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BusinessWire: ams, an Austrian maker of sensor and analog solutions, is to acquire 100% of the shares in CMOSIS in an all-cash transaction.

Founded in 2007, CMOSIS operates as a fabless image sensor supplier from locations in Belgium, Germany, Portugal, and the U.S. and has more than 110 employees. CMOSIS expects to generate full year 2015 revenues of approx. EUR 60m with strong operating profitability above ams’ current group operating profitability. Based on available information, CMOSIS expects to continue year-on-year revenue growth in 2016.

Under the terms of the agreement, ams will acquire 100% of the shares in CMOSIS from TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm, and management shareholders for an equity value of approx. EUR 220m. The transaction is expected to close within the next six weeks subject to regulatory approvals and the occurrence of certain conditions defined in the agreements with the sellers of the CMOSIS shares.

“Acquiring CMOSIS is a highly complementary expansion of our sensor portfolio and another major step in executing our sensor solutions growth strategy. This transaction extends our market leadership in optical sensors and will strengthen our position as the leading pure-play sensor solutions provider for growth markets including Industry 4.0, IoT (Internet of Things) and medical diagnostics. Integrating cameras with advanced optical sensors will drive new sensor solutions across vertical markets and accelerate our growth plans as we combine CMOSIS’ leading edge IP and design capabilities with our manufacturing competence and optical sensor strengths”, emphasizes Kirk Laney, CEO of ams.

“CMOSIS has built a leading position in some of the most challenging imaging applications based on our deep technology expertise in CMOS area and line scan image sensors. Our team is at the forefront of global shutter technology for high-end imaging having up to more than 15 years of experience in this field. We are excited to join ams creating a leader in advanced imaging solutions. We will leverage ams’ technical and operational expertise and profit from the global access to potential new customers to realize our full growth potential”, adds Luc de Mey, CEO of CMOSIS.

Update: Knack.be reports that CMOSIS turnover this year is expected to be about 60m Euros, compared with 54.9m in 2014. The profit after tax in 2014 was 9.5m.

Bloovi.be reports that yesterday, CMOSIS won Deloitte-Belgium 2015 Technology Fast 50 Award for 615% annual turnover growth, possibly based on 2013 and 2014 data.

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Nikkei: Seiichi Gohshi, professor of the Department of Information Design, the Faculty of Informatics, Kogakuin University, and Fujitsu jointly develop a new technology employed for the "Xevic" image processing engine of Fujitsu's Arrows NX F-02H smartphone, to be released in late November 2015. Unlike commonly-used "reconstructed super resolution" and "learning super resolution," the super-resolution technology being researched by Gohshi uses an original method called "nonlinear signal processing method." A nonlinear function is used to supplement high-frequency components and reproduce high-resolution components that surpass the "Nyquist frequency (half of a sampling frequency)," Gohshi said.


The 2014 University research report gives a list of recent publications by Seiichi Gohshi:

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PRNewswire: Panasonic leverages its high speed sensor to introduce a Post Focus feature that captures multiple photos with multiple in focus points through a single release of the shutter. Post Focus uses 49-area DFD (Depth From Defocus) autofocus to capture 4K images at 30 fps. The operation of Post Focus function is quite simple and easy – set the camera to Post Focus mode, and press the shutter button. The camera automatically "racks" the focus while capturing photos with varied in focus points. During the playback, one uses the touch screen to select the in focus area desired, and save as a separate 8MP file:

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IC Insights publishes its new ranking of semiconductor companies. Sony rises to #14:

"One of the real “star performers” on the list is Sony. As shown, even with the tremendous weakness of the yen versus U.S. dollar, the company is forecast to register an 11% increase in semiconductor sales when expressed in U.S. dollars and a 27% surge in sales in its local currency, the Japanese yen. Sony is having tremendous success in sales of image sensors and is expected to more than triple its semiconductor capital spending this year to put in additional capacity for image sensor production."

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Sony announces 1/2.9-inch IMX323LQN sensor with 2.8um pixels in a "compact and thin package while maintaining low illumination performance equal to that of the existing Sony product (IMX222LQJ) that improved sensitivity in the near infrared region for industrial applications."

