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A group of researches from China Hangzhou Dianzi University publishes their theoretical RTN noise model in the paper "Modeling random telegraph signal noise in CMOS image sensor under low light based on binomial distribution" by Yu Zhang, Xinmiao Lu, Guangyi Wang, Yongcai Hu, and Jiangtao Xu in Chinese Physics B Journal Vol. 25, No. 7 (2016). The paper describes a theoretical model and announces the plans to verify some of its predictions in a future experiment:

"the long channel device has the longer tail in the RTS noise histogram when the density of the oxide trap is high, while the short channel device has the longer tail in the RTS noise histogram in the case of low oxide trap density. The simulation results also illustrate that the longer tail in the RTS noise histogram will appear at the high environmental temperature if the device dimension and the density of the oxide trap are fixed."

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BidnessEtc: Pacific Crest believes that ADAS is ON Semi's future growth drive. ON Semi is said to have a 70% share in the automotive image sensor sector and a three-year design-win visibility. Pacific Crest projects that this could drive the company’s image sensor over 3x to $28 per vehicle in next three years, which may lead to better earnings.

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Sony updates its Semiconductor Business flyer with the new data, mostly in line with the previously announced ones. Ex-Toshiba Oita fab that Sony intended to use for non-imaging products, is now listed as the one that is fully devoted to CMOS sensors:

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Lenovo Phab 2 Pro Tango-enabled smartphone features PMD-Infineon ToF Sensor. PMD put together a nice Youtube playlist with the product videos.



“Through the Tango-enabled PHAB2 Pro, we are opening a complete new era of mobile applications”, says Hua Zhang, VP, Lenovo Android and Chrome Computing Business Group.

“This is just the beginning of a journey and we are really proud to contributing our unique technology to Project Tango and this great new Lenovo product. We believe that with the miniaturization of depth sensing for mobile device integration, while staying extremely robust and efficient, we have broken a barrier, which will make our 3D ToF cameras as common as conventional cameras in the next years,” says Bernd Buxbaum, CEO of pmd.

“It was a long journey, and this remarkable success became possible due to the very intense cooperation between pmd and Infineon technically as well as businesswise,” adds Jochen Penne, Director Business Development at pmd.

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New Scale Technologies has increased the lifetime specification for its M3-FS Focus Module and M3-LS Linear Smart Stage to greater than 10 million random moves within 1.2 km of total distance traveled.

The lifetime specification of >10 million moves is a 10x improvement and is based on months of performance testing, in which standard M3-FS modules achieved more than 56 million movements of approximately 21 µm each for a total distance moved of 1.2 kilometers, with no performance reduction or sign of failure at teardown. Testing conditions included vertical motion and a 10g load. Actual performance will depend on the application and use case.

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Tokyo Institute of Technology announces 3rd International Workshop on Image Sensors and Imaging Systems (IWISS2016) to be held on Nov. 17-18, 2016 at Tamachi Campus. The Workship is accepting approximately 20 poster papers. Submission of papers for the poster presentation starts in September, and the deadline is on September 23, 2016.
The preliminary list of invited presentations is impressive:

