and dark current less than 3 nA/cm2 at −5 V using industrially applicable methods. The key is to utilize an induced junction created by an atomic layer deposited highly charged Al2O3 thin film that simultaneously provides efficient field-effect passivation and full conformality over the MACE nanostructures. Achieving close to ideal performance demonstrates the vast potential of MACE nanostructures in the fabrication of high-performance low-cost pn-photodiodes.

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Prophesee collaborates with AMD to deliver industry-first Event-based Vision solution running on leading, FPGA-based AMD Kria™ KV260 Vision AI Starter Kit

Developers can now take full advantage of Prophesee Event-based Metavision® sensor and AI
performance, power, and speed to create the next generation of Edge AI machine vision applications
running on AMD platforms.

PARIS - May 6, 2024 –Prophesee SA, inventor of the world’s most advanced neuromorphic vision systems, today announced that its Event-based Metavision HD sensor and AI are now available for use with the AMD Kria ™ KV260 Vision AI Starter Kit, creating a powerful and efficient combination to accelerate the development of advanced Edge machine vision applications. It marks the industry’s first Event-based Vision development kit compatible with an AMD platform, providing customers a platform to both evaluate and go to production with an industrial-grade solution for target applications such as smart city and machine vision, security cameras, retail analytics, and many others.

The development platform for the AMD Kria™ K26 System-on-Module (SOM), the KV260 Vision AI starter kit is built for advanced vision application development without requiring complex hardware design knowledge or FPGA programming skills. AMD Kria SOMs for edge AI applications provide a production-ready, energy-efficient FPGA-based device with enough I/O to speed up vision and robotics tasks at an affordable price point. Combined with the Prophesee breakthrough Event-based vision technology, machine vision system developers can leverage the lower latency and lower power capabilities of the Metavision platform to experiment and create more efficient, and in many cases not previously possible, applications compared to traditional frame-based vision sensing approaches.

A breakthrough plug-and-play Active Markers Tracking application is included in this kit. It allows for >1,000Hz 3D pose estimation, with complete background rejection at pixel level while providing extreme robustness to challenging lighting conditions.

This application highlights unique features of Prophesee’s Event-based Metavision technologies, enabling a new range of ultra high-speed tracking use cases such as game controller tracking, construction site safety, heavy load anti-sway systems and many more.

Multiple additional ready-to-use application algorithms will be made available over the coming months.

The Prophesee Starter Kit provides an ‘out of the box’ development solution to quickly get up and running with the Prophesee Metavision SDK and IMX636 HD Event-based sensor realized in collaboration between Prophesee and Sony, allowing easy porting of algorithms to the AMD commercial and industrial-grade system-on-module (SOMs) powered by the custom-built Zynq™ UltraScale+™ multiprocessing SoC.

The new, Prophesee-enabled Kria KV260 AI Starter Kit will be on display at Automate 2024 in
Prophesee’s booth 3452

“The ever-expanding Kria ecosystem helps make motion capture, connectivity, and edge AI applications more accessible to roboticists and developers,” said Chetan Khona, senior director of Industrial, Vision, Healthcare and Sciences Markets, AMD. “Prophesee Event-based Vision offers unique advantages for machine vision applications. Its low data consumption translates into efficient energy consumption, less compute and memory needed, and fast response times.”

“It’s never been easier to develop Event-based Edge applications with this combination of development aids from AMD and Prophesee,” said Luca Verre, co-founder and CEO of Prophesee. “We are providing everything needed to take complete advantage of the lower power processing and low latency performance inherent in Event-based Vision, as well as provide an environment to optimize machine vision system based on specific KPIs for customer-defined applications and use cases. This will further accelerate the adoption of Event-based Vision in key market segments that can benefit from Metavision’s unique advantages.”

https://www.prophesee.ai/event-based-metavision-amd-kria-starter-kit-imx636/

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Can we make photosensitive pixels from Copper Oxide? Youtuber "Breaking Taps" answers: