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Texas Instruments made (mostly) area CCDs using the virtual-phase architecture invented by Jerry Hynecek in their Central Research Lab. Some later devices, designated "Impactron" incorporated a high-voltage shift register that provided electron multiplication. TI made these devices until 2011 when their fab in Aizu-wakamatsu, Japan, was heavily damaged in an earthquake. The CCD line was never restarted.

You may notice that the archive includes a data sheet for the TIVICON silicon vidicon camera tube. Truly, TI made an imaging vacuum tube before it made solid-state sensors.  It was built for an Air Force forward-looking infrared (FLIR) system that flew over the jungles of Vietnam making thermal images of people among the trees. The silicon vidicon looked at a spinning line of infrared LEDs (another TI product) to produce a windshield-wiper-shaped image that was displayed on a video monitor. I ran the lab that tested these tubes and I wrote the data sheet included in the archive to start TI on commercial sales of the tubes. I was gone before TI introduced CCDs but my boss, Frank Skaggs, moved to that program.

Link to the TI folder

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We are pleased to introduce a new feature of the ISW blog, an archive of data sheets and other documents related to image sensor products. A recent survey of blog readers indicated that many of you would like access to a location where both historical and current data sheets, application notes, test data and other documents describing image sensors released to the market are available for download.  The new archive will provide this.

Image sensors have been made by over 200 companies since manufacturing began in the early 1970s and new ones appear almost every day now. I will attempt to both fill in the past and keep the archive current but catching up will take a while. Please comment if you have priorities you would like me to consider. Also comment if you have recollections that might interest the newer members of the image sensor community.

All of the documents will be stored on a Google Drive account with open access.  This means that documents that are export-controlled, mostly for thermal sensors, will not be included. To get to the Drive folders, you need only to click a company link on the blog post that comes up when you select "Image Sensor Documentation" from the list on the left of the blog front page.  Download whatever you like.

If you have anything you would like to contribute, send me an e-mail and we can make an arrangement. While we are interested in more than just data sheets, we can't post any company confidential information even if the company is out of the image sensor business or no longer exists.

As I add new companies to the archive, I will post announcements with a link to the company folder and a little background on the company.  Again, feel free to comment if you have something interesting to add. Note that the companies and their documents will be identified by the company name in use when each sensor was introduced.  Thus, companies like OnSemi may have products under other names going all the way back to Photobit or IMEC or Kodak.

The first company up is Texas Instruments, active 1978-2011, making virtual-phase and electron-multiplying sensors invented by Jerry Hynecek. The post with the link to the TI documents is here.

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The ISW Blog documentation folders contain documents for image sensors from these companies:

Texas Instruments, Inc.    Announcement    Document Archive

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PHOTONIS GROUP BECOMES EXOSENS
PRESS RELEASE
MÉRIGNAC – SEPTEMBER 20th 2023
 
PHOTONIS GROUP a global leader of highly differentiated technology for detection, imaging and light, held by Groupe HLD since 2021 is deeply transforming by developing adjacent technologies, expanding to particles detection markets. Following that strategy, the group has acquired four companies (Xenics, Proxivision, Telops and Elmul) since December 2022. Worldwide leader for image intensifier tubes, the company has diversified its technologies and products portfolios with the ambition to become the worldwide leader in detection and imaging technologies. To illustrate that strategy, PHOTONIS GROUP becomes EXOSENS.

Proposing electro-optic devices covering the full optical spectrum from UV to LWIR in addition to electron, ion, neutron and gamma detectors, EXOSENSaddresses four markets which are lifescience, industrial control, nuclear energy and defense. The company takes benefits of positive dynamics in each of these four verticals, such as enhanced diagnosis demand, factory automation, small modular reactors deployment and defense budget increase.

Jean-Hubert Vial, partner at Groupe HLD said: “It’s an important step for Photonis Group. By becoming EXOSENS, the company clearly anchors its position as high-end technology provider to serve high growing commercial and defense markets for more sustainability and safety”
Jérôme Cerisier, CEO of the new group said: “EXOSENS means “to detect, to see and to give meaning to what is beyond”. It perfectly reflects what we are doing, we reveal the invisible, we sense the world to make it safer. With EXOSENS, we aim to share our common values throughout the whole organization, to integrate new companies and colleagues and to always offer high performances products to meet customers satisfaction.”

Operationally, legal entities will keep their existing names. The four product brands Photonis (for intensified products, nuclear and mass spectrometry detectors), Xenics (for infrared sensors and cameras), Elmul (for electron detectors) and Telops (for hyperspectral and cooled infrared camera) will continue to be deployed and promoted in their markets.
 
ABOUT EXOSENS:
 
Accompanied by Groupe HLD since 2021, EXOSENS is a high-tech company, with more than 85 years of experience in the innovation, development, manufacture and sale of technologies in the field of particles and photo detection and imaging. Today, it offers its customers detectors and detection solutions: its travelling wave tubes, advanced cameras, neutron & gamma detectors, instrument detectors and light intensifier tubes allow EXOSENS to respond to complex issues in environments extremely demanding by offering tailor-made solutions to its customers. Thanks to its sustained and permanent investment, EXOSENS is internationally recognized as a major innovator in optoelectronics, with production and R&D carried out on 9 sites, in Europe and North America and over 1 500 employees.

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PHOTONIS GROUP BECOMES EXOSENS
PRESS RELEASE
MÉRIGNAC – SEPTEMBER 20th 2023
 
PHOTONIS GROUP a global leader of highly differentiated technology for detection, imaging and light, held by Groupe HLD since 2021 is deeply transforming by developing adjacent technologies, expanding to particles detection markets. Following that strategy, the group has acquired four companies (Xenics, Proxivision, Telops and Elmul) since December 2022. Worldwide leader for image intensifier tubes, the company has diversified its technologies and products portfolios with the ambition to become the worldwide leader in detection and imaging technologies. To illustrate that strategy, PHOTONIS GROUP becomes EXOSENS.

Proposing electro-optic devices covering the full optical spectrum from UV to LWIR in addition to electron, ion, neutron and gamma detectors, EXOSENSaddresses four markets which are lifescience, industrial control, nuclear energy and defense. The company takes benefits of positive dynamics in each of these four verticals, such as enhanced diagnosis demand, factory automation, small modular reactors deployment and defense budget increase.

Jean-Hubert Vial, partner at Groupe HLD said: “It’s an important step for Photonis Group. By becoming EXOSENS, the company clearly anchors its position as high-end technology provider to serve high growing commercial and defense markets for more sustainability and safety”
Jérôme Cerisier, CEO of the new group said: “EXOSENS means “to detect, to see and to give meaning to what is beyond”. It perfectly reflects what we are doing, we reveal the invisible, we sense the world to make it safer. With EXOSENS, we aim to share our common values throughout the whole organization, to integrate new companies and colleagues and to always offer high performances products to meet customers satisfaction.”

Operationally, legal entities will keep their existing names. The four product brands Photonis (for intensified products, nuclear and mass spectrometry detectors), Xenics (for infrared sensors and cameras), Elmul (for electron detectors) and Telops (for hyperspectral and cooled infrared camera) will continue to be deployed and promoted in their markets.
 
ABOUT EXOSENS:
 
Accompanied by Groupe HLD since 2021, EXOSENS is a high-tech company, with more than 85 years of experience in the innovation, development, manufacture and sale of technologies in the field of particles and photo detection and imaging. Today, it offers its customers detectors and detection solutions: its travelling wave tubes, advanced cameras, neutron & gamma detectors, instrument detectors and light intensifier tubes allow EXOSENS to respond to complex issues in environments extremely demanding by offering tailor-made solutions to its customers. Thanks to its sustained and permanent investment, EXOSENS is internationally recognized as a major innovator in optoelectronics, with production and R&D carried out on 9 sites, in Europe and North America and over 1 500 employees.

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Papers from the recent International Image Sensor Workshop (IISW) 2023 held in Crieff Scotland are now available on the International Image Sensor Society website:

Link: https://imagesensors.org/2023-papers/

An exciting lineup of invited talks, posters, and papers over nine different sessions; go check it out!

Session 1 3D Stacking and Small Pixels
Session 2 Noise
Session 3 Pixel Design & Process Technology
Session 4 HDR and Automotive
Session 5 Smart and Event-based Imagers
Session 6 Beyond Visible & Scientific Imaging
Session 7 Speciality and New Applications
Session 8 SPAD Devices
Session 9 Time of Flight

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Papers from the recent International Image Sensor Workshop (IISW) 2023 held in Crieff Scotland are now available on the International Image Sensor Society website:

Link: https://imagesensors.org/2023-papers/

An exciting lineup of invited talks, posters, and papers over nine different sessions; go check it out!

Session 1 3D Stacking and Small Pixels
Session 2 Noise
Session 3 Pixel Design & Process Technology
Session 4 HDR and Automotive
Session 5 Smart and Event-based Imagers
Session 6 Beyond Visible & Scientific Imaging
Session 7 Speciality and New Applications
Session 8 SPAD Devices
Session 9 Time of Flight

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OMNIVISION Announces New TheiaCel™ Technology and Automotive Image Sensor for LED-Flicker-Free Exterior Cameras
 
Announced at AutoSens Brussels, the OX08D10 is a small, low-power-consumption image sensor that features OMNIVISION’s new TheiaCel™ technology for superior image quality regardless of lighting condition
 
BRUSSELS, Belgium – September 19, 2023 – OMNIVISION, a leading global developer of semiconductor solutions, including advanced digital imaging, analog and touch & display technology, today debuted its OX08D10 8-megapixel (MP) CMOS image sensor with TheiaCel™ technology at AutoSens Brussels. The new solution enhances automotive safety by providing enhanced resolution and image quality in exterior cameras for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving (AD).
 
The OX08D10 features industry-leading lowlight performance and low power consumption in a compact size that is 50% smaller than other exterior cabin sensors in its class. It is the first image sensor that features OMNIVISION’s new 2.1-micron (µm) TheiaCel™ technology, which harnesses the capabilities of next-generation lateral overflow integration capacitors (LOFIC) and OMNIVISION’s DCG™ high dynamic range (HDR) technology to eliminate LED flicker regardless of lighting conditions. TheiaCel™ enables the OX08D10 to achieve HDR image capture at up to 200 meters. This range is the sweet spot for delivering the best balance between SNR1 and dynamic range and is optimal for automotive exterior camera applications.
 
“The new OX08D10 image sensor provides automotive OEMs with one device that combines all of the most important features, including low-light performance, LED flicker mitigation (LFM), small size and low power, eliminating the need for our customers to make performance/design compromises to address LED flicker, as they have in the past,” said Paul Wu, automotive product marketing manager, OMNIVISION. “Additionally, we are excited to debut our new TheiaCel™ technology at AutoSens this year. TheiaCel™ brings a new era to single-exposure HDR in an easy-to-implement solution that yields dramatic improvements in image quality.”
 
“LFM, HDR and high resolution have become essential prerequisites in modern automotive image sensors to achieve higher autonomy vehicles,” said Anas Chalak, technology & market analyst, Imaging at Yole Intelligence, part of Yole Group. “OMNIVISION’s TheiaCel™ DCG + LOFIC solution fulfill these criteria, aligning with the trend of implementing more exterior cameras per car in the upcoming years. By 2028, we expect the ADAS camera market volume to reach around 105M units and the overall automotive image sensor market to expand to $3.7 billion, experiencing a CAGR22-28 of 8.7%1.”
 
In the automotive market, flicker from LED traffic lights poses a serious challenge for imaging solutions, preventing ADAS and AD systems from correctly detecting lighted traffic signs. The industry has been clamoring for a solution that could be easily integrated into a CMOS image sensor to meet this challenge. Some previous approaches, while achieving satisfactory LFM, have resulted in reduced image quality, especially at high automotive temperatures.
 
OMNIVISION’s new 2.1µm single-pixel TheiaCel™ technology delivers high LFM without sacrificing image quality. TheiaCel™ leverages next-generation LOFIC capabilities together with the proven strength of OMNIVISION’s proprietary HDR technology (patented DCG and split-diode technology), which captures extremely high-contrast scenes for optimum content and image quality. OMNIVISION’s TheiaCel™ DCG + LOFIC solution achieves a wider dynamic range than earlier single-exposure HDR architectures.
 