• Ion implantation technology for image sensors
  Nobukazu Teranishi, Genshu Fuse, and Michiro Sugitani,
  Shizuoka Univ./ Univ. of Hyogo, Sumitomo, Heavy Industries Ion Technology Co., Ltd., Japan)
• 3D-stacking architecture for low-noise high-speed image sensors
  Shoji Kawahito,
  Shizuoka Univ., Japan
• A Dead-time free global shutter stacked CMOS image sensor with in-pixel LOFIC and ADC using pixel-wise connections
  Rihito Kuroda, Hidetake Sugo, Shunichi Wakashima, and Shigetoshi Sugawa,
  Tohoku Univ., Japan
• 3D stacked image sensor featuring low noise inductive coupling channels
  Masayuki Ikebe, Daisuke Uchida, Yasuhiro Take, Tetsuya Asai, Tadahiro Kuroda, and Masato Motomura,
  Hokkaido Univ., Keio Univ., Japan
• Low-noise CMOS image sensors towards single-photon detection
  Min-Woong Seo, Keiichiro Kagawa, Keita Yasutomi, and Shoji Kawahito,
  Shizuoka Univ., Japan
• Bioluminescence imaging in living animals
  Takahiro Kuchimaru, Tetsuya Kadonosono, Shinae Kizaka-Kondoh,
  Tokyo Inst. of Tech., Japan
• Restoration of a Poissonian-Gaussian color moving-image sequence
  Takahiro Saito and Takashi Komatsu,
  Kanagawa Univ., Japan
• Always-on CMOS image sensor: energy-efficient circuits and architecture
  Jaehyuk Choi,
  Sungkyunkwan Univ., Korea
• Low-voltage high-dynamic-range CMOS imager with energy harvesting
  Chih-Cheng Hsieh and Albert Yen-Chih Chiou,
  National Tsing Hua Univ., Taiwan
• Various ultra-high-speed imaging and applications by Streak camera
  Koro Uchiyama,
  Hamamatsu Photonics K. K., Japan
• Time-of-flight image sensors toward micrometer resolution
  Keita Yasutomi and Shoji Kawahito,
  Shizuoka Univ., Japan
• Toward the ultimate speed of silicon image sensors: from 4.5 kfps to Gfps and more
  Goji Etoh,
  Osaka Univ., Japan
• Studies on adaptive optics and application to the biological microscope
  Masayuki Hattori,
  National Inst. for Basic Biology, Japan
• Application of light-sheet microscopy to cell and development biology
  Shigenori Nonaka,
  National Inst. for Basic Biology, Japan
• Non-contact video based estimation for heart rate variability spectrogram using ambient light by extracting hemoglobin information
  Norimichi Tsumura,
  Chiba Univ. , Japan
• Development of ultraviolet- and visible-light one-shot spectral domain optical coherence tomography and in situ measurements of human skin
  Heijiro Hirayama or Sohichiro Nakamura,
  FUJIFILM Corp., Japan
• Extremely compact hyperspectral camera for drone and smartphone
  Ichiro Ishimaru,
  Kagawa Univ., Japan

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BusinessWire: Photometrics and Gpixel announced the release of the Photometrics Prime 95B Scientific CMOS camera featuring scientific-grade CMOS sensor available with 95% QE, the GSENSE400BSI-TVISB. It BSI technology with 11um large pixels and low-noise characteristics to maximize light collection.

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DynaOptics announces its Kickstarter fundrasing campaign for the OOWA rotationally asymmetrical lens:

"A lens that is rotationally asymmetrical does not look the same after you turn it around it’s center point. The number of positions in which the object looks exactly the same is called the order of the symmetry. In OOWA, we are using second order symmetry.

Due to the second order symmetry in our free-form lenses, we are able to optimize image quality in a rectang ular shape, mapping this high-quality image space onto the rectangular sensor."

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Webwire: While ST has already shown the new ToF sensor, the VL53L0X 2m-range 940nm-wavelength ToF sensor is officially presented just now:

"The VL53L0X extends the ToF measurement range to two meters, and is accurate to within ±3%. It is also faster, measuring the distance in under 30ms, and highly energy-efficient, consuming only 20mW in active ranging mode and drawing 5µA in standby. At 2.4mm x 4.4mm x 1mm, it is also the smallest such device in the market.

The VL53L0X is in production now in a 12-pad reflow-compatible module, priced at $2.30 for orders of 1,000 pieces."

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Marketwired: Movidius and Lenovo announce a strategic partnership to provide vision processing technology to a variety of VR-centric Lenovo products. Lenovo will be able to source the advanced Myriad 2 Vision Processing Unit (VPU) and custom computer vision algorithms for various virtual reality projects.

"Our technology was built to maximize machine vision performance in a sub-1 Watt power budget," says Movidius CEO, Remi El-Ouazzane. "In selecting Myriad 2 for their VR products, Lenovo is building devices designed from the ground-up for VR. We're very much looking forward to these no-compromise devices that will push VR adoption into the mainstream."

