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Electronic Imaging 2018, "Image Sensors and Imaging Systems" Symposium is about to publish its preliminary program. I was given an early preview:

There will be five invited keynotes:

• "Dark Current Limiting Mechanisms in CMOS Image Sensors"
  Dan McGrath, BAE Systems (California)
• "Security imaging in an unsecure world"
  Anders Johanesson, AXIS COMMUNICATIONS AB (Sweden)
• "Quantum Efficiency and Color"
  Jörg Kunze, Basler AG (Germany)
• "Sub-Electron Low Noise CMOS image sensors"
  Angel Rodriguez Vasquez, University of Sevilla (Spain)
• "Advances in automotive image sensors"
  Boyd Fowler, OmniVision Technologies (California)

The regular papers are grouped into several sessions with the following themes (the exact names are still under discussion):

• QE curves, color and spectral imaging
• Depth sensing
• High speed and ultra high speed imaging
• Noise, performance and characterization
• Technology and design for high performance image sensors
• Image sensors and technologies for automotive and autonomous vehicles
• Applications
• Interactive posters

It is a program over two days within the 5 days of the Electronic Imaging symposium. It is held at the same time as Photonics West and the week after the P2020 meeting.

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Intel publishes an official page of D400 camera family, currently consisting of D415 and D435 active stereo cameras. Reportedly, the earlier Realsense cameras SR300, R200 and F200 are being discontinued, while D400 series will be expanded to include passive and active stereo models:

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BusinessWire: Velodyne has more than quadrupled production for its LiDAR sensors to meet strong global demand. As a result, Velodyne LiDAR’s sensors are immediately available via distribution partners in Europe, Asia Pacific, and North America, with industry standard lead-times for direct contracts.

To support that expansion, Velodyne has doubled the number of its full-time employees over the past six months. These employees operate across three facilities in California, including the company’s new Megafactory in San Jose, its long-standing manufacturing facility in Morgan Hill, and the Velodyne Labs research center in Alameda.

“Velodyne leads the market in real-time 3D LiDAR systems for fully autonomous vehicles,” said David Hall, Velodyne LiDAR Founder and CEO. “With the tremendous surge in autonomous vehicle orders and new installations across the last 12 months, we scaled capacity to meet this demand, including a significant increase in production from our 200,000 square-foot Megafactory.”

Velodyne Megafactory in San Jose, CA

Looking at GM autonomous driving fleet one can understand why Velodyne needs so much production capacity:

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BusinessWire: Samsung introduces two new ISOCELL sensors: 1.28 μm 12MP Fast 2L9 with Dual Pixel technology, and ultra-small 0.9μm 24Mp Slim 2X7 with Tetracell technology.

The Fast 2L9 features reduced pixel size from the previous Dual Pixel sensor’s 1.4μm to 1.28μm.

At 0.9μm, the Slim 2X7 is said to be the first sensor in the industry with pixel size below 1.0μm. The pixel uses improved ISOCELL technology with deeper DTI that reduces color crosstalk and expands the full-well capacity to hold more light information. In addition, the small 0.9μm pixel size enables a 24Mp image sensor to be fitted in a thinner camera module.

The Slim 2X7 is also features Tetracell technology. Tetracell improves performance in low-light situations by merging four neighboring pixels to work as one to increase light sensitivity. In bright environments, Tetracell uses a re-mosaic algorithm to produce full resolution images. This enables consumers to use the same front camera to take photos in various lighting conditions.

“Samsung ISOCELL Fast 2L9 and ISOCELL Slim 2X7 are new image sensors that fully utilize Samsung’s advanced pixel technology, and are highly versatile as they can be placed in both front and rear of a smartphone,” said Ben K. Hur, VP of System LSI Marketing at Samsung.

In an earlier news, Samsung Tetracell technology received Korea Multimedia Technology Award:

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BusinessWire: ON Semi announces 3um pixel-based AS0140 and AS0142 1/4-inch 1MP sensors with integrated ISP for automotive applications. The new sensors support 45 fps at full resolution or 60 fps at 720p. Key features include distortion correction, multi-color overlays and both analog (NTSC) and digital (Ethernet) interfaces. Both SoC devices achieve enhanced image quality by making use of the adaptive local tone mapping (ALTM) in order to eliminate artifacts that impinge on the acquisition process while achieving DR of 93 dB.

Both new devices are said to have class-leading power efficiency; when running at 30 fps in HDR mode, they consume just 530 mW. Operating temperature range is -40°C to +105°C. Engineering samples are available now. The AS0140 will be in production in 4Q17, and AS0142 will be in production in 1Q18.