The new OX08D10 achieves overall superior performance in key areas compared to its non-LOFIC-based predecessor – in particular, its LFM dynamic range is 3.3x higher and total dynamic range nearly 3x higher. It features upgraded cybersecurity to comply with the newest MIPI CSE version 2.0 standards, which adds functional safety to automotive image sensor data streams. The TheiaCel™ device features OMNIVISION’s a-CSP™ package technology for the smallest possible solution. Samples are available now, and the OX08D10 will be in mass production in the second half of 2024. For more information, contact an OMNIVISION sales representative: www.ovt.com/contact-sales.
 
About OMNIVISION
OMNIVISION is a global fabless semiconductor organization that develops advanced digital imaging, analog and touch & display solutions for multiple applications and industries, including mobile phones; security and surveillance; automotive; computing; medical; and emerging applications. Its award-winning innovative technologies enable a smoother human/machine interface in many of today’s commercial devices. Find out more at www.ovt.com.
 
1 Imaging for Automotive report, Yole Intelligence, 2023.
 
OMNIVISION®, TheiaCel™, DCG™, a-CSP™ and the OMNIVISION logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of OMNIVISION. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Imaging Sensors and Systems at EI 2024: Jan 21-25

IS&T is currently accepting submissions for its 2024 Electronic Imaging Symposium. Comprised of 18 conferences spanning one to four days, of most interest to the sensor community may be Imaging Sensors and Systems 2024, which focuses on a wide range of image sensing topics and brings together researchers, scientists, and engineers working in these fields, offering the opportunity for quick, open access publication of their work.  

 

What makes ISS different?

·       Offers a place of exchange and opportunity for quick publication of new work in the areas of solid state detectors, solid state cameras, new optical concepts, image processing, and novel applications.

·       Features work from both industry and academia, and includes state-of-the-art presentations by invited keynote speakers complimented by topics covered in several of the short courses, as well as the plenary, demonstration, and poster sessions.

 

·       Includes a mixture of both tutorial and highly advanced research presentations, so that researchers, students, and engineers all can find content that is appropriate to their level of expertise. Some of the conference sessions include overview talks, as well as panel discussions that allow for in-depth Q&A interactions with experts in industry and academia.

 

·       Access to all the EI conferences. Of particular interest may be:

·       Autonomous Vehicles and Machines

·       Computational Imaging

·       High Performance Computing for Imaging

·       Image Quality and System Performance

·       Image Processing: Algorithms and Systems

·       Machine Learning for Scientific Imaging

·       Intelligent Robotics and Industrial Applications using Computer Vision

 

The conference takes place in the Silicon Valley, close to San Francisco Airport, offering proximity to local tech companies and easy transportation options.

 

Submission options include proceedings paper and presentation only.

 

Extended submission deadline: 30 September 2023

ISS submission details

For other conferences, visit their individual webpage: see all conferences listing

 

Plenary speaker and other program details will be announced in the next few weeks.

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Original article: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/09/11/2740594/0/en/Tower-Semiconductor-and-Fortsense-Introduce-a-Co-Developed-Highly-Advanced-3D-Imager-for-LiDAR-Applications.html

Based on Tower’s advanced 65nm Stacked BSI CIS platform with hybrid bonding for advanced ToF (Time-of-Flight) and Global Shutter sensors

Providing state-of-the-art imaging solutions addressing the consumer, industrial and automotive market needs

Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ: TSEM), the leader in high-value analog semiconductor foundry solutions, and Fortsense, a leader in LiDAR SPAD technology solutions and ICs, today announced the successful development of an advanced 3D imager for LiDAR application based on dToF technology. The newly developed product, FL6031, is based on Tower’s 65nm Stacked BSI CIS platform with pixel level hybrid bonding and is the first in a series of products designed to address the needs of numerous depth sensing applications in the automotive, consumer, and industrial markets among others. According to Yole Group, the 3D imaging, sensors, and systems market is expected to grow at 13% CAGR reaching a $17B by 2028.

Tower’s advanced 65nm Stacked BSI CIS platform with its unique pixel level hybrid bonding between a SPAD (Single Photon Avalanche Diode) array and high performing logic enables strategic advantages including high-speed in-chip data processing and small die size which are both essential for high resolution dToF (direct Time-of-Flight) sensors. These features, combined with Tower’s extensive capabilities in pixel design and customization, enable the development of Fortsense’ new product series targeting applications that require adequate distance measurement and depth mapping for fast camera auto focus, 3D scanning, and LiDAR.

“We have chosen Tower as our strategic partner for the development of our 3D imager dToF products based on its versatile and proficient CIS platform offering,” said Michael Mo, Fortsense CEO. “The collaborative work of expert teams from both companies, combined with Tower’s vast experience in the field of imaging, yielded several successful developments over the past years. We are excited to extend our collaboration and bring to market new, advanced 3D sensing solutions that address the growing needs of strategic markets.”

“The collaboration with Fortsense on the development of an optimized 3D imager based on dToF sensor technology is a statement of both parties commitment to drive innovation and deliver exceptional sensors to the 3D imaging market,“ said Dr. Avi Strum, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Sensors and Displays Business Unit, Tower Semiconductor. “We look forward to continuing our joint efforts in the development of additional products in this series, delivering advanced solutions driving mutual growth and success.”

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Position Title - Principal Pixel Architect

Location - Pasadena, California, USA

Job Description

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Introspect Technology Announces the World’s First MIPI D-PHY v3.5 Generator

With complete backward compatibility to earlier versions, the SV5C-DPTX MIPI D-PHY
Generator supports the optional embedded clock mode and 128b-132b features of v3.5

Montreal, Canada, September 7, 2023 – Introspect Technology, leading manufacturer of test
and measurement products for high-speed applications, announced today that its SV5C-DPTX
MIPI D-PHY Generator is the first in the world to support the latest MIPI Alliance® D-PHY℠
specification, v3.5. Most significantly, the SV5C-DPTX Generator now supports the optional
embedded clock mode where only the encoded data is transmitted over a data lane, without
requiring a forwarded clock. Additionally, the SV5C-DPTX MIPI Generator supports 128b-132b
encoding, and it is fully backward compatible to earlier versions of the D-PHY℠ specification.
“As more manufacturers use MIPI interfaces to enable safety-critical applications, there is an
ever-growing requirement to test these interfaces with stimulus waveforms that cover the
entire gamut of protocol sophistication,” says Dr. Mohamed Hafed, Chief Executive Officer at
Introspect Technology. “With this in mind, we leveraged our unique ATE-on-Bench architecture
and corresponding physical layer technology to deliver exactly that. Not only is the SV5C-DPTX
MIPI D-PHY Generator capable of performing protocol testing based on embedded clock
signaling and forwarded-clock signaling, but it is also able to provide complete physical layer
characterization and conformance testing,” he added.

“It is encouraging to see this support for the latest version of MIPI-D-PHY and key new features
such as the optional embedded clock mode," said Sanjiv Desai, chair of the MIPI Alliance. "We
appreciate Introspect Technology's active involvement with MIPI over the past decade and look
forward to their continued innovation in tools that strengthen our ecosystem."

With the optional embedded clock mode, a 128b-132b data encoding scheme is used on the
data lanes, from which a clock can be recovered on the receiver side, removing the need for a
dedicated clock lane. Additionally, this latest version of the D-PHY℠ specification runs at 9 Gbps
and 11 Gbps for its short channel, which enables the latest ultra-high-definition displays and
beyond. In true Introspect Technology fashion, the SV5C-DPTX MIPI D-PHY Generator exceeds
these rates, thus offering product engineers the ability to truly stress their receiver designs and
characterize them beyond the rated specifications. Additionally, switching between embedded
clock mode and forwarded clock mode happens in software and is instantaneous – a true
enabler for fast testing and data collection during characterization or high-volume yield ramps.

The SV5C-DPTX MIPI D-PHY Generator with D-PHY v3.5 support is available for purchase now.
For a quote, please contact your sales representative, or send us an email at info@introspect.ca.

About MIPI Alliance®
MIPI Alliance (MIPI) develops interface specifications for mobile and mobile-influenced
industries. There is at least one MIPI specification in every smartphone manufactured today.
Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2023, the organization has over 375 member companies
worldwide and more than 15 active working groups delivering specifications within the mobile
ecosystem. Members of the organization include handset manufacturers, device OEMs,
software providers, semiconductor companies, application processor developers, IP tool
providers, automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, and test and test equipment companies, as
well as camera, tablet and laptop manufacturers. For more information, please visit
www.mipi.org.

About Introspect Technology
Founded in 2012, Introspect Technology designs and manufactures innovative test and
measurement equipment for high-speed digital applications. Whether it is the next augmented
reality headset or the level-4 autonomy engine in a mobility solution, our award-winning tools
are used to develop, test, and manufacture next-generation products. In short, we help the
leading global technology companies make tomorrow’s technology today’s possibility.

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Gpixel expands portfolio for video imaging with GCINE3243; an 8K 60 fps APS-sized CMOS Image Sensor

August 30th, 2023, Changchun, China – Gpixel announces the GCINE3243 CMOS image sensor, the second product in the GCINE product series for cinematography, drones, production video as well as astronomy and scientific imaging. The GCINE product line features Back-Side Illumination (BSI) for high QE and wide angular response, as well as wafer stacking for 8k frame rates up to 60 fps and various extended full well and HDR modes.

GCINE3243 is a 43MP 26.2 x 16.7 mm2 sized APS-style image sensor with a 3.2 μm2 BSI pixel size designed specifically for the demands of high-end video imaging. With a resolution of 8192 x 5232 pixels and highly configurable read out, 8K video at 60 fps or binned 4K video at 120 fps is supported, all at an impressive bit depth of up to 14 bits per pixel. Read out of the image data occurs over 32 sub LVDS channels @ 1.05 Gbps/channel.

The state-of-the-art wafer stacking technology used in the GCINE3243 sensor allows the BSI pixel array to be designed on a separate silicon wafer than its read-out circuit, pushing optical performance and read-out speeds beyond what is possible on single chip architectures. The BSI pixels in the top wafer are fully optimized for maximum light sensitivity and low noise performance. The bottom digital CMOS wafer contains an array of core cells each supporting a high speed 14-bit ADC circuit and SRAM memory blocks which are used to sum and store up to 4 subsequent sub-frames with seamless exposure, enabling an in-pixel full well charge of up to 96 ke- and a dynamic range of 81 dB in 8K mode and up to 192k e- full well in binned 4K mode and a dynamic range of 84 dB.

The advanced GCINE architecture also supports a variety of modes to achieve excellent image quality across all lighting conditions. A classic dual gain read out HDR mode provides up to 81 dB of Dynamic Range in 8K resolution. Additional HDR features including binning, exposure stacking, compressed HDR and similarly as on the GCINE4349 the Gpixel proprietary digital multi slope HDR with deterministic knee points allowing a relinearization without the need for calibration and > 100 dB of Dynamic Range. A dedicated Digital Still Camera (DSC) mode is supported as well, improving the read-out noise and offering global reset shutter control.

“By expanding the GCINE product family into smaller optical formats, we broaden the applications that can benefit from its BSI and wafer stacked architecture and variety of HDR features,” says Wim Wuyts, Gpixel’s Chief Commercial Officer. “We plan to continue to build on the success of this platform with additional standard and customized sensors supporting the professional video market.”

GCINE3243 is packaged in a 431-pin LGA ceramic package and comes with a double side AR coated glass lid. The sensor will be available in both color and monochrome versions, thereby supporting applications in scientific imaging in addition to professional video. Purchase orders for color prototype samples and evaluation boards can be placed now for deliveries this month, and monochrome samples will be available in Q4 this year. For more information, please contact Gpixel at info@gpixel.com.

About the GCINE sensor family
The GCINE family is Gpixel’s product family of truly innovative products for cinematography, drones, production imaging and other video applications, utilizing backside illumination to achieve high sensitivity and exceptional dynamic range. For more information about the GCINE product family availability and roadmap, please contact info@gpixel.com to arrange for a confidential overview.

About Gpixel
Gpixel is an international company specialized in providing high-end customized and offthe-
shelf CMOS image sensor solutions for industrial, medical, scientific, and professional
imaging applications. Gpixel’s standard products include the GMAX and GSPRINT global
shutter, fast frame rate sensors, the GSENSE high-end scientific CMOS image sensor
series, the GLUX series of high sensitivity sensors for surveillance, the GL series of line
scan imagers, the GLT series of TDI imagers, GTOF series of iTOF imagers, and the
GCINE series of sensors for professional video and photography. Gpixel provides a broad
portfolio of products leveraging the latest technologies to meet the ever-growing demands
of the professional imaging market.