"Myriad 2 is unique in its ability to deliver the kind of vision compute performance we need for our next generation VR products," says Lenovo's Shanghai Research & Technology group Manager, Li Xiang. "We can build the products we want, without compromising on cost, size, performance or battery life."

The first Lenovo products featuring Myriad 2 are expected in 2H 2016.

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BusinessWire: InVisage launches the Spark4K NIR camera sensor. A 1.1um pixel, 13MP sensor in a 1/3-inch module, Spark4K is said to feature the world’s highest NIR resolution and 4K video at 30 fps, targeting augmented reality, autonomous, and authentication systems that require high-resolution, high dynamic range NIR imaging with global shutter capability.

Spark4K leverages the QuantumFilm technology platform’s combination of higher sensitivity with electronic global shutter to minimize power consumption while overcoming the glare of ambient infrared in sunlight. The photosensitivity of NIR-optimized QuantumFilm is sad to be 5x higher than conventional silicon at 940nm wavelength, allowing the Spark4K pixel to deliver 35% quantum efficiency. Spark4K can accurately detect a brighter but shorter LED pulse that instantaneously outshines ambient infrared light to help devices navigate and learn about their environments more accurately in pitch darkness or in direct sunlight. In addition, by pulsing the LED in sync with Spark4K’s global shutter, systems reduce battery consumption dramatically, enabling more compact, lighter weight product designs. The applications include drones, self-driving vehicles, and augmented reality devices that will benefit from Spark4K’s extended range and power savings.

“After the recent launch of our 2-megapixel NIR sensor SparkP2, we’re excited to expand our IR product portfolio with a higher resolution infrared camera sensor,” said Jess Lee, InVisage President and CEO. “As machine vision enters the mass consumer market of phones, drones, cars and AR headsets, the demands are clear. Small-footprint, high-resolution infrared cameras that perform invisibly indoors and outdoors are a must. By pairing higher sensitivity with a short pulse 940-nanometer source, our Spark products easily save 50 times on power compared to a conventional camera while overpowering sun irradiance.”

InVisage’s Spark line of NIR cameras is optimized for depth sensing, 3-D mapping, compositional analysis, authentication, and gesture tracking. Spark4K also features dynamic pixel sizing for lower resolution, high sensitivity security applications. Light captured from adjacent 1.1um pixels can be combined to maximize sensitivity and readout speed according to the demands of a specific application. In practice, this allows for an optional 3MP sensor mode with four times greater sensitivity in low light or long-range scenarios.

Spark4K is sampling in June 2016 with mass production scheduled by Q4 2016.

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Omnivision's patent application US20160099371 "Back side illuminated image sensor with guard ring region reflecting structure" by Eric Webster proposes just that - the reflective metal guard ring around SPAD pixel:


Another Omnivision's application US20160027837 "Visible and Infrared Image Sensor" by Eric Webster, Howard Rhodes, and Dominic Massetti proposes Si-Ge photosensitive layer to extend IR response:

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Yole publishes 2016 "Status of the CMOS Image Sensor Industry 2016: New Market and Technology Dynamics" market report and a slide deck by Pierre Cambou and Jean-Luc Jaffard. Few quotes:

"Driven by renewed mobile and automotive applications, the ... industry is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.4% from 2015 to 2021, reaching US$18.8B market value by 2021.

One big story this year is the consumer market, which is recovering from the total collapse of digital photography. While action cameras seem to have reached a ceiling, new applications such as drones, robots, virtual reality and augmented reality are ready to rejuvenate this emblematic market. The Automotive camera market has established itself as a key growth market for CIS... Image analysis is the new frontier and early usage of artificial intelligence is catching people’s imagination. We are therefore in the middle of an explosive growth pattern that will not slow down before 2021. An exceptionally high 23% CAGR is predicted in automotive for the 2015-2021 period.

Sony has 50% of the world’s production capacity with ‘only’ 35% global market share shows its ambition. Its current lack of profitability shows that market pressure is extremely high.