Existing IMX222LQJ vs new IMX323LQN

Sony publishes 0.6MP comparison pictures of the older IMX222 and the new IMX323 at 0.1 lx, F1.4 (ADC 12 bit mode, 30 frame/s):

IMX222, Gain 42dB

IMX323, Gain 45dB

Sharp's new image sensor catalog presents a new 2MP 2/3-inch video sensor, RJ52N1BA0LT, available in color and B/W versions:

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Pixart reports Q3 2015 results. The sales are 10.3% down YoY, but gross margin rises to 51.2%.

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Samsung Investors Forum held on Nov. 16, 2015 gives interesting details on its image sensor business from Kyushik Hong, VP of Marketing, Samsung System LSI:

"But for some other product like image sensor, we have a number one market share in China market, for example. So, we sell a lot of our image sensor in all the Chinese OEMs."

Q: [ph] Jason (58:35) from [indiscernible] (58:34). "Can you please comment on [indiscernible] (58:38) how your image sensor technology compares to one of your Japanese competitors, and for the image sensor, besides mobile, what areas are you focusing on and how do you see your business penetrating into the mobile side?"

A: "Okay. So, I think for image sensor technology innovation. It has to come from, I mean – in large probably has to come from the process technology. So, having you around fab and you around process – I mean, the pixel process technology this is very important. So, I think that's not some fables, the base, the image sensor company can do. But particular company that you mentioned, a Japanese company, they also have their own process technology to develop the pixel quality. So, in that sense, I think we are pretty much on par.

But the one we have in addition to that is we also have very advanced logic technology as well. And probably you know that all the advanced image sensor is now all this [ph] packed (59:56) sensor. So, meaning that [indiscernible] (59:58) part of the sensor is surely the pixel and you put all this kind of logics that can handle all the immediate processing, stuff like that, into the separate dedicated logic chip and you just stack them together and these are too part of the sensor can work in perfect harmony as well.

So, Samsung, I think, one of the advantage we do have is that we do have both pixel [ph] in-house (01:00:27) pixel technology, as well as advanced logic technology as well. So that we can stack them together by taking advantage of the synergy between this technology.

And I think the second question is about the application outside the mobile, right? So, that's definitely another very exciting subject. Today's subject is about mobile, so I'm pretty much focused on mobile application. But we do have – we do see a lot of opportunity in other applications as well. And automotive is one clear example and, again, combining some of the processing power that we can provide.

So, for example, like automotive, like – there could be like 16 images sensors that has to be working at the same time, and you can't – you have to handle all of this kind of – the video images at the same time for very sophisticated [indiscernible] (01:01:33) type of automotive application. So, definitely automotive is one area. And there could be a lot of even consumer electronics area. Like in this case, even this robot [indiscernible] (01:01:49) they have some imaging sensors inside. So, we're constantly looking at some other opportunity. And we believe all the technology that we built upon the mobile device will greatly help to – for us to expand our area outside the mobile."

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ON Semiconductor announces a new 16.2MP CCD for astrophotography and scientific imaging application. The KAF-16200 APS-H (34.6 mm diagonal) CCD is said to provide best in class image uniformity and dark current, and uses 6.0µm pixels with a transparent gate electrode for high sensitivity, high DR, and integrated overexposure protection.

“This new image sensor targets opportunities directly identified by our camera manufacturing customers,” said Herb Erhardt, VP and GM, Industrial and Security Division, Image Sensor Group at ON Semiconductor, “The KAF-16200 provides a 2x increase in resolution compared to our current device addressing this segment, without sacrificing the CCD-level image quality required for these applications. This is another example of ON Semiconductor’s ability to leverage a broad technology base to provide the highest quality image sensor devices regardless of the underlying technology.”

The KAF-16200 is available in both monochrome and color configurations.

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IEEE Spectrum: The SwissFEL laser team led by Christoph Hauri at the Paul Scherrer Institute near Zurich shows that one can use a commercial megapixel CCD to capture THz-band images. "It was previously known that low frequency radiation, when intense enough, could lead to dramatic changes in the semiconductor band structure. (For the intense light source they turned to a new and uniquely powerful source the SwissFEL team developed.) Long terahertz wavelengths force electrons to tunnel through the bandgap and the charge carriers start multiplying, leading to huge sensitivity."