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I am pleased to welcome Dave Gilblom as a new co-author on this blog! Dave is our semi-retired engineer and manager colleague with over 50 years’ experience in the imaging industry. Dave has kindly agreed to manage our newest initiative on the Image Sensors World blog --- industry job postings.

In the desktop view of the blog, these postings will appear in the left sidebar (just under the "Blog Authors"). In the mobile view you can navigate using the dropdown menu near the top of the page (where it says "Home").

We have put some rules in place for how to request a job posting on the blog. Requests can be submitted through a Google form or by contacting Dave directly by email with all the required information. No recruiters or job agencies, please. Thank you!

Image Sensors World (ISW) offers these listings as a service to the image sensor community.  They are selected entirely by ISW personnel based on relevance to our readers. ISW never receives compensation for these and makes no recommendations of any kind on the jobs or their sponsors. Each job will be posted for four weeks. Listings may be considered for renewal on request if unfilled.

If you have any ideas or feedback, please leave them in the comments below. We hope our blog readers will benefit from this new initiative!

One final point - while we expect listings for scientists, engineers and managers in industry, we also want requests from academia for faculty, post-doc and lab positions, from governments for program and research positions and from any other organization needing anyone with expertise in conceiving, designing, fabricating, testing or using image sensors.

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TechInsights has recently onboarded Dan McGrath as new “Senior Technology Fellow, Image Sensors”. With a long career in CCD and CIS technology and design, Dan is now stepping around from being a long-time user of the reverse engineering reports to being an integral part of their development.

As Dan adds his industrial experience to TechInsights, he will publish future blogs to keep TechInsights users current in the pursuit of revealing the inner structure of imagers and sensors as image sensor technology continues to advance.

For Dan’s background and to read future TechInsights blogs, sign up free to the TechInsights Platform. Access Dan’s introductory blog here: https://library.techinsights.com/reverse-engineering/blog-viewer/686810#name=undefined

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According to the latest Blomberg report (paywalled)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-23/huawei-building-secret-chip-plants-in-china-to-bypass-us-sanctions-group-warns

"Huawei Building Secret Network for Chips, Trade Group Warns"
Tech giant is reportedly getting $30 billion in state support
Biden administration monitoring and ready to take action
The leading association of global chip companies is warning that Huawei Technologies Co. is building a collection of secret semiconductor-fabrication facilities across China, a shadow manufacturing network that would let the blacklisted company skirt US sanctions and further the nation’s technology ambitions.
 

From https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/2023/08/23/huawei-hidden-chip-facilities/

In a recent disclosure, the SIA has revealed concerns about Huawei’s expansion into chip production.
The company is allegedly receiving approximately $30 billion in state funding from the Chinese government and its home base in Shenzhen, while actively pursuing chip production.

It’s said to have acquired two existing plants and is currently building three more facilities, as per SIA’s presentation.

Since being placed on the US Commerce Department’s entity list in 2019, Huawei has faced stringent restrictions in collaborating with American companies.

However, if the company is indeed developing semiconductor facilities under the guise of other entities, it might exploit this secrecy to indirectly procure US chipmaking equipment.

[Fixed missing image: 9/7/2023 --A.I.]

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Tower Semiconductor and TriEye Deliver Revolutionary CMOS-based SWIR Sensors for the Automotive ADAS Market

Demonstrating superb performance with a 1.3Mp 7um pixel pitch sensor array with excellent response in the SWIR spectrum

Based on Tower’s BSI Germanium photo-diodes on silicon using unique pixel-level electrical connection in wafer stacking process

MIGDAL HAEMEK, Israel, and TEL AVIV, Israel – Aug. 31, 2023 – Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ/TASE: TSEM), a leader in high-value analog semiconductor foundry solutions, and TriEye, pioneer of the world’s first commercial CMOS-based Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR) sensing solutions, today announced the release of a breakthrough SWIR sensor for the automotive ADAS and industrial markets, demonstrating unparalleled performance of a 1.3Mp 7um pixel array with excellent response across the SWIR spectrum. The new sensor utilizes Tower’s advanced BSI Germanium photo-diodes on silicon using a unique pixel-level electrical connection in a wafer stacking process allowing a monolithic CMOS based solution for sensing light in wavelength way beyond the capability of silicon. According to Yole Group, a leading market research firm, the short-wave infrared sensor market is expected to grow at 44% CAGR reaching $2.9B dollars by 2028.

TriEye’s sensing solution provides a clear view in any visibility conditions, even under very harsh driving conditions including very low light, severe fog, dust, or smoke conditions. While existing SWIR sensors are inherently very expensive and hence cannot be considered for mass markets, TriEye’s SWIR CMOS-based solution provides high performance at low cost and can be efficiently deployed in high volume markets such as automotive ADAS. This product profoundly addresses the progressive needs of the automotive market segment towards autonomous driving.

“We have been working closely with TriEye over the past several years on the development of their innovative sensor. As always, it is exciting to see the successful results of this teamwork being realized into its market potential,” said Dr. Avi Strum, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Sensors and Displays Business Unit, Tower Semiconductor. “Collaborating with TriEye’s pioneering team of experts in the field of SWIR sensing solutions was an exceptionally fruitful process. We are confident that this advanced sensing solution with its market-leading features sets a solid foundation for future developments and will contribute greatly to the infrared imaging market.”

"We're excited to reveal that we've selected Tower Semiconductor as our partner for the development and manufacturing of TriEye’s revolutionary CMOS-based SWIR sensing solutions," said Mr. Avi Bakal, TriEye CEO and Co-Founder. "As the ADAS market experiences exponential growth, there is a rising demand for advanced sensors capable of delivering high-resolution imaging and reliable 3D sensing in any challenging weather and lighting conditions. Tower’s expertise and extensive experience makes them the ideal partner as their innovation strongly aligns with our current initiatives and future business aspirations, paving the way for a game-changing collaboration."

For additional information about Tower’s CMOS Image Sensor technology offerings, please visit here.
For more information about TriEye’s product and technology, please visit here.

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Translated using Google translate:

The content of the business review of the board of directors of Smartway in the 2023 semi-annual period is as follows:

　　1. Description of the company's industry and main business during the reporting period

　　(1) The industry to which the company belongs

　　The company's main business is the R&D, design and sales of high-performance CMOS image sensors, and its products are widely used in emerging fields such as security monitoring, machine vision, and intelligent vehicle electronics. According to the China Securities Regulatory Commission's "Guidelines for the Industry Classification of Listed Companies" (revised in 2012), the company belongs to the "computer, communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing industry" in the "manufacturing industry", and the industry code is "C39". According to the national economic industry classification and code (GB/T4754-2017), the company's industry belongs to "integrated circuit design" in "software and information technology service industry". According to the "Strategic Emerging Industry Classification (2018)", the company's industry is "integrated circuit design". According to the "Shanghai Stock Exchange's Interim Regulations on Issuance and Listing Application and Recommendation of Enterprises on the Science and Technology Innovation Board", the company's industry belongs to the "semiconductor and integrated circuit" industry in the "new generation information technology field" stipulated in Article 4 (1).

　　(2) Industry development

　　(1) Global semiconductor and integrated circuit industry

　　The global semiconductor industry has a certain cycle, and the business cycle is closely related to factors such as the macro economy, downstream application demand, and its own production capacity and inventory. According to preliminary statistics from Gartner, a world-renowned market research institution, the total global semiconductor revenue in 2022 will be US$601.7 billion, an increase of 1.1% from US$595 billion in 2021. Some semiconductor end markets are starting to show weakness, especially those impacted by consumer spending. Rising inflation, taxes and interest rates, as well as higher energy and fuel costs, are putting pressure on consumers' disposable income. This is affecting spending on electronics such as PCs and smartphones. Semiconductor Intelligence also predicts that the continued strong automotive market and Internet of Things (IoT) growth will help the semiconductor market recover. The risk of a global recession in 2023 is decreasing. It is initially expected that the semiconductor market will continue to recover in 2024, the end market will grow moderately, and the growth rate of the semiconductor market will be 5% to 10%.

　　(2) my country's semiconductor and integrated circuit industry

　　In the past 20 years, information technology has been the main driving force for the rapid economic growth of China and the world. Since the beginning of the new century, China's GDP growth has shown a strong correlation with the integrated circuit industry, and this correlation has become more and more obvious after entering the second decade of the new century. In recent years, China's semiconductor and integrated circuit industry has experienced rapid development, industry demand has expanded rapidly, and policy support has continued to be favorable. According to the data from the China Semiconductor Industry Association, from 2017 to 2021, the sales of China's integrated circuit industry showed an upward trend year by year, and the growth rate remained at a relatively high level. 2021 is the first year of China's "14th Five-Year Plan". Driven by the good performance of the domestic macro economy, the domestic integrated circuit industry continues to maintain a rapid and steady growth trend. In 2021, the sales of China's integrated circuit industry will exceed one trillion yuan for the first time, reaching 1,045.83 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.2%. In the first half of 2022, the sales of China's integrated circuit industry reached 476.35 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.1%, and its market size is expected to reach 1,442.5 billion yuan in 2023.

　　According to the forecast of IC Insights, the compound annual growth rate of China's integrated circuit market from 2020 to 2025 will be 9.2%, and the proportion of domestic chips in China is expected to increase from 15.9% in 2020 to 19.4% in 2025.

　　(3) CMOS image sensor market pattern and development trend

　　Thanks to the widespread popularity of multi-camera mobile phones and the rapid development of security monitoring, smart car cameras and machine vision, the overall shipments and sales of CMOS image sensors have continued to expand. According to statistics from Frost & Sullivan, from 2016 to 2020, global CMOS image sensor shipments have grown rapidly from 4.14 billion to 7.72 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 16.9%. In 2022, affected by the sluggish terminal demand, according to Omida's forecast analysis, the global CMOS image sensor market may decline to US$18.6 billion after maintaining double-digit growth for six consecutive years, a year-on-year decline of nearly 7% from US$20.1 billion in 2021 . But at the same time, the agency also predicts that the global CMOS image sensor market will resume growth in 2023, and the market size will increase to US$19.3 billion, a year-on-year increase of 4%, and the growth momentum is expected to continue until 2026, when the market size will increase to $26.9 billion. Currently, CMOS image sensors are mainly used in cameras of mobile phones. Demand has also increased in recent years for other applications such as machine vision, autonomous driving, and augmented reality.

　　(3) Company business model

　　The company's business model belongs to the Fabless model. The company focuses on the research and development, design and sales of CMOS image sensors, and entrusts the main production links such as wafer production and packaging to external companies. However, considering the convenience of final product debugging and quality control , The company built its own test factory to complete most of the work of the final test (FT test), and the company does not have a huge investment in wafer production lines and packaging plants. The company has an independent and complete R&D, procurement, production and sales system, and independently conducts business activities according to its own situation, market rules and operating mechanism.

　　2. Core technology and R&D progress

　　1. Core technology and its advanced nature and changes during the reporting period

　　The company's main core technologies are all applied to the design and production of CMOS image sensors, and the source of technology is all independent research and development.

　　2. Research and development achievements obtained during the reporting period

　　During the reporting period, the company applied for 89 new intellectual property projects (including 49 invention patents), and a total of 53 intellectual property projects were authorized (including 5 invention patents). As of June 30, 2023, the company has accumulatively obtained 94 overseas patent authorizations and 1 utility model patent, and has obtained 89 domestic invention patent authorizations and 202 utility model patents.

　　3. R&D investment table

　　Reasons for major changes in total R&D investment compared with the previous year

　　From January to June 2023, the total investment in research and development was 140.8188 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.42%, mainly because the company invested more manpower and material resources in order to consolidate the technological leadership of existing products and develop new technologies and products.

　　4. Current research projects

　　*The discrepancy between the total amount of accumulated investment and the sum of the sub-item values ​​is caused by rounding.

　　5. R&D personnel

　　6. Other instructions

2. Discussion and analysis of business conditions

　　In the first half of 2023, the company achieved a total operating income of 1,072,712,100 yuan, an increase of 6.25% over the same period of the previous year, of which the combined revenue of the smart security industry was 649,231,000 yuan, a decrease of 16.41% over the same period of the previous year, accounting for 60.52% of the main revenue ; Consumer electronics revenue was 315.8608 million yuan, an increase of 89.15% over the same period of the previous year, accounting for 29.45% of the main revenue; automotive electronics revenue was 107.6204 million yuan, an increase of 63.08% over the same period of the previous year, accounting for 10.03% of the main revenue .