AS0140 ISP pipeline

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Corephotonics publishes a presentation on image fusion in dual cameras:

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VentureBeat reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook visited France Eldim optical component maker. A local reporter said the two companies had been working together for almost a decade, mostly in an R&D capacity. It was only with the release of the iPhone X that the facial recognition system is being baked into a product.

Eldim CEO Thierry Leroux told reporters that working with Apple was “an incredible adventure,” but added that there have also been huge technical challenges over the years. “For us, it was a little like sending someone to the moon,” Leroux told reporters. Cook responded, “It’s great what you have done for us.”


Thanks to JB for the link!

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Reuters quotes GM autonomous driving head Kyle Vogt, CEO of Cruise, saying that the company has acquired Pasadena, CA-based coherent LiDAR startup Strobe:

"LIDARs (sensors that use laser light to measure the distance to objects) are currently the bottleneck.

...we’ve acquired Strobe, a company that has quietly been building the leading next-generation LIDAR sensors. Strobe’s new chip-scale LIDAR technology will significantly enhance the capabilities of our self-driving cars. But perhaps more importantly, by collapsing the entire sensor down to a single chip, we’ll reduce the cost of each LIDAR on our self-driving cars by 99%.

Strobe’s LIDAR sensors provide both accurate distance and velocity information, which can be checked against similar information from a RADAR sensor for redundancy.

Our new sensors are robust to interference from sunlight, even in extreme cases, which means they can continue to operate in situations where camera-based solutions fail. When the sun is low in the sky and reflects off wet pavement, camera systems (and humans) are almost completely blinded. And when a person in all black is walking on black pavement at night, even the human eye has trouble spotting them soon enough.

Our acquisition of Strobe is a significant step toward our mission to deploy self-driving cars at scale. The founders, Julie Schoenfeld and Dr. Lute Maleki, and their team bring decades of sensor development experience to Cruise. Strobe, Cruise, and GM engineers will work side by side along with our optics and fabrication experts at HRL (formerly Hughes Research Labs), the GM skunkworks-like division that invented the world’s first laser. Together we’ll significantly reduce the time needed to create a safer and more affordable form of transportation and deploy it at scale."

Strobe LiDAR early prototype

Update: from Strobe web site:


Update #2: Ars Technica publishes its analysis of Strobe LiDAR technology based on the published papers. The Strobe LiDAR has chirp laser beam scanning based on optical phase array in one dimension and optical grating in other dimension. The detector is coherent type that determines both the target distance and speed.

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PRNewswire: OmniVision introduces Nyxel NIR technology that increases QE of up to 3x at 850nm and 5x at 940nm, when compared with our legacy NIR-capable sensors, while maintaining all other image-quality metrics. Nyxel technology is aimed to a wide variety of applications, including: surveillance, machine-vision, and automotive applications.

"Conventional approaches to NIR rely solely on thick silicon to improve NIR image-sensor sensitivity. However, this results in crosstalk and reduces the modulation transfer function (MTF). Attempts to overcome this by introducing deep trench isolation (DTI) often lead to defects that corrupt the dark area of the image," explained Lindsay Grant, VP of process engineering at OmniVision. "We have worked to overcome these challenges in an exclusive engagement with our foundry partner, leveraging technologies in its 300mm wafer fab. Initial results are very promising, and have generated a great deal of interest with our OEM customers."

OmniVision's approach to NIR imaging combines thick-silicon pixel architectures with careful management of wafer surface texture to improve QE, and extended DTI to help retain MTF without affecting the sensor's dark current.


The company video demos Nyxel NIR advantages:

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UCB researches publish an open-access paper "DiffuserCam: Lensless Single-exposure 3D Imaging" by Nick Antipa, Grace Kuo, Reinhard Heckel, Ben Mildenhall, Emrah Bostan, Ren Ng, and Laura Waller (Ren Ng is Lytro founder). From the abstract:

"We demonstrate a compact and easy-to-build computational camera for single-shot 3D imaging. Our lensless system consists solely of a diffuser placed in front of a standard image sensor. Every point within the volumetric field-of-view projects a unique pseudorandom pattern of caustics on the sensor. By using a physical approximation and simple calibration scheme, we solve the large-scale inverse problem in a computationally efficient way."

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MacRumors quotes KGI securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo saying that Apple Face ID has "tilted interest in the mobile industry away from under-display fingerprint recognition, and instead towards camera-based 3D sensing technologies as the ideal user authentication solution.