The open access paper "High-performing nonlinear visualization of terahertz radiation on a silicon charge-coupled device" by Mostafa Shalaby, Carlo Vicario, and Christoph Hauri with the experimental results has been published in Nature Communications:

(a) Time-dependent electric field of the THz pulse retrieved using air-biased-coherent-detection technique. (b) The corresponding broadband amplitude spectrum. A narrowband portion centered around 10 THz is obtained by application of a band pass filter (BPF). (c) The detected images (normalized) on the (4.65-μm pixel size) CCD obtained with the 10 THz BPF in different slices around the focus with z being the propagation direction. The corresponding real images reconstructed taking the natural logarithm (as discussed later). The beam consists of several smaller beams that focus in different planes. The images obtained with a (23.5-μm pixel size) bolometric imager are shown. All images are plotted at the same scale on dimension of 200 × 200 μm. In the focal plane (z=0 μm), two spots are visible with a separation of 51 μm. While the pixel size is smaller than 51 μm in both cameras and so the two spots were obvious in both images, the high-resolving image from the CCD provides a significantly more detailed and accurate beam profile.

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Sony publishes a flyer of 13MP, 1.12um RGB pixel IMX258 used in a number of recent phones, including Xiaomi Mi 4C.

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Albert Theuwissen publishes what might be the most extensive research on PDAF pixels so far. The research is based on Aptina MT9J007C1HS sensor as an example. "Harvest Imaging performed measurements on the PDAF pixels present in an existing, commercially available camera. The results of these measurements, including explanations for the PDAF performance/behaviour are written down in an extensive report."

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Pixim/Sony patent application US20150319386 "Image sensor with floating diffusion interconnect capacitor" by Frederick Brady, Sungin Hwang, and Thomas Ayers proposes an intentionally increased layout and diffusion-poly overlap capacitors to boost FD voltage when TG turns on:

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Harvard University publishes a PhD Thesis "Vertical Silicon Nanowires for Image Sensor Applications" by Hyunsung Park, dated by Sept. 2014. The nanowire filters have demonstrated quite small pixel size and good selectivity:

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Himax reports its Q3 2015 results and updates on the image sensor business: "The Company’s CMOS image sensors experienced a series of slow quarters this year even though it remains one of the market share leaders in notebook application. The reason for this is found in the weak demand of low end smartphones, the main target market for Himax’s 2MP and 5MP sensors. At the same time, the Company wasn’t able to ramp 8MP and 13MP at the planned pace. Overall, during the first three quarters of this year, CMOS image sensors sales declined more than 50%."

"Though a leader in the driver IC space, the Company is still a new comer in the high end CMOS image sensor business. Himax launched 8MP and 13MP in 2014 but missed the market opportunity due to a lack of some of the new product features for high end phones, notably Phase Detection Auto Focus (PDAF) that enables fast auto focus when taking pictures or recording videos. PDAF was first adopted in iPhone6 and has since become a popular feather for new designs of high end smartphones. The Company is catching up fast. Himax believes it will be one of the few players capable of providing PDAF-equipped CMOS image sensors in the very near future. The Company will report in due course."

Update: A graphical update from Q3 2015 Presentation:

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There is a nice graphical simulation of rolling shutter distortions, including the classical propeller demo, and other interesting shapes like this one:


Thanks to GF for the link!

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BusinessWire: InVisage introduces its inaugural product, the Quantum13 image sensor, the world’s first electronic image sensor that does not use silicon but rather a quantum dot film, QuantumFilm. The sensor features a single-shot HDR mode called QuantumCinema. This mode is said to provide up to three additional stops of DR compared to conventional CMOS sensors. Both still and video modes will see this level of performance without any added HDR software processing, which can often cause a missed moment and a distorted image.

Quantum13 also offers the world’s first electronic global shutter for smartphones, instead of the rolling shutter method that CMOS sensors use to scan from the top of the image to the bottom. With this electronic global shutter, Quantum13-enabled smartphones can capture crisp still photos of fast-moving subjects at full frame shutter speeds normally reserved for DSLRs, and deliver smooth 2K and 4K video without any rolling shutter distortion.