　　During the reporting period, due to the impact of multiple factors such as the macro environment, the recovery of market demand was not as good as expected, resulting in pressure on the sales prices of some of the company's products, and the revenue scale of the smart security business declined compared with the same period last year. However, relying on efficient R&D efficiency and market acumen, the company's consumer electronics and automotive electronics business revenue has achieved substantial growth compared with the same period last year. The goal of the tripartite business pattern of "smart security + consumer electronics + automotive electronics" provides strong support.

　　1. In the field of smart security, the company continued to make efforts in the high-end field, creating a combination of cutting-edge security products such as the Pro Series full-performance upgrade series, the AI ​​Series high-end imaging series, and the SL Series super star-level series. In recent years, the growth rate of the intelligent security industry has been steady, the vertical application fields are flourishing, and the diversified demands are constantly being released. The company is committed to exploring more potential needs of security customers, using high-performance technical products to accurately reach customers' actual applications. In the first quarter of this year, the company launched SC880SL, a new 4K super star-level image sensor with a large target area. It is the company's first 1/1.2" 8MP image sensor product. Achieve excellent night vision imaging effects. In addition, the excellent high-temperature imaging quality brought about by process upgrading and optimization also provides SC880SL with stronger market core competitiveness, striving to empower the development of smart security applications with excellent high-performance imaging performance.

　　For a long time, machine vision, as an important image information capture window, has played an important role in the automation and intelligent upgrading of various industries. At present, machine vision has been widely used in various application fields, including industrial manufacturing and logistics represented by intelligent manufacturing, intelligent screening and intelligent logistics code reading, as well as drones, sweeping robots and AR/VR. represent emerging application areas. The company has released a total of 8 professional-grade machine vision application CIS products, which can be widely used in various industrial inspection scenarios and industrial machine vision applications such as industrial code readers, AGV navigation systems, and 3D scanners. In the future, the company will further deploy high-speed industrial chip products in an all-round way, empower customer applications with high-performance imaging quality, and provide support for industrial intelligent upgrades.

　　In the future, with the continuous release of national economic policies, the gradual recovery of customer demand, the continuous reduction of downstream inventory levels and the continuous increase in the process of import substitution of high-end products, the prosperity of the smart security industry is expected to continue to pick up. The market size of the company in the smart security industry is expected to improve further.

　　2. In the field of automotive electronics, the company always adheres to safety as the cornerstone, establishes a high-quality R&D control system at the beginning of product design, and aligns with international standards, and regards vehicle safety as a key factor in the field of production and R&D. The company has passed the three major industry standard system certifications of IATF16949, AEC-Q100 and IS26262:2018 automotive functional safety process ASIL D, and has established a complete car-level chip R&D and quality management system to ensure the reliability of the entire life cycle of automotive CIS products. Escort." The company's vehicle-mounted CIS products have been mass-produced by customers such as BYD ( 002594 ) , FAW, SAIC, Dongfeng Nissan, Great Wall, Ssangyong, Kaiwo, Leapao, and Lantu.

　　According to the monitoring data of Gaogong Intelligent Vehicle Research Institute, a third-party research institution, the domestic automotive surround view market has huge development potential. In 2022, the adoption rate of front-mounted panoramic view of passenger cars in the Chinese market (excluding imports and exports) has reached 30.87%, and in 2021 it will be 22.5%. . It can be seen from this that the front-loading rate of panoramic surround view has been rapidly increasing in recent years, which will also bring more demand for image sensors, which will undoubtedly bring huge business opportunities to the company.

　　Facing the field of autonomous driving, the company released the SC850AT, a new 8-megapixel car-grade image sensor by the end of 2022. This product is developed based on the ASIL D functional safety process and complies with AEC-Q100Grade2 and functional safety ISO26262ASIL B level requirements. It fully meets the high safety and high reliability requirements of the smart car industry and helps high-end ADAS/AD systems move towards a higher level. This product is currently in the sample testing phase.

　　In the future, the company will continue to focus on the three major application scenarios of in-vehicle imaging, perception and in-cabin, continuously launch and further enrich the product matrix of ATSeries series, optimize and improve product performance and user experience, and promote the development of intelligent vehicles and the penetration of intelligent driving technology and popularity to increase market share and brand influence.

　　3. In the field of consumer electronics, through the company's continuous research and development and innovation, the company's smart phone CIS products cover the mainstream needs of the current mobile phone market, and the product resolutions range from 800,000 pixels to 50 million pixels. According to Counterpoint data, smartphones are the largest downstream application field of CIS (accounting for more than 70%). Throughout the market, consumers of high-end smartphones have higher and higher requirements for camera shooting performance. Under this trend, CIS, as the core imaging device, has become an important field for breaking the performance of mobile phone cameras. At present, 50 million pixels is the mainstream configuration of the main camera of flagship mobile phones, and it is expected to have a stable life cycle for a long time in the future, which also reflects the market's pursuit and demand for high-pixel smartphones to take pictures.

　　For the 50-megapixel product track, the company has launched two high-end CIS products, SC550XS and SC520XS, which can meet the needs of flagship smartphone main and front cameras, ultra-wide-angle and telephoto cameras in terms of performance. The SC550XS, which focuses on the high-end flagship main camera market, has been mass-produced and shipped during the reporting period, and another high-end product, the SC520XS, has also entered the stage of small-scale mass production. In the future, the company will launch more new smartphone application products to empower smartphone imaging systems with excellent imaging quality.

　　During the reporting period, the company won many awards covering IC design, image sensors, electronic components, Internet of Things companies and other fields, fully demonstrating the company's leading edge in technology and R&D strength, and representing all sectors of society's support for the company's R&D High recognition of strength. During the reporting period, the company won the following awards: "2023 China IC Design Achievement Award - Top Ten Chinese IC Design Companies" selected by the world's leading media organization ASPENCORE, and won the "2023 China IC Design Achievement Award - Best Image Sensor of the Year" ; "2022 Excellent Domestic Brand Enterprise in Electronic Components Industry" and "2022 Top 100 Chinese Internet of Things Enterprises" selected by Huaqiang Electronics Network; "2023 China International Social Public Security Products Expo-Innovative Product Excellence Award" issued by China Security Association wait.

　　Looking forward to the future, the company will adhere to the innovation-driven development concept, continue to improve the company's research and development capabilities, and optimize products and services. We will be customer-oriented, meet customer needs with better products and services, and promote the company's continuous development in various business fields.

3. Risk factors

　　(1) Core Competitiveness Risk

　　1. Risk of technology iteration

　　The product technology iteration speed of the integrated circuit design industry is fast, and the replacement of CMOS image sensors and new application scenarios emerge in endlessly. Falling interest rates and poorer customer experience. On the other hand, there are certain uncertainties in the development direction of integrated circuit products. Design companies must maintain a high sensitivity to the iterative trend of mainstream technologies and the market space of scenario applications in order to grasp the general direction of technological development in a timely manner. If the company cannot adapt to the latest trend of technological development and adjust its strategy in a timely manner, it will cause a huge waste of labor costs, capital costs and time costs, and at the same time cause the company to lose key opportunities for development.

　　2. Risk of R&D failure

　　The company's main business is the research and development, design and sales of high-performance CMOS image sensor chips. The development of its products is characterized by high technical content, long research and development cycle, and large initial investment. At present, in order to adapt to the development of the industry and keep up with the development trend of the industry's mainstream technology, the company continues to invest a lot of funds and personnel in the research and development of new technologies and new products. However, if the company fails to make correct judgments on the direction of R&D, fails to make breakthroughs in key technologies during the R&D process, fails to meet expectations in product performance indicators, or develops products that cannot meet market demand, the company will face the risk of R&D failure, resulting in the failure of early R&D. It is difficult to recover the investment, which will adversely affect the company's subsequent development and market competitiveness.

　　3. Risk of core technology leakage

　　The integrated circuit design industry is characterized by high technology intensity. The company has accumulated a large number of core technologies through long-term development, forming the company's own core competitiveness. The company has formed a series of unique core technologies in the fields of pixel design and circuit design, and continues to develop new technologies and apply for intellectual property rights. In the future, if the company's core technology is leaked due to reasons such as poor storage of core technology information or the loss of core technology talents, and the core technology is copied and utilized by competitors, it will have an adverse impact on the company's core competitiveness.

　　4. The risk of core technology talent loss

　　The integrated circuit design industry is a typical technology-intensive industry, and its reliance on R&D personnel, especially core technical personnel, is much higher than other industries. The company has formed a mature and innovative core R&D team in the process of development. However, with the intensification of industry competition, the competition for outstanding talents has become more intense. At the same time, the company must continue to introduce new talents to adapt to the ever-changing environment. Industry technology development trend. If the company fails to strengthen the incentives for existing core technical talents and attract new talents, it will directly affect the company's technological innovation capabilities and product research and development capabilities.

　　(2) Operation risk

　　1. Business model risk

　　As an integrated circuit design company, the company adopts the Fabless business model and focuses on chip R&D, design, and sales. The production process is completed in foundries such as wafer factories and packaging factories. The degree of coordination is high. The company has established long-term good cooperative relations with major suppliers such as TSMC, Samsung Electronics, Hefei Jinghe, Jingfang Technology ( 603005 ), Huatian Technology ( 002185 ), and Keyyang Semiconductor. However, due to the fact that the company cannot independently complete wafer production And packaging process, if the price of wafer and packaging purchases rises sharply, or cannot form sufficient production capacity guarantee for the company, it will directly affect the company's profitability, sales scale, shipment progress and supply guarantee to customers.

　　2. The high degree of supplier concentration and the risk of periodic fluctuations in capacity utilization

　　As an integrated circuit design company, the company's main production processes such as wafer manufacturing and packaging need to be completed in foundries. At the same time, due to the high threshold for wafer manufacturing and packaging in the integrated circuit industry, wafers that meet the company's technology and production requirements worldwide Manufacturing and packaging suppliers are limited. During the reporting period, global wafer and packaging and testing production capacity generally entered a relatively tight cycle. If the price of wafers and packaging rises sharply, or the company’s product production is affected due to shortage of wafer supply and insufficient packaging production capacity, it will have a negative impact on the company. The profitability of the company and the stability of product supply are adversely affected.

　　3. The risk of high customer concentration

　　The company adopts a sales model combining direct sales and distribution. Due to the large market demand for the company's products, the company's management of customers is relatively strict. Direct sales customers generally choose well-known terminal brand customers in the industry, while other terminal customers supply and service through well-known dealers in the industry. This strategy will make the company's customer concentration ratio relatively high.

　　Due to the high concentration of customers, if a customer with a high proportion of sales has fluctuations in cooperation with the company due to risks such as geopolitics, self-management, cooperation disputes, and tight production capacity, and the company needs a certain period of time to expand new customers, it may As a result, the company's sales scale has passively declined, and the sales payment cannot be guaranteed, which will have an adverse impact on the company's performance in the short term.

　　4. The risk that the speed of product application expansion is not as fast as expected

　　The company continues to expand product application areas according to market demand and its own technical characteristics, helping the company's continued growth in performance. During the reporting period, the company has gradually expanded from smart security to automotive electronics, consumer electronics and other fields. However, if the company's business expansion in new application areas is slower than expected, or the progress of related technology research and development is slower than expected, it may have an adverse impact on the company's operating performance growth.

　　5. The risk of not being able to maintain high-speed growth in the future

　　Affected by the rapid development of downstream industries such as 5G, smart cities, artificial intelligence, and automobiles in recent years, the demand for CMOS image sensor chips in various fields is very strong. The operating performance shows a high growth rate: However, the company's operating performance is greatly affected by the fluctuations of the upstream production capacity supply side and the downstream terminal demand side. Certainty, thereby bringing fluctuations to its income and profitability, and there may be a risk that it will not be able to maintain high-speed growth in the future.

　　(3) Financial risk

　　1. Inventory price decline risk

　　The scale of inventory increases year by year with the expansion of business scale. If the market demand environment changes, market competition intensifies or the company fails to effectively expand sales channels, optimize inventory management, and reasonably control inventory scale, it may lead to unsalable products and inventory backlog, thereby increasing the risk of inventory price decline, which will have an adverse impact on the company's operating performance.