While under-display optical fingerprint recognition is only a spec upgrade from capacitive solutions, 3D sensing embodies a revolutionary user experience and warrants a premium on gross margin."

Currently, the solutions for Android phone makers are said to come from Qualcomm-Himax, Orbbec, and Mantis Vision, with Qualcomm-Himax one attracting the most attention.

Bloomberg reports a drop in sales forecasts for fingerprint device makers. Sweden's Fingerprint Cards AB warned that its Q3 revenue will be much lower than analysts' estimates. Synaptics fingerprint business also showed "softness," executives said during the company's earnings call.

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InstantFlashNews compiles a nice table showing that most application processor makers have AI co-processors integrated on their chips either now or plan that for near future. This will greatly increase vision processing capabilities of the flagship smartphones:


Update: WSJ too runs an article on that.

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Omnivision patent application US20170280075 "Flare-reducing imaging system and associated image sensor" by Chao-hung Lin, Hong Jun Li, Ping-hsu Chen, Denis Chu proposes careful bonding wire angle engineering to avoid flare by the light reflecting from the wires:

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Sony patent application US20170278889 "Solid-state imaging device, method of manufacturing the same, and electronic apparatus" by Takashi Nakashikiryo, Yoshiaki Kitano, Yuuji Nishimura, Kouichi Itabasi, Ryou Chiba, Yosuke Takita, Mitsuru Ishikawa, Toyomi Jinwaki, Yuichi Seki, Masaya Shimoji, Yoichi Ootsuka, and Takafumi Nishi says that sensors with AR coating on top of micoelens have a problem:

"In a case where an antireflection film is provided on the surfaces of the microlenses, however, if BSIs are left in a high-temperature, high-humidity condition for a long period of time, the moisture generated in part of the regions of the interfaces between the microlenses and the antireflection film might not permeate through the antireflection film but remain therein, resulting in generation of water droplets. In this case, the captured image is stained by the water droplets, and the quality of the image is degraded."

So, Sony proposes the moisture collecting holes in the corners between the microlenses:

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GlobeNewsWire: BCC Research forecasts the LiDAR market to reach $4.5b by 2022 with CAGR of 24.0%. Driverless cars and ADAS are expected to see the most growth in LiDAR use, with average annual market expansion through 2022 projected to be at 29.2%.

BCC Research on Global Market for CMOS and CCD Sensors estimates the market to more than double in 2017-2022, from $13.9b in 2017 to $30.3b by 2022, with a 16.9% CAGR.

The report has a number of interesting claims:

"End users of CCD and CMOS sensors include the aerospace, healthcare, surveillance and security, and consumer electronics sectors. End users in aerospace held the largest market share in 2016, valued at $3.9 billion, a position the sector should retain through 2022.

CCDs offer advantages over CMOS sensors, such as sensitivity, freedom from geometric distortion and superior signal-to-noise ratio."

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DPReview: RED announces a new Full Frame sensor for its WEAPON cameras, MONSTRO 8K VV.

“RED’s internal sensor program continues to push the boundaries of pixel design and MONSTRO is the materialization of our relentless pursuit to make the absolute best image sensors on the planet,” says Jarred Land, President of RED Digital Cinema. “The Full Frame 8K VV MONSTRO provides unprecedented dynamic range and breathtaking color accuracy with full support for our IPP2 pipeline.”

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Imaging and Machine Vision Europe digests Albert Theuwissen talk at EMVA-organised European Machine Vision Forum in Vienna, Austria on September 7, 2017. What new image sensor technology is being developed for the next generation of vision systems?

Some of the statements from the presentation and forum discussions:

• Stacked sensor is a major innovation to drive new features
• As other companies and foundries master the stacking process, the Sony early start advantage erodes
• Sony 3-layer stacking is an attempt to keep the technology gap between it and the competition
• Dietmar Ley, CEO of Basler, says that the CMOS sensors in industrial cameras now give excellent image quality and that only incremental changes are expected for machine vision
• Other advances in image sensors mentioned during the panel discussion included better ToF sensors and wider spectral range sensors

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Mediatek publishes a video showing its Imagiq ISP dual camera features:

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RPC Photonics announces a large-volume order for its Engineered Diffusers for a VCSEL-based, ToF 3D sensing application from a Fortune 50 company. RPC Photonics’ Engineered Diffuser provides uniform illumination with high efficiency in a custom-designed solution.

Michael Morris, founder and CEO of RPC Photonics said “Our customers come to us for solutions to their most critical optical design challenges. In this case, we were able to provide our customer with a design that met all of their needs in a cost effective manner.”