“The launch of Quantum13 marks a new era for the smartphone camera industry,” said Jess Lee, CEO of InVisage. “For the first time, smartphones will capture images on an entirely new medium. Not silicon. Not film. QuantumFilm. We are thrilled to showcase the capabilities of Quantum13 to the richest and most vibrant ecosystem for smartphones. And we are delighted to share that several smartphone vendors have already adopted Quantum13 for upcoming release.”

Quantum13 is a 13MP, 1.1um pixel sensor that fits in an 8.5mm by 8.5mm module. With light absorption eight times faster than silicon, QuantumFilm creates an ultra-thin light capture medium that accommodates much higher incident angles of light, resulting in an unprecedented 4mm camera module height.

“InVisage is targeting the mainstream 13-megapixel smartphone camera market,” added Tetsuo Omori, senior analyst at TSR. “According to our research, the worldwide volume of the 13-megapixel camera sensor market is projected to increase from 408 million units in 2015 to 995 million units in 2020.”

Today in Beijing, InVisage is showcasing Quantum13-enabled smartphones running on both Qualcomm and Mediatek platforms. The sensor is sampling now and initial shipments to leading smartphone vendors are expected this quarter.

Update: Yesky.com publishes few pictures, apparently from Invisage presentation in Beijing today:


Update #2: Few more images from today's event from various websites in China:

Link to the original (marked as containing malware by Google)

Link to the original

Link to the original

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Cnet publishes an article "How a startup's tiny dots could lead to better smartphone photos" about "InVisage Technologies, a 75-person startup that hopes its exotic new material known as quantum dots will dramatically improve smartphone cameras when it arrives in devices in the first quarter of 2016."

"In a 2010 interview with CNET, [the company CEO Jess] Lee said he expected QuantumFilm image-sensor chips to arrive in 2011."

"While we've been taking longer to come to market than we originally predicted, this is brand-new technology," said Lee, who previously worked at OmniVision.

"Succeeding in the market will be an extremely difficult task for InVisage," said IHS analyst Brian O'Rourke. "The image sensor market is ferociously competitive. The last startup to succeed in this market was OmniVision, which started in the 1990s."

"Chips with the light-detecting layer of quantum dots will outdo today's image-sensor technologyLee said. First, their better dynamic range can handle highlights and shadows better, letting you avoid the glare of overexposed faces in the sun while still discerning the subjects in the shade. Second, a fast-acting "global shutter" avoids the Jello-wobble effect that hurts today's videos taken when the subject or camera is moving. Last, QuantumFilm-based cameras can be made thinner so phone makers can avoid the protruding camera lens present even on today's top-end phones like Apple's iPhone 6S and Google's Nexus 6P."

"Another perk: Because quantum dots are laid down in a continuous film, the number of pixels on a sensor isn't baked into the hardware. A smartphone could be set to capture images with a maximum number of pixels for fine detail then changed to a smaller number of larger pixels for better low-light performance."

Update: Few pictures from the article:

Invisage image sensor wafer

Some of the company's 56 granted patents

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ON Semi publishes a Youtube video on its new Python image sensors:

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XDA Developers, Engadget, Reddit: It appears that Google Nexus 5X image sensor does not have an easy way to control its scan direction. Tech lead for Android's camera framework, Eino-Ville Talvala, explains why some third-party camera applications show an upside down image: "Because of manufacturing reasons, we needed to mount the Nexus 5X main sensor in the less-common (reverse landscape) orientation - the wires from the sensor chip wouldn't have fit otherwise.

Unfortunately, our old camera API (which is deprecated, but most apps still use it) isn't terribly user-friendly, and requires application developers to explicitly set the preview rotation. On most devices, though, it turns out the default rotation is correct for a forced-landscape app, so many apps never call the display orientation method."

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Hynix has updated its CMOS sensor web page and added info about its image sensor offerings:

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BusinessWire: InVisage announces the addition of famed cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC to the company advisory board. Mr. Lubezki is the cinematographer of numerous award-winning films including Gravity (2013) and Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014). Mr. Lubezki is the Company’s first artistic advisor and will help shape and fine-tune the specifications of upcoming InVisage QuantumFilm camera image sensors for smartphones and mobile devices.