　　2. Accounts receivable recovery risk

　　Although the company's accounts receivable are all aged within 12 months at this stage, the risk of bad debt losses is relatively small, but as the company's business scale continues to expand, or due to factors such as changes in the market environment and customer business conditions, the credit policy will be relaxed. , the company's accounts receivable balance may gradually increase. If the company's accounts receivable cannot be recovered in a timely manner in the future, it will have an adverse impact on the company's capital utilization efficiency and operating performance.

　　3. The risk of exchange rate fluctuations

　　During the reporting period, the company had overseas sales and purchases, quotations and settlements in US dollars. With the expansion of the company's overall business scale, the amount of overseas sales and purchases is expected to further increase. Although the company has considered the possible fluctuations in the exchange rate between the conclusion of contracts or orders and payment receipts and payments when conducting business, with domestic and foreign politics, Due to changes in the economic environment, there are still great uncertainties in exchange rate changes. In the future, if the exchange rate between RMB and US dollar fluctuates sharply, it will have a certain impact on the company's performance.

　　4. Gross profit margin fluctuation risk

　　The company's main product is a high-performance CMOS image sensor. The gross profit margin of the main product is mainly affected by various factors such as downstream demand, product selling price, product structure, raw material and packaging and testing costs, and the company's technical level. If the above factors change, it may cause the company Gross profit margin fluctuates, thereby affecting the company's profitability and performance.

　　5. Risk of changes in preferential tax policies

　　On December 14, 2022, the company obtained the "High-tech Enterprise Certificate" (Certificate No.: GR202231004395) jointly issued by the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Finance, and the Shanghai Municipal Taxation Bureau of the State Administration of Taxation, and the company was identified as a high-tech enterprise. The certification is valid for three years, and the company can enjoy a preferential corporate income tax rate of 15%. If the above-mentioned preferential tax policies of the state change in the future, or the company no longer has the qualifications to enjoy the corresponding tax incentives, the company may face the risk of reducing future profits due to changes or reductions in tax incentives.

　　(4) Industry Risks

　　1. Industry cycle risk

　　The company's industry is integrated circuit design, and its main products are high-performance CMOS image sensors, which are used in smart security, automotive electronics, consumer electronics and other fields, so they are inevitably affected by macroeconomic fluctuations. If the development of the downstream application field itself is impacted by industry cyclical factors, it will not be able to effectively support the company's product demand, which in turn will affect the company's performance.

　　Wafer production, packaging and other industries are prone to wandering between insufficient capacity and excess capacity due to the long production capacity construction cycle, which in turn affects the development of integrated circuit design companies. When there is a periodic shortage of production capacity in the supply chain, if the company cannot achieve priority supply of production capacity through in-depth cooperation with suppliers, it may face problems such as unstable product delivery and reduced product gross profit, which will affect the company's performance and market recognition. make an impact.

　　2. Market competition risk

　　Although the company maintains a high market share in smart security and other fields through its unique technologies and products, there are still a large number of companies with technological competitiveness in the CMOS image sensor market. In the context of my country's strong support and development of the integrated circuit industry and the continued rapid development of the market in the future, there may be more CMOS image sensor design companies to increase resource investment in this field and form direct competition with the company's products. If the company cannot continue to improve its technology and product research and development capabilities, and cannot continue to update and iterate in response to downstream demand, the company's current market share may be squeezed out by other competitors, which will adversely affect the company's performance.

　　(5) Macro-environmental risk

　　The company's overseas sales account for a relatively high proportion. At the same time, some products of the company's main terminal brand manufacturers are also sold to countries and regions other than mainland China. If in the future, due to trade protection or other reasons, or because of geopolitical risks, relevant countries or regions build trade barriers through trade policies, tariffs, import and export restrictions, etc., restricting the business development of corporate customers and terminal brand manufacturers in the local market, it may It will lead to a decrease in the demand for the company's chips from the company's customers and related terminal brand manufacturers, which will have an adverse impact on the company's operating performance.

　　(6) Risks of special corporate governance structure with special voting rights

　　On July 3, 2020, all shareholders of Smartway Co., Ltd. signed the Articles of Association of Smartway (Shanghai) Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., setting up excess voting rights, and agreeing that Xu Chen and his wholly-owned or controlled shareholders will exercise their subscribed capital contribution ratio of 5 double the voting rights.

　　On December 15, 2020, the company held the inaugural meeting and the first general meeting of shareholders. All shareholders attended the meeting. The meeting unanimously reviewed and approved the "Proposal on the Establishment of Special Voting Shares in Smartway (Shanghai) Electronic Technology Co., Ltd.", and Formulate the company's articles of association and set up special voting rights share arrangements. Unless the special voting rights arrangement is terminated by the resolution of the company's general meeting of shareholders, the company's special voting rights will continue to operate for a long time. According to the special voting rights setting arrangement, the company's share capital is composed of Class A shares with special voting rights and Class B shares of ordinary shares. Except for deliberating specific matters, Class A shares and Class B shares have the same voting rights, the controlling shareholder and actual controller Xu Chen holds the Class A shares with the same number of voting rights per share as other shareholders (including the target of this public offering) 5 times the voting rights held by each Class B share.

　　Under the mechanism of special voting rights, Xu Chen, the controlling shareholder and actual controller of the company, can decide the ordinary resolutions of the company’s general meeting of shareholders, and can also play a similar decisive role in the special resolutions of the general meeting of shareholders, which will restrict other shareholders of the company except Xu Chen to a certain extent. Influence on the company's major decisions through the general meeting of shareholders.

　　If small and medium shareholders, including public investors, raise objections when voting at the general meeting of shareholders because they have different opinions on the company’s major decisions and controlling shareholders and actual controllers, it is more likely to be due to the relative number of voting rights per share. Significant differences without sufficient ability to have a substantial impact on the voting results of the general meeting of shareholders.

　　Under special circumstances, the interests of Xu Chen may be inconsistent with the interests of other shareholders of the company, especially the interests of small and medium shareholders, so there is a possibility of harming the interests of other shareholders, especially small and medium shareholders.

4. Analysis of core competitiveness during the reporting period

　　(1) Analysis of core competitiveness

　　1. Technological innovation capabilities that closely meet customer needs

　　The company adheres to the vision of "let people see and understand the world better", adheres to the concept of "customer-centric, committed to providing high-quality, intelligent video solutions", and develops a series of distinctive core technology. During the reporting period, the company deeply explored the needs of customers in emerging image sensor application fields such as smart security, automotive electronics, and consumer electronics, and developed a diversified and differentiated product series, covering a full range of high, medium and low-end products to meet customers with different positioning need.

　　2. Efficient chip research and development capabilities

　　The company has always adhered to the product development concept of "R&D generation, mass production generation, and pre-research generation". The number of mass-produced chips has increased significantly every year. Efficient research and development capabilities enable the company to quickly respond to changes in customer needs, so that its end products can better adapt to the complex and changing market environment, and achieve a win-win situation with customers.

　　3. Solid intellectual property system barriers

　　The company’s R&D investment is high. As of June 30, 2023, the total R&D investment is 140.8188 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.42%. In order to consolidate the technological leadership of existing products, the company also develops new technologies and new products. The ratio of the number of people is 50.45%.

　　As of June 30, 2023, the company has obtained a total of 386 authorized patents, including 183 invention patents and 203 utility model patents. In addition, the company has obtained 21 software copyright registrations.

　　4. Outstanding R&D team

　　Under the leadership of core technicians Dr. Xu Chen, Dr. Mo Yaowu and Ma Weijian, the company has built an outstanding R&D team through long-term technical cultivation and personnel training. The founder, Dr. Xu Chen, has more than 20 years of research and work experience in the field of CMOS image sensors. He has solved noise problems in the design of high-quality CMOS imaging systems, improved light sensitivity and night vision effects, and developed stacked global shutter image sensors. and other aspects to play a leading role in technology. Dr. Mo Yaowu has worked in semiconductor related fields for nearly 30 years, promoting the introduction of high-performance, low-power, and low-noise column-parallel readout architectures in the industry, and presided over the design of many mainstream CMOS image sensors. Ma Weijian has nearly 20 years of experience in chip research and development and industrialization, and has played an important role in promoting the company's various image sensor products with high sensitivity, high signal-to-noise ratio, and near-infrared sensitivity enhancement performance and industrialization.

　　The company attaches great importance to the introduction and training of talents, regards the ability of the company's R&D and technological innovation team as the company's core resources, recruits technical talents from home and abroad, and has established an excellent R&D team. As of June 30, 2023, the company has a total of 333 R&D personnel, 194 of whom have a master's degree or above.

　　5. Strong customer resource system

　　With long-term industry accumulation and outstanding product quality, the company has accumulated rich customer resources. The products are not only used in Dahua ( 002236 ), Hikvision ( 002415 ), DJI, Uniview Technology, Xiaomi Technology, Samsung In the terminal products of electronics and other brands, it has also accumulated a large number of small and medium-sized customer groups as a basis, forming a strong customer resource system.

　　The company has established a close cooperative relationship with end customers, deeply participates in the product design of customers, can collect customer product demand information in a timely manner, and always keeps pace with or even ahead of the increasing needs of customers in product design, and quickly implement products. In customization and development, according to the continuous update needs of customers, through the rapid iteration method of "small steps and fast running" and convenient product upgrade channels, new products with better performance and better meeting customer needs are launched in a short period of time to serve customers. In the production process, the company independently completes the final product test, which can not only control the terminal export of product quality, but also make fine adjustments according to the characteristics of the company's products, so as to achieve the best customer experience. The company's professional ability, fast response technical support and after-sales service team can quickly solve the problems encountered by customers before and after sales, assist customers to quickly complete mass production of products and solve problems in customers' use of products in a timely manner, creating a good customer experience.

　　Through long-term stable and efficient cooperation, the company has formed a good reputation among the terminal brand customer groups, cultivated strong customer stickiness, and guaranteed the stability of the company's performance.

　　6. Stable supply chain partnership

　　Under the current industrial structure, the supply chain is an important link to ensure the stable development of semiconductor and integrated circuit design companies. The company's product design is deeply integrated and optimized with the production process of the fab to meet the scene adaptability needs of multiple application fields. The company has established a close strategy with fabs such as TSMC, Samsung Electronics, and Hefei Jinghe through technical cooperation. partnership. In addition, it has also maintained good cooperative relations with packaging and testing factories such as Jingfang Technology, Huatian Technology, and Keyyang Semiconductor.

　　The company effectively integrates its own technical advantages with suppliers' production capacity and strategic needs, and through technical cooperation, it not only achieves product and process breakthroughs, but also enhances supplier stickiness. The company has adopted a multi-regional supply chain layout strategy, and has established strategic cooperation-level wafer foundry and packaging and testing cooperation platforms in mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea and other countries and regions. And efficiently integrate supply chain resources to provide a strong guarantee for production capacity.

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The April 2023 edition of ADAS and Autonomous Vehicles International features a cover story article by Dr. Sabbir Rangwala on miniaturization of LiDAR sensors.

https://www.ukimediaevents.com/publication/9cb6eeeb/36

Obstacles to lidar miniaturization

The single biggest obstacle to lidar miniaturization is the laser. Producing photons from electrons is difficult and inefficient. The telecommunication revolution of the 1990s went a long way to progress semiconductor lasers from research labs to the factory and into terrestrial and undersea fiber-optic networks. Lidar poses challenges of a different nature, as it involves laser energy transmission in free space. The transmit-receive process is inefficient due to atmospheric attenuation and range-related optical coupling losses. Addressing thousands of image elements over a reasonable FoV with acceptable resolution and high frame rates requires power levels that are difficult to realize from semiconductor lasers. This leads to the use of optical amplification (fiber lasers), large laser arrays (like VCSELs) or time and space sharing of the laser energy (scanning). Eye safety is another consideration. The 800-900nm wavelengths used by some lidars have low eye-safety margins. This improves with 1,300-1,500nm lasers, but there are still limits to the amount of safe power density that can be used to achieve a certain level of performance. Bulky system packaging and optics are required to engineer eye-safe solutions. Lasers are inefficient and sensitive to temperature. Roughly 70-80% of the electrical energy used is converted to heat (which needs to be managed). Automotive temperature ranges also cause problems because of wavelength shifts and further efficiency degradation. The complex III-V semiconductors used for lasers (GaAs or InGaAs) degrade faster at higher temperatures and in the presence of moisture. Active cooling and more complex packaging are required. At a system level, lidar currently requires hybrid integration of different materials: complex III-V semiconductors, silicon processing electronics, glass fibers, bulk optics (focusing lenses, isolators), scanning mechanisms, thermal management and complex packaging.