SK Hynix is a great example of how quickly a prominent position can be obtained. The company has propelled itself into the top 10 in very little time. It has been able to monetize the increasing resolution of smartphone front-facing cameras, therefore capturing business from Galaxycore and Omnivision."

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Omnivision patent application US20160118438 "Isolated Global Shutter Pixel Storage Structure" by Kevin Ka Kei Leung and Dajiang Yang, proposes DTI for storage node protection:

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Nanowerk: Olympus and Tokyo Institute of Technology RGB-IR solution presented at EI 2016 claims to be able effectively separate IR and RGB images taken by a mixed CFA sensor:

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Albert Theuwissen continues his series of binning vs averaging comparison articles. In the most recent one, "the situation for a shot-noise limited condition is considered. And actually the story can be very short : it does not matter when or where the binning is done, in all cases the result is exactly the same." The full story includes a proof of that.

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KPCB Internet Trends presentation shows that although the picture taking devices growth is slowing (image sensors, cameras, smartphones), the images usage keeps growing exponentially:

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e2v Sapphire EV76C541 WVGA CMOS sensor is said to be a viable replacement for traditional industrial CCD sensors due to an excellent performance in low-light conditions and an electronic global shutter.

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Cadence presents a Youtube video on its Tensilica Vision P6 DSP:

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Raytrix publishes a presentation on its 3D lightfield camera applications, such as this one:

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A paper from Xi’an Microelectronics Technology Institute, China, "Measurement of charge transfer potential barrier in pinned photodiode CMOS image sensors" by Cao Chen, Zhang Bing, Wang Junfeng, and Wu Longsheng explores connection between TG barrier height, image lag and low light non-linearity:

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Basler publishes an educational Youtube video explaining ToF camera basics:

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Socionext posts Youtube videos showing its Fotonation-licensed EIS for drones and defog algorithms:

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PRNewswire: OmniVision announces the OV12890, a new 1.55um big-pixel stacked sensor with 12b ADC and PDAF and HDR support for flagship smartphones. The OV12890 uses OmniVision's PureCelPlus-S pixel technology to capture full resolution 12MP images and video at 45fps, 4K2K video at 60fps, and 1080p video at 240fps via high speed D-PHY and C-PHY interfaces.

The OV12890 can fit into 10 x 10 mm modules with a z-height of 6 mm. The sensor is currently available for sampling and is expected to enter volume production in Q4 2016.

"As cameras for premium smartphones continue to improve, we see the resolution race slowing down and increasing emphasis placed on pixel performance and image sensor size as key to ever-higher quality mobile images and video," said James Liu, senior technical marketing manager at OmniVision. "The OV12890 is our newest big-pixel stacked die image sensor for the mobile market, and represents one of our strongest offerings for premium smartphones. The feature-rich OV12890 captures exceptional images and video in a compact package, making it a top-flight imaging solution for flagship mobile devices."

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The open-access Sensor Journal publishes a review paper "Particle and Photon Detection: Counting and Energy Measurement" by James Janesick and John Tower, SRI-Sarnoff.

"The challenges to extend photon counting into the visible/nIR wavelengths and achieve energy measurement in the UV with specific read noise requirements are discussed. Pixel flicker and random telegraph noise sources are highlighted along with various methods used in reducing their contribution on the sensor’s read noise floor. Practical requirements for quantum efficiency, charge collection efficiency, and charge transfer efficiency that interfere with photon counting performance are discussed. Lastly we will review current efforts in reducing flicker noise head-on, in hopes to drive read noise substantially below 1 carrier rms."


"we are trying a proprietary non-imaging gate oxide process offered by Jazz Semiconductor that claims to lower MOSFET 1/f RTN noise by 4 to 5 times compared to 0.18 um processing that is used now."

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Albert Theuwissen announces the 4th Harvest Imaging Forum "Robustness of CMOS Technology and Circuitry outside the Imaging Core : integrity, variability, reliability" by Harry Veendrick. The forum is to be held in December, 2016 in Voorburg (the Hague), the Netherlands. The 2016 Forum is meant to present an overview on the importance of understanding all aspects that determine the robustness of CMOS integrated circuits present “around” the imaging core of a CMOS image sensor.