“We are honored to have Mr. Lubezki join our advisory board,” said Jess Lee, president and CEO of InVisage. “With Mr. Lubezki’s artistic direction, we intend to bridge the gap between Hollywood and advanced nanotechnology, bringing Hollywood quality to QuantumFilm-enabled smartphones and mobile devices.”

“InVisage understands that advancing film is equal parts artistry and technology,” said Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC. “I was drawn to InVisage and their technology because of the ground-breaking potential for greater dynamic range in cameras ranging from smartphones to professional video cameras, a crucial capability for cinematographers and everyday users alike.”

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PRNewswire: OmniVision unveils its latest PureCel Plus and PureCel Plus-S pixel technologies featuringa buried color filter array (BCFA) and deep trench isolation (DTI).

One of the key benefits of PureCel Plus technology is the reduction of color crosstalk and color noise, improving color reproduction under low-light conditions. Another critical benefit is the angular response of the sensor. With PureCel Plus technology, OmniVision's sensors can provide higher signal response at a larger incident light angle than the one with predecessor technologies. As a result, with PureCel Plus sensors, module design houses can use brighter lenses and build camera systems with much thinner geometries.

"It has long been an industry-wide presumption that increasing resolution by reducing pixel size may result in the degradation of camera performance, due to low-light sensitivity. However, as we are seeing with PureCel Plus, that is not always the case," said Song Xue, senior manager of sensor technology at OmniVision. "Our new 1.0 micron sensors built on PureCel Plus technology will exhibit the same level of signal-to-noise ratio as 1.12 micron sensors built on our previous generation technologies. Today's advancement enables us to continue reducing pixel size while maintaining the highest image and video quality standards."

In addition to PureCel Plus, PureCel Plus-S leverages stacked die technology to deliver high functionality with minimal chip size.

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PRNewswire: OmniVision announces the OV16860, a new 16MP PureCel Plus-S image sensor. Compared to previous generation OmniVision 16MP sensors, the OV16860 delivers improved low-light performance and faster readout architecture with a larger 1.3um pixel. The sensor also features HDR, PDAF, and slow motion video recording.

"Industry reports forecast continued growth in the 13‑ to 16‑megapixel resolution segment in 2016 and beyond, attributable to what is expected to be rapid adoption of 16-megapixel resolution in high-end smartphones starting in 2016. The action camera segment with similar camera resolution is also expected to grow quickly through 20191," said James Liu, senior technical marketing manager at OmniVision. "The OV16860's faster frame rate aligns perfectly with the feature set requirement of high-end smartphones and rugged action cameras for operating in high resolution and high frame rate modes."

The OV16860 is the first image sensor built on OmniVision's new PureCel Plus-S architecture. This architecture features a larger pixel size and offers a number of pixel performance improvements over traditional 1.12um 16MPsensors. The performance benefits of this new technology include a 33% improvement in full-well capacity, a 40% improvement in low light performance and dramatically reduced pixel crosstalk. Additionally, the OV16860 enables a nominal operating digital voltage (DVDD) spec of 1.0V, and thus requires 40% less power than the previous generation OV16825.

The 1/2.4-inch OV16860 supports high-quality slow motion video capture with full FOV. The sensor capture 16MP images and video at 45fps, 4K2K video at 60fps, and 1080p at 120fps via high speed D-PHY and C-PHY interfaces.

The OV16860 can fit into a 10.5 x 10.5 mm module with a low z-height of 5.8 mm. The sensor is currently available for sampling, and is expected to enter volume production in Q4 2015.

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ON Semi patent application US20150312499 "Imaging systems and methods for mitigating pixel data quantization error" by Roger Panicacci, Jeffery Beck, and Barry Vanhoff proposes dither to reduce structured noise in image sensors:

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Apple patent application US20150312479 "Image sensor having a uniform digital power signature" by Andrew Mcmahon, Chiajen Lee, and Michael Malone says "there is a need for a system and technique for reducing the effect of digital logic interference on the quality of a digital image. The techniques disclosed herein can be used to produce a digital image having reduced or minimized visual artifacts without significantly increasing the size of the sensor or the drawbacks of some traditional noise reduction techniques."

Apple proposes to add dummy operations 525 to the digital pipeline, so that the digital noise is substantially constant in all time slots:

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