Current approaches
The FoV is addressed with purely solid-state approaches (no moving parts): using a single laser pulse or flash, in which all image pixels are simultaneously addressed (PreAct, TriEye, Ouster); or electronic scanning arrays of monolithic silicon SPADs and GaAs VCSELs that address regions in the FoV sequentially (Opsys, Hesai). The VCSEL-SPAD approach leverages thedevelopments, productization and integration of ToF (time-of-flight) lidar in smartphones at 905/940nm wavelengths (exact values vary and are proprietary); or optical scanning using a combination of phase-tuning antennas (optical phase arrays or OPAs) and wavelength dispersion, implemented in chip-scale silicon photonics platforms (Analog Photonics). This platform is compatible with FMCW-coherent lidar, which simultaneously measures range and radial velocity and operates in the 1,500nm wavelength band. PreAct focuses on short-range lidar for in-cabin sensing and road-facing applications. The approach is disruptive – it uses low-cost, off-the-shelf, CCD arrays and LED (versus laser) light sources to create 3D images based on indirect time of flight (iToF, like in gaming applications). The TrueSense T30 operates at an impressively high 150Hz frame rate, which is important for fast reaction times associated with short-range applications like blind spot obstacle avoidance and pedestrian safety. The size envelope includes an 8MP RGB camera and electronics that fuse the visible and 3D images. Eliminating the RGB sensor can reduce the size further. TriEye’s SEDAR (Spectrum Enhanced Detection and Ranging) is a flash lidar that uses a 1.3Mp CMOS-based germanium-silicon SWIR detector array and an internally developed, Q-switched, high peak-power, solid-state pumped diode laser that flashes the entire FoV. The higher wavelength provides greater eye-safety margins, which enables the use of higher laser power. Opsys uses a unique implementation of electronically addressable high-power VCSEL and SPAD arrays to achieve a solid-state lidar with no moving parts. It operates over automotive temperature ranges without requiring any type of active cooling or temperature stabilization. Hesai is in production for multiple automotive customers with the AT128 long-range lidar (which uses mechanical scanning for the HFoV). The FT120 is a fully solid-state lidar that uses electronic scanning of the VCSEL and SPAD arrays and is targeted for short-range applications (blind spot detection, in-cabin, etc). The company went public in January 2023, and is currently in a quiet period.

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Press release: https://www.imec-int.com/en/press/imec-integrates-thin-film-pinned-photodiode-superior-short-wave-infrared-imaging-sensors

Imec integrates thin-film pinned photodiode into superior short-wave-infrared imaging sensors

LEUVEN (Belgium), 14 August, 2023—Imec, a world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, presents the successful integration of a pinned photodiode structure in thin-film image sensors. With the addition of a pinned-photogate and a transfer gate, the superior absorption qualities of thin-film imagers -beyond one µm wavelength- can finally be exploited, unlocking the potential of sensing light beyond the visible in a cost-efficient way.

Detecting wavelengths beyond visible light, for instance infrared light, offers clear advantages. Applications include cameras in autonomous vehicles to ‘see’ through smoke or fog and cameras to unlock your smartphone via face recognition. Whilst visible light can be detected via silicon-based imagers, other semiconductors are necessary for longer wavelengths, such as short-wave infrared (SWIR).

Use of III-V materials can overcome this detection limitation. However, manufacturing these absorbers is expensive, limiting their use. In contrast, sensors using thin-film absorbers (such as quantum dots) have recently emerged as a promising alternative. They have superior absorption characteristics and potential for integration with conventional (CMOS) readout circuits. Nonetheless, such infrared sensors have an inferior noise performance, which leads to poorer image quality.

Already in the 1980’s, the pinned photodiode (PPD) structure was introduced for silicon-CMOS image sensors. This structure introduces an additional transistor gate and a special photodetector structure, by which the charges can be completely drained before integration begins (allowing reset operation without kTC noise nor the effect of the previous frame). Consequently, because of lower noise and improved power performance, PPDs dominate the consumer market for silicon-based image sensors. Beyond silicon imaging, incorporating this structure was not possible up until now because of the difficulty of hybridizing two different semiconductor systems.

Now, imec demonstrates successful incorporation of a PPD structure in the readout circuit of thin-film-based image sensors; the first of its kind. A SWIR quantum-dot photodetector was monolithically hybridized with an indium-gallium-zinc oxide (IGZO)-based thin-film transistor into a PPD pixel. This array was subsequently processed on a CMOS readout circuit to form a superior thin-film SWIR image sensor. “The prototype 4T image sensor showed a remarkable low read-out noise of 6.1e-, compared to >100e- for the conventional 3T sensor, demonstrating its superior noise performance” stated Nikolas Papadopoulos, project leader ‘Thin-Film Pinned Photodiode’ at imec. As a result, infrared images can be captured with less noise, distortion or interference, and more accuracy and detail.

Pawel Malinowski, imec Program Manager ‘Pixel Innovations’ adds: “At imec, we are at the forefront of bridging the worlds of infrared and imagers, thanks to our combined expertise in thin-film photodiodes, IGZO, image sensors and thin-film transistors. By achieving this milestone, we surpassed current pixel architectural limitations and demonstrated a way to combine the best performing quantum-dot SWIR pixel with affordable manufacturing. Future steps include optimization of this technology in diverse types of thin-film photodiodes, as well as broadening its application in sensors beyond silicon imaging. We are looking forward to further these innovations in collaborations with industry partners.”

The findings are published in the August 2023 edition of Nature Electronics "Thin-film image sensors with a pinned photodiode structure". Initial results were presented at the 2023 edition of the International Image Sensors Workshop.

J. Lee et al. Thin-film image sensors with a pinned photodiode structure, Nature Electronics 2023.
Link (paywalled): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41928-023-01016-9

Abstract
Image sensors made using silicon complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor technology can be found in numerous electronic devices and typically rely on pinned photodiode structures. Photodiodes based on thin films can have a high absorption coefficient and a wider wavelength range than silicon devices. However, their use in image sensors has been limited by high kTC noise, dark current and image lag. Here we show that thin-film-based image sensors with a pinned photodiode structure can have comparable noise performance to a silicon pinned photodiode pixel. We integrate either a visible-to-near-infrared organic photodiode or a short-wave infrared colloidal quantum dot photodiode with a thin-film transistor and silicon readout circuitry. The thin-film pinned photodiode structures exhibit low kTC noise, suppressed dark current, high full-well capacity and high electron-to-voltage conversion gain, as well as preserving the benefits of the thin-film materials. An image sensor based on the organic absorber has a quantum efficiency of 54% at 940 nm and read noise of 6.1e–.

 

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Xu et al published a paper titled "Near-Infrared CMOS Image Sensors Enabled by Colloidal Quantum Dot-Silicon Heterojunction" in MDPI Electronics.

Link: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/12/12/2695

Abstract:  The solution processibility of colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) promises a straightforward integration with Si readout integrated circuits (Si-ROICs), which enables a near-infrared (NIR) CMOS image sensor (CIS; CMOS stands for complementary metal-oxide semiconductor). Previously demonstrated CQD NIR CISs were achieved through integrating CQD photodiode or PhotoFET with Si-ROCIs. Here, we conduct a simulation study to investigate the feasibility of a NIR CIS enabled by another integration strategy, that is, by forming a CQD-Si heterojunction. Simulation results clearly show that each active pixel made of CQD-Si heterojunction photodiode on the CIS sensitively responds to NIR light, and generated photocarriers induce changes in electrostatic potentials in the active pixel. The potential changes are read out through the integrated circuits as validated by the readout timing sequence simulation.

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Li et al from U. Washington in Seattle published a paper titled "Frequency–angular resolving LiDAR using chip-scale acousto-optic beam steering"

Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06201-6

Abstract:
Thanks to its superior imaging resolution and range, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) is fast becoming an indispensable optical perception technology for intelligent automation systems including autonomous vehicles and robotics. The development of next-generation LiDAR systems critically needs a non-mechanical beam-steering system that scans the laser beam in space. Various beam-steering technologies have been developed, including optical phased array, spatial light modulation, focal plane switch array, dispersive frequency comb and spectro-temporal modulation. However, many of these systems continue to be bulky, fragile and expensive. Here we report an on-chip, acousto-optic beam-steering technique that uses only a single gigahertz acoustic transducer to steer light beams into free space. Exploiting the physics of Brillouin scattering, in which beams steered at different angles are labelled with unique frequency shifts, this technique uses a single coherent receiver to resolve the angular position of an object in the frequency domain, and enables frequency–angular resolving LiDAR. We demonstrate a simple device construction, control system for beam steering and frequency domain detection scheme. The system achieves frequency-modulated continuous-wave ranging with an 18° field of view, 0.12° angular resolution and a ranging distance up to 115 m. The demonstration can be scaled up to an array realizing miniature, low-cost frequency–angular resolving LiDAR imaging systems with a wide two-dimensional field of view. This development represents a step towards the widespread use of LiDAR in automation, navigation and robotics. 

a, Schematic illustration of the FAR LiDAR scheme based on AOBS. b, Dispersion diagram of the acousto-optic Brillouin scattering process. The dispersion curve of the TE0 mode of the LN planar waveguide is simulated and plotted as the red curve. At frequency ω0 (wavelength 1.55 μm), the mode wavenumber is 1.8k0 (red circle). The counter-propagating acoustic wave (green arrow) scatters the light into the light cone of air (purple circle in the grey shaded area). For clarity, the frequency axis is not to the scale. Inset: momentum vector relation of the Brillion scattering. The light is scattered into space at an angle θ from the surface. c, Photograph of an LNOI chip with ten AOBS devices. d, Scanning electron microscope image of the IDT. The period is chirped from 1.45 to 1.75 μm. e, Finite-element simulation of the AOBS process showing that light is scattered into space at 30° from the surface.

a, Superimposed image of the focal plane when the beam is scanned across a FOV from 22° to 40°, showing 66 well-resolved spots. b, Magnified image of one spot at 38.8°. The beam angular divergence along kx is 0.11° (bottom inset) and along ky is 1.6° (left inset), owing to the rectangular AOBS aperture. c, Real-space image of light scattering from the AOBS aperture. The light intensity decays exponentially from the front of the IDT (x = 0), owing to the propagation loss of the acoustic wave. Fitting the integrated intensity along the x axis (bottom inset, yellow line) gives an acoustic propagation length of 0.6 ± 0.1 mm. d, The measured frequency–angle relation when the beam is steered by sweeping the acoustic frequency. a.u., arbitrary units. e–h, Dynamic multi-beam generation and arbitrary programming of 16 beams (e) at odd (f) and even (g) sites, and in a sequence of the American Standard Code for Information Interchange code of characters ‘WA’ (h).

a, Schematics of the FAR LiDAR system. The transmitter includes a fixed-wavelength, fibre-coupled laser source, an EOM for FMCW (used in Fig. 4) and an AOBS device driven by a radio frequency source to steer the beam. An additional mirror is used to deflect the light towards the object. The coherent receiver uses homodyne detection to resolve the frequency shift of the reflected light by beating it with the LO, which is tapped from the laser source. A BPD is used to measure the beating signal, which is sampled by a digital data acquisition (DAQ) system or analysed by a real-time spectrum analyser. As a demonstration, a 60 × 50 mm cutout of a husky dog image made of retroreflective film is used as the object. It is placed 1.8 metres from the LiDAR system. b, Spectra of the beating signal at the receiver when the AOBS scans beam across the FOV. Using the measured frequency–angle relation in Fig. 2d, the beating frequency can be transformed to the angle of the object. c, FAR LiDAR image of the object. The position and brightness of each pixel are resolved from the beating frequency and power of the signal, respectively. d,e, The raw beating signal of two representative pixels (orange, d; purple, e).