CEI-Europe announces few more image sensor courses by Albert Theuwissen.

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PRNewswire: OmniVision announces the OV13855, its third-generation 13MP 1.12um pixel sensor with significant improvements in low-light performance, color crosstalk reduction and angular response when compared with previous-generation 13MP sensors. The OV13855 is built on PureCel-Plus pixel technology with PDAF and aimed to mainstream smartphone rear-facing cameras as well as front-facing and dual cameras.

"The 13-megapixel resolution segment is becoming the minimum box specification for rear-facing cameras in mid- to low-end smartphones. Recent market research suggests that the 13-megapixel smartphone camera module market may grow at a CAGR of 16 percent through 2020," said Badri Padmanabhan, product marketing manager at OmniVision. "With its compact form factor and advanced feature set, the OV13855 provides pioneering OEMs with an excellent opportunity to integrate 13-megapixel image sensors into their high-end smartphones for front-facing or dual camera applications."

The OV13855 captures full-resolution 13MP still images at 30fps and records 4K2K video at 45fps, 1080p at 60fps, or 720p HD at 90fps. With its compact design and two-sided bond pad layout, the OV13855 can easily be integrated into 8.5 x 8.5 mm autofocus modules with z-heights of less than 5 mm for main cameras, and 7.5 x 7.5 mm fixed focus modules with z-heights of less than 4.5 mm for high-end front-facing cameras.

The OV13855 is currently available for sampling, and is expected to enter volume production in Q2 2016. The sensor is available in non-PDAF (OV13858) and monochrome (OV13355) versions to support front-facing and dual-camera applications.

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BusinessWire: InVisage announces its Spark Authentication Module (SAM) NIR camera module. SAM is powered by the previously announced SparkP2 2MP NIR sensor. Sized 8.0 x 8.0 x 3.1 mm, the SAM module is custom built for authentication systems such as Microsoft Windows Hello. In addition to blocking interference from direct sunlight, SAM enables authentication at a greater distance of beyond 100cm from a tablet, laptop or phone so that users are not constrained to a small space in front of their device. Because it operates at the 940nm wavelength, SAM also eliminates an intrusive red glow from LEDs.

SAM is said to be the only system that can deliver 2K resolution in a tiny module while consuming 50 times less system power. Existing NIR cameras operate in conjunction with high wattage LEDs to overcome low CMOS sensitivity and ambient infrared in sunlight. The resulting high power consumption and heat generated by such bright LEDs has made outdoor performance a challenge for mobile face recognition systems that operate with lighter batteries. In contrast, SAM, powered by SparkP2, leverages low-power pulsed LEDs synchronized with an extremely short global shutter exposure, allowing for accurate imaging without battery drain. At 50 times lower power consumption, overall system temperature is also up to 20 degrees cooler.

“For authentication, mobile device makers demand compact modules that produce sharp images enabling smooth user verification with minimal false negatives or false positives, regardless of whether the user is indoors or out,” said Jess Lee, InVisage President and CEO. “It also needs to work within a reasonable range so that users can say ‘Hello’ without having to plant their eye or face just a few centimeters from the screen.”

With a photosensitive layer 10 times thinner than a typical silicon infrared sensor, the SparkP2 sensor powering SAM provides QE of 35% at 940nm wavelength. This greater sensitivity results in sharper images and an expanded operational radius of beyond 100 centimeters, but it also enables minimal crosstalk in a thinner, 3.1-millimeter module with a 72-deg FOV. IR in particular suffer from blur due to high levels of crosstalk, or misdetection of light in nearby pixels. Crosstalk typically limits camera thinness by requiring a minimum distance between the lens and the photosensitive layer, but the SparkP2 lens in the SAM module can be much closer to the sensor without increasing crosstalk and preserving a higher level of sharpness.

SAM and SparkP2 are optimized for authentication systems that operate at 850nm (with a visible red glow) and 940nm (invisible with a tenfold improvement in sun irradiance rejection).

Taiwan-based DIY publishes a 940nm comparison picture:

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