 

a, Time–frequency map of the transmitted light (bottom, Tx) and received light (top, Rx), both are chirped by a triangular waveform. The chirping rate is g = 1 MHz μs−1. The frequency of the received light is upshifted by the acoustic frequency Ω/2π (RBW, resolution bandwidth). a.u., arbitrary units. b, Top, schematic illustration of the frequency of the FMCW signal as a function of time. The frequency alternates between Ω/2π ± fB. Bottom, measured time–frequency map of the FMCW signal. Because of the upper sideband and the lower sideband) generated by the EOM, the FMCW frequencies at Ω/2π ± fB are present all the time. Also present is the frequency component at Ω/2π, which is from the unsuppressed optical carrier and used for FAR imaging. c, Spectra of FMCW signals when different acoustic frequencies (red, 1.6 GHz; green, 1.7 GHz; purple, 1.8 GHz) are used to steer the beam to reflectors placed at different angles and distances. d, 3D LiDAR image of a stainless steel bolt and a nut, placed 8.0 cm apart from each other, acquired by combining FAR and FMCW schemes. The FMCW chirping rate is g = 1 MHz μs−1 and frequency excursion fE = 1 GHz. Inset: photograph of the bolt and nut as the imaging objects. e, FMCW spectra of two representative points (A and B) in d, showing signals at Ω/2π (offset to zero frequency) and Ω/2π ± fB (offset to ±fB). f, Zoomed-in view of the FMCW signals at fB for point A and B. g, Our vision of a monolithic, multi-element AOBS system for 2D scanning, which, with a coherent receiver array (not shown), can realize 2D LiDAR imaging.

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Snappy Wide 8K wide aspect ratio CMOS image sensor

Snappy Wide is Teledyne e2v's new 8K wide aspect ratio CMOS image sensor designed specifically for logistics applications where larger conveyor belts are becoming increasingly common. A single Snappy Wide sensor can cover this large field of view successfully, replacing multiple sensors for a more efficient and cost-effective solution.

Recurrent Vision Transformers for Object Detection with Event Cameras (CVPR 2023)

We present Recurrent Vision Transformers (RVTs), a novel backbone for object detection with event cameras. Event cameras provide visual information with sub-millisecond latency at a high-dynamic range and with strong robustness against motion blur. These unique properties offer great potential for low-latency object detection and tracking in time-critical scenarios. Prior work in event-based vision has achieved outstanding detection performance but at the cost of substantial inference time, typically beyond 40 milliseconds. By revisiting the high-level design of recurrent vision backbones, we reduce inference time by a factor of 6 while retaining similar performance. To achieve this, we explore a multi-stage design that utilizes three key concepts in each stage: First, a convolutional prior that can be regarded as a conditional positional embedding. Second, local and dilated global self-attention for spatial feature interaction. Third, recurrent temporal feature aggregation to minimize latency while retaining temporal information. RVTs can be trained from scratch to reach state-of-the-art performance on event-based object detection - achieving an mAP of 47.2% on the Gen1 automotive dataset. At the same time, RVTs offer fast inference (less than 12 ms on a T4 GPU) and favorable parameter efficiency (5 times fewer than prior art). Our study brings new insights into effective design choices that can be fruitful for research beyond event-based vision.
Reference:
M. Gehrig, D. Scaramuzza
"Recurrent Vision Transformers for Object Detection with Event Cameras"
IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), Vancouver, 2023
PDF: https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.05598
Code: https://github.com/uzh-rpg/RVT

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Snappy Wide 8K wide aspect ratio CMOS image sensor

Snappy Wide is Teledyne e2v's new 8K wide aspect ratio CMOS image sensor designed specifically for logistics applications where larger conveyor belts are becoming increasingly common. A single Snappy Wide sensor can cover this large field of view successfully, replacing multiple sensors for a more efficient and cost-effective solution.

Recurrent Vision Transformers for Object Detection with Event Cameras (CVPR 2023)

We present Recurrent Vision Transformers (RVTs), a novel backbone for object detection with event cameras. Event cameras provide visual information with sub-millisecond latency at a high-dynamic range and with strong robustness against motion blur. These unique properties offer great potential for low-latency object detection and tracking in time-critical scenarios. Prior work in event-based vision has achieved outstanding detection performance but at the cost of substantial inference time, typically beyond 40 milliseconds. By revisiting the high-level design of recurrent vision backbones, we reduce inference time by a factor of 6 while retaining similar performance. To achieve this, we explore a multi-stage design that utilizes three key concepts in each stage: First, a convolutional prior that can be regarded as a conditional positional embedding. Second, local and dilated global self-attention for spatial feature interaction. Third, recurrent temporal feature aggregation to minimize latency while retaining temporal information. RVTs can be trained from scratch to reach state-of-the-art performance on event-based object detection - achieving an mAP of 47.2% on the Gen1 automotive dataset. At the same time, RVTs offer fast inference (less than 12 ms on a T4 GPU) and favorable parameter efficiency (5 times fewer than prior art). Our study brings new insights into effective design choices that can be fruitful for research beyond event-based vision.
Reference:
M. Gehrig, D. Scaramuzza
"Recurrent Vision Transformers for Object Detection with Event Cameras"
IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), Vancouver, 2023
PDF: https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.05598
Code: https://github.com/uzh-rpg/RVT

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In recent Medium blog posts Ming-Chi Kuo offers some predictions for CIS market in 3Q23 and beyond.

I. Industry background and current situation:
 The wide camera CIS of the two iPhone 15 standard models will be upgraded to 48MP and adopt a new stacked CIS design. Due to the low yield rate, Sony has increased the CIS production capacity for Apple by 100–120% to meet Apple’s demand, resulting in a significant reduction in high-end CIS supply for Android.
 The global CIS wafer reconstruction (RW) key supplier Tong Hsing’s earnings call pointed out that the bottom of the CIS industry is 3Q23.
 China’s semiconductor industry policy continues to implement the domestic replacement strategy, which is the main reason why Tong Hsing is conservative in its future mobile phone CIS RW business (orders continue to be lost to Chinese competitors).
 The current inventory in the CIS supply chain has improved to a normal level (10–14 weeks) from 30–40 weeks in 1H23.
 AI visualization applications will be the other key to driving CIS growth in the long term. The most visible application at this stage is self-driving cars, and the next most likely is robotics.

II. Will Semi will benefit from a significant market share gain of high-end CIS in the next few years:
 As Sony has reduced the supply of high-end Android CIS, brand vendors need to actively seek alternative solutions, benefiting Will Semi’s high-end CIS (64MP+) order growth (since 2H23). Will Semi’s high-end CIS market share is expected to increase significantly from 3–5% in 2023 to 10–15% and 20–25% in 2024 and 2025, respectively, which is conducive to long-term revenue and profit growth.
 The current inventory level of Will Semi has improved to a normal level (about 12 weeks).

III. The high-end CIS cooperation between Smartsens and Chinese brands will become closer:
Given that more and more of Sony’s capacity and R&D resources will continue to be consumed by Apple, Chinese brands such as Huawei will actively partner with more CIS suppliers, and in addition to Will Semi, Smartsens is a potential key supplier worthy of attention.

----------------

1. Following two 2H23 iPhone 15 standard models, two 2H24 iPhone 16 Pro models will also adopt stacked-designed CIS, so Sony’s high-end CIS capacity will continue to be tight in 2024, benefinting Will Semi to continue to obtain more orders for high-end CIS from Chinese smartphone brands (design- in & design-win).

2. Will Semi’s CIS shipments declined YoY in 1H23 due to inventory corrections, but due to inventory restocking and market share gains, the company will bottom out ahead of smartphone (end device) and resume growth from 2H23. Will Semi CIS shipments will improve significantly in 2023, growing by about 8% YoY (vs. a decline of about 40% YoY in 2022), which is better than smartphones and most components.

3. As Sony’s high-end CIS capacity remains tight, Will Semi’s high-end CIS (48MP+) market share will continue to grow rapidly. It is expected that 2H23 high-end CIS shipments will increase by about 50% HoH to 36 million units, and shipments in 3Q23 and 4Q23 will be about 16 million and 20 million units, respectively. Benefiting from the significant increase in orders in 2H23, Will Semi’s high-end CIS shipments in 2023 will grow by about 35% YoY.

4. Among Will Semi’s high-end CIS, the main contributions come from OV50A, OV50E, OV50H and OV64B. The above mentioned CIS replaced many orders from Sony.
Looking forward to 2024, thanks to the tight capacity of Sony’s high-end CIS, Will Semi’s total CIS and high-end CIS shipments are expected to grow by about 15–20% YoY and 40–50% YoY, respectively. With the continued improvement in total shipments and product mix, sales and profit are expected to grow significantly from 2H23.

----------------

In other market news, Sony reported a 41% drop in operating income for the image sensor business. 

https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/IR/library/presen/er/pdf/23q1_sonypre.pdf

 

 

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Link: https://www.usa.canon.com/shop/p/ms-500?cjevent=a2aac72b313b11ee83f885190a82b832&cjdata=MXxOfDB8WXww

MS-500

•  Long-range ultra-high-sensitivity low-light camera
•  Features the Canon-designed and developed 1-inch Single-Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) Sensor with approx. 3.2 million pixels
•  B4 mount that supports Canon’s lineup of ultra-telephoto 2/3-inch broadcast zoom lenses
•  The CrispImg2 Custom Picture Preset optimizes resolution and contrast while suppressing image noise
•  Custom Picture Mode allows users to create up to 20 customized image quality settings for various shooting conditions
•  Haze Compensation and Smart Shade Control features reduce the effects of haze and mist while automatically adjusting contrast and image brightness
•  Full color Infrared shooting (Night Mode)
•  RS-422 serial remote control interface 

The MS-500 Ultra-High-Sensitivity Camera
The MS-500 is the first advanced long-range low-light camera from Canon, which was developed for viewing remote objects at a distance of several miles in color – day or night.
This camera is equipped with the ultra-high-sensitivity Single-Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) sensor and the B4 mount1 that can support Canon broadcast lenses, enabling capture of long-range objects even in low light.

Equipped with an Innovative Ultra-high Sensitivity SPAD Sensor
The SPAD sensor captures the brightness of a subject by digitally counting each incoming light particle (photon) through a method called photon counting, which is completely different from the conventional CMOS sensor.

 

Conventional CMOS sensors accumulate electrons generated by light as electric charge and converts them into digital signals and reads them out. With the SPAD sensor, when even one photon reaches a pixel and generates an electron the sensor instantaneously2 multiplies the electron by approximately 1 million times by the electron avalanche effect3 and outputs it as an electrical pulse signal. By counting the number of these pulses, the amount of incident light can be detected as a digital value.

This allows the SPAD sensor to detect light more accurately with less noise compared to CMOS sensors, which accumulate light particles as analog signals. The analog signals must be converted to digital before being read out, resulting in noise contamination.

Specifications:

Canon's official press release [link]:

Canon Launches MS-500 - The World’s First Ultra-High-Sensitivity Interchangeable-Lens SPAD Sensor Camera

The Camera Supports Advanced Surveillance, Enabling Color Video Capture of Subjects Several Miles Away, Even at Night
 
MELVILLE, N.Y., August 1, 2023 – Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, announced today that the company is launching the Canon MS-500, an ultra-high-sensitivity interchangeable-lens camera (ILC). The MS-500 is not only the world’s first1 ultra-high-sensitivity camera equipped with a SPAD sensor but also features the world’s highest pixel count2 on its 1” Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) sensor of 3.2 megapixels. The company announced the development of the camera in April 2023, and visitors to the Canon booth at NAB 2023 saw a working sample of the camera in action firsthand.
 
In areas with extremely high-security levels, such as seaports, public infrastructure facilities, and national borders, high-precision monitoring systems are required to surveil targets both day and night accurately. The new MS-500 camera is the world’s first ultra-high-sensitivity camera equipped with a SPAD sensor, achieving a minimum subject illumination of 0.001 lux3. When combined with ultra-telephoto broadcast lenses, it may be possible to capture clear color videos of subjects at a distance of several miles, even at night. The new MS-500 helps to strengthen Canon’s ultra-high-sensitivity camera lineup, which also includes the ME20, and ML Series4, allowing the company to meet a variety of customer needs in the advanced surveillance market.
 
Combination of SPAD Sensor and Broadcast Lenses Enable Long Range Surveillance at Night
The SPAD sensor uses a technology known as “photon counting,” which counts light particles (photons) that enter a pixel. When incoming photons are converted to an electric charge, they are amplified approximately one million times and extracted as digital signals, making detecting even small amounts of light possible. In addition, every single one of these photons is digitally counted, prohibiting the introduction of additional noise during signal readout—a key advantage of SPAD sensors. This enables clear color video shooting even under a 0.001 lux low-light environment.
 
The MS-500 camera has a built-in, industry-standard B4 bayonet lens mount (based on BTA S-1005B standards), a widely used mount for 2/3-inch broadcast lenses. The lens mount allows operators to utilize Canon’s extensive lineup of broadcast lenses.
 
Custom Picture Functions Help Improve Visibility, Including Noise and Haze Reduction
The effect of noise and atmospheric turbulence, particularly in dark environments, may cause issues with video resolution, especially in long-range surveillance applications. To help mitigate this occurrence, CrispImg2, a Custom Picture preset mode that optimizes resolution and contrast while suppressing image noise, is a standard setting in the custom picture menu. Users can also create their own custom picture profiles to adjust and save image quality settings according to various shooting environments. This feature enables users to shoot high-visibility videos at virtually any time of day or night. The MS-500 camera also includes Haze Compensation, and Smart Shade Control features that help reduce the effects of haze and mist while automatically adjusting contrast and image brightness.
 
Pricing and Availability
The Canon MS-500 SPAD Sensor Camera is scheduled to be available in September 2023 for an estimated retail price of $25,200.00*. For more information, please visit usa.canon.com.
 

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Orbbec announces family of products based on Microsoft iToF Depth Technology

Orbbec and Microsoft’s collaboration marks a new era of accessibility for AI developers to tap the power of 3D vision for their applications.

Troy, Mich, August 17, 2023 — Orbbec, an industry leader dedicated to 3D vision systems, today announced a suite of products developed in collaboration with Microsoft based on its indirect time-of-flight (iToF) depth sensing technology that was brought to market with HoloLens 2. This suite of cameras combine Microsoft’s iToF technology with Orbbec's high-precision depth camera design and in-house manufacturing capabilities and will broaden the application and accessibility of high-performance 3D vision in logistics, robotics, manufacturing, retail, healthcare and fitness industries.
“Orbbec devices built with Microsoft’s iToF technology use the same depth camera module as Azure Kinect Developer Kit and offer identical operating modes and performance,” said Amit Banerjee, Head of Platform and Partnerships at Orbbec. “Developers can effortlessly migrate their existing applications to Orbbec’s cameras by using the API bridge provided as part of their SDK.”

Developers building enterprise solutions can now develop their applications with any of the devices but use the best matched device for the deployment scenarios, e.g. applications developed and qualified using the Femto Mega can be deployed in harsh industrial applications using the Femto Mega I. Similarly, applications requiring an attached external computer can use the Femto Bolt. All cameras support a sophisticated precise trigger sync system for integration into a multi-sensor, multi-camera network.

The devices have 1 mega-pixel depth cameras with a wide 120° field of view (FOV) and a broad range from 0.25m to 5.5m. It’s combined with a high performance 4K resolution RGB camera with 90° FOV. A 6DOF IMU module provides orientation.
 

• Femto Bolt: Customers interested in a solution like Azure Kinect Developer Kit will find Orbbec’s Femto Bolt an ideal match for their commercial deployments. Beyond depth camera and architectural compatibility, it also has a more compact form factor ideal for commercial installations. The RGB camera has been enhanced with HDR capability. This is currently sampling and will be available for volume orders in October.
• Femto Mega: Announced in January 2023 and currently in production, Femto Mega is still the industry’s highest resolution smart camera. This device uses a built-in NVIDIA® Jetson™ Nano to run the advanced depth vision algorithms to convert raw data to precise depth images and thus, eliminates the need for an external PC or compute device. It also adds Power over Ethernet (PoE) connection for both data and power that is ideally suited for deployment where the camera must be placed away from the compute units or in multi-camera solutions. The developer mode SDK allows execution of AI models on the device.
•  Femto Mega I: Currently shipping, Femto Mega I is the industry’s highest performance ruggedized intelligent camera with an IP65 rating for warehouses, manufacturing and other harsh environments.

The universal trigger control hub enables easy connection using standard ethernet cables for multi-camera and multi-sensor networks. The SDK enables easy setup and registration, and a rich set of APIs allows integration with various applications.

“Since 2021, we’ve collaborated with Orbbec to bring more camera options using Microsoft’s iToF depth technology into the market to cater to a broad range of usage scenarios,” said Swati Mehta, Senior Director, Engineering, Microsoft. "The availability of Orbbec’s products provide customers with a broad set of choices that make 3D sensing technology accessible globally for a wider range of applications.”

“Orbbec’s mission is to provide superior, accessible, and easy-to-integrate RGB-D technology”, said David Chen, Co-Founder and Head of Products at Orbbec 3D. “Beyond our standard products, we can help customers with custom design and ODM services backed by our specialized design skills and manufacturing experience in high-performance cameras.”

About Orbbec www.Orbbec3D.com
Orbbec is on a mission to popularize 3D vision technology for the 3D world, create a full-stack platform for industry solution developers and build smart products with industry-leading performance and price.

More information: https://www.orbbec.com/microsoft-collaboration/

 FAQs

What are the differences between the Femto Bolt and the Azure Kinect Developer Kit?
Femto Bolt achieves a more compact form factor for easy mounting. The depth camera modes and performance are identical to the Azure Kinect Developer Kit. The color camera has also been enhanced with HDR support. A sophisticated trigger sync mechanism has been implemented for multi-sensor and multi-camera networks. The microphone array has been eliminated.

What changes do I need to make to run my SW application with Orbbec’s devices?
Femto Bolt and Mega offer identical depth camera operating modes and performance as the Azure Kinect Developer Kit. By utilizing the Azure Kinect Sensor SDK Wrapper from Orbbec SDK, applications that were originally designed for the Azure Kinect Sensor SDK can effortlessly switch the support to Orbbec cameras. To facilitate testing, users can access Orbbec Viewer and k4aviewer (part of Azure Kinect Sensor SDK Wrapper from Orbbec SDK) on Orbbec website as a simple click-and-run tool for camera testing.

How can I use Orbbec devices in a multi-camera solution?
The Femto Bolt and Femto Mega products feature an 8-pin sync system for a multi-sensor network with the flexibility of designating a camera or an external sensor as the primary. Azure Kinect Developer Kit users can use the VSYNC_IN and VSYNC_OUT pins to connect to the audio cable used for sync trigger. Orbbec’s multi-device sync trigger hub is an ingenuous design using RJ45 sockets for readily available CAT-5 (or better) Ethernet cables to allow accurate triggering over longer distance and with option of switching trigger levels between 1.8V, 3.3V or 5V.

Can I use Orbbec’s Femto Mega and Femto Bolt devices with Microsoft Body Tracking SDK?
Femto Bolt and Mega offer identical depth camera operating modes and performance as the Azure Kinect Developer Kit. By utilizing the Azure Kinect Sensor SDK Wrapper from Orbbec SDK, applications such as the Microsoft Body Tracking SDK that was originally designed for the Azure Kinect Sensor SDK, can be run on Orbbec Femto Bolt and Femto Mega devices. Orbbec does not offer support for the Microsoft Body Tracking SDK.

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In a recent paper titled "Achieving higher photoabsorption than group III-V semiconductors in ultrafast thin silicon photodetectors with integrated photon-trapping surface structures", Qarony et al. from UC Davis, W&Wsens Devices Inc. and UC Santa Cruz write:

The photosensitivity of silicon is inherently very low in the visible electromagnetic spectrum, and it drops rapidly beyond 800 nm in near-infrared wavelengths. We have experimentally demonstrated a technique utilizing photon-trapping surface structures to show a prodigious improvement of photoabsorption in 1-μm-thin silicon, surpassing the inherent absorption efficiency of gallium arsenide for a broad spectrum. The photon-trapping structures allow the bending of normally incident light by almost 90 deg to transform into laterally propagating modes along the silicon plane. Consequently, the propagation length of light increases, contributing to more than one order of magnitude improvement in absorption efficiency in photodetectors. This high-absorption phenomenon is explained by finite-difference time-domain analysis, where we show an enhanced photon density of states while substantially reducing the optical group velocity of light compared to silicon without photon-trapping structures, leading to significantly enhanced light–matter interactions. Our simulations also predict an enhanced absorption efficiency of photodetectors designed using 30- and 100-nm silicon thin films that are compatible with CMOS electronics. Despite a very thin absorption layer, such photon-trapping structures can enable high-efficiency and high-speed photodetectors needed in ultrafast computer networks, data communication, and imaging systems, with the potential to revolutionize on-chip logic and optoelectronic integration.

Design and fabrication of highly absorbing thin-film Si photon-trapping photodetector. (a) Schematic of the photon-trapping silicon MSM photodetector. The photon-trapping cylindrical hole arrays allow lateral propagation by bending the incident light, resulting in an enhanced photon absorption in Si. (b) Optical microscopy images of the photon-trapping photodetectors fabricated on a 1  μm thin Si layer of the SOI substrate for a range of hole diameters, d, and period, p of the holes. Under white light illuminations, the flat devices look white (bottom left) because of surface reflection. The most effective photon-trapping device looks black (bottom right). Less effective photon-trapping devices show different colors reflected from the surface of the devices. SEM images of fabricated (c) planar and (d) photon-trapping MSM photodetectors. The inset indicates circular-shaped holes in a hexagonal lattice formation (Video 1, mp4, 5.27 MB [URL: https://doi.org/10.1117/1.APN.2.5.056001.s1]).

Experimental demonstration of absorption enhancement in Si that exceeds the intrinsic absorption limit of GaAs. (a) Comparison of the enhanced absorption coefficients (αeff) of the Si photon-trapping photodetectors and the intrinsic absorption coefficients of Si (bulk),57 GaAs,57 Ge,56 and In0.52Ga0.48As.56 The absorption coefficient of engineered photodetectors (PD) shows an increase of 20× at 850 nm wavelength compared to bulk Si, exceeds the intrinsic absorption coefficient of GaAs, and approaches the values of the intrinsic absorption coefficients of Ge and InGaAs. (b) The measured quantum efficiencies of the Si devices have an excellent agreement with FDTD simulation in both planar and photon-trapping devices. (c) Photon-trapping photodetectors exhibit reduced capacitance compared to their planar counterpart, enhancing the ultrafast photoresponse capability of the device (Video 2, mp4, 9.68 MB [URL: https://doi.org/10.1117/1.APN.2.5.056001.s2]).

Theoretical demonstration of enhanced absorption characteristics in ultrathin Si film integrated with photon-trapping structures. (a) Comparison of simulated absorption of photon-trapping [Fig. 1(a) and Fig. S7 in the Supplementary Material] and planar structures demonstrates absorption efficiency in photon-trapping Si around 90% in 1  μm thickness. In contrast, the black curve shows extremely low-absorption efficiency in planar Si without such surface structures. Calculated Poynting vectors in holey 1  μm thin Si on (b) x−z (cross section) and (c) x−y (top view) planes showing that the vectors originated from the hole and moved laterally to the Si sidewalls, where the photons are absorbed. (d) Simulated enhanced optical absorption in ultrathin Si of 30 and 100 nm thicknesses with and without photon-trapping structures.

Reduced group velocity in photon-trapping Si (slow light) and enhanced optical coupling to lateral modes contribute to enhanced photon absorption. Calculated band structure of Si film with (a) small holes (d=100  nm, p=1000  nm, and thickness, tSi=1000  nm) and (b) large holes (d=700  nm, p=1000  nm, and thickness, tSi=1000  nm). Red curves represent TE modes and blue curves represent TM modes. Slanted dashed lines are solutions for kc that couple into the lateral propagation for a vertically illuminating light source. Small hole structures exhibit solutions only for the finite number of the eigenmodes with k=0 (vertical dashed line), whereas large hole structures essentially have both solutions k=kc and k=0 (vertical and slanted dashed lines) with the eigenmodes, pronouncing enhanced coupling phenomena and laterally propagated optical modes. (c) FDTD simulations exhibit optical coupling and the creation of lateral modes. Low coupling and photonic bandgap phenomena are observed for the hole size smaller than the half-wavelength. (d) Larger holes that are comparable to the wavelengths of the incident photons facilitate a higher number of optical modes and enhanced lateral propagation of light. (e) Calculated optical absorption in Si with a small hole (d=100  nm, p=1000  nm, and thickness, tSi=1000  nm) compared with the absorption of the large hole (d=700  nm, p=1000  nm, and thickness=1000  nm). (f) For frequencies (period of holes/light wavelength) between 1.3 and 1.6, the normalized light group velocity (red curve) for 850 nm wavelength is significantly lower in photon-trapping Si compared to that of the bulk Si (blue line). The red curve represents an averaged group velocity for Si photon-trapping structures, which exhibits a distinctly lower value in our fabricated devices (Video 3, mp4, 12.4 MB [URL: https://doi.org/10.1117/1.APN.2.5.056001.s3]).

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