As a result of this engagement and many others, RPC Photonics is embarking on a significant capacity expansion to meet the needs of the rapidly growing 3D-sensing market.

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Open source Elphel camera unveils its 4-way camera device that is said to have higher depth resolution and less prone to artifacts than stereo cameras:

"Common approach for matching image pairs is to replace the two-dimensional correlation with a single-dimensional task by correlating pixels along the epipolar lines that are just horizontal lines for horizontally built binocular systems with the parallel optical axes. Aggregation of the correlation maximums locations between the neighbor parallel lines of pixels is preformed in the image pixels domain after each line is processed separately.

For tile-based processing it is beneficial to perform a full 2-d correlation as the phase correlation is performed in the frequency domain, and after the pointwise multiplication during aberration correction the image tiles are already available in the 2d frequency domain. Two dimensional correlation implies aggregation of data from multiple scan lines, it can tolerate (and be used to correct) small lens misalignments, with appropriate filtering it can be used to detect (and match) linear features."

The new camera is said to achieve 10% depth resolution at 200m distance with 15cm camera base.


Some 3D scene samples from the new camera are shown here.

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Light Co. publishes an interactive picture showing the complexity of its 16 module camera design:


Meanwhile, LightRumors site posts some links with the L16 camera reviews and user opinions and also talks about the users low-light experience.

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Mirae Asset Daewoo Research publishes "Autonomous driving; Age of ADAS: Invest in sensor market" note. Few interesting graphs from the note showing the cars become the major market for image sensors:

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TechInsights updates its Apple iPhone 8 Plus teardown report. The cameras cost about 10% of the BOM, slightly smaller fraction than that of iPhone 7 Plus:

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Yole Developpement publishes its webcast on 3D Imaging and Sensing :

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BusinessWire: Tessera and its subsidiaries file legal proceedings today against Samsung alleging infringement of 24 patents including some on bonding and imaging technologies:

Invensas Bonding Technologies (formerly Ziptronix) files an action against Samsung in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, alleging infringement of six patents relating to the Company’s semiconductor bonding technologies. The patents at issue are U.S. Patent Nos. 7,553,744; 7,807,549; 7,871,898; 8,153,505; 9,391,143; and 9,431,368.

FotoNation and DigitalOptics MEMS filed an action against Samsung in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleging infringement of eight patents relating to imaging technologies. The patents at issue are 8,254,674; 8,331,715; 7,860,274; 7,697,829; 7,574,016; 7,620,218; 7,916,897; and 8,908,932.

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Canon whitepaper "Advances in CMOS Image Sensors and Associated Processing" by Shin Kikuchi, Daisuke Kobayashi, Hitoshi Yasuda, Hajime Ueno, and Laurence Thorpe, first presented at the Hollywood Professional Alliance (HPA) Tech Retreat in Palm Springs on February 19, 2016 talks about challenges in 19um large pixel design (note a strange definition of conversion gain, probably meant to be image lag):

The image sensor design sought optimization of three key attributes of the photosite:
1. Sensitivity – determined by the quantum efficiency of the photosite
2. Saturated charge quantity (sometimes termed full well capacity) – that determines dynamic range
3. Efficiency of the charge transfer (sometimes termed conversion gain) – the goal being to transfer all electrons during each reset period to ensure full sensitivity

Canon says it was able to achieve 70% QE at 500nm in monochrome sensor.


The continuation of the whitepaper, mostly about extended DR and dual pixel is available here.

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PRNewswire: DOOGEE MIX 2 quad-camera smartphone is said to beat Apple in delivering 3D face recognition one month earlier to the market:

"The Face ID of iPhone X gives people one more reason to pay $999 for it, but what if the DOOGEE MIX 2 can do this as well? DOOGEE announced they would apply face recognition in MIX 2 for the first time, which will be operated by the front camera.

Since there is no room for the fingerprint sensor in full display devices at the front, face recognition may be a trend of the business. However, this is the first time that an Android smartphone using face recognition to unlock the full display. Considering iPhone X will be available in November, and DOOGEE MIX 2 is coming in October, it may become the world's first launched smartphone with face recognition and full display."

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Toyota announces an autonomous driving car Platform 2.1 densely packed with cameras and LiDARs from different manufacturers - I was able to count 16 of them:


"Platform 2.1 also expands TRI's portfolio of suppliers, incorporating a new high-fidelity LIDAR system provided by Luminar. This new LIDAR provides a longer sensing range, a much denser point cloud to better detect positions of three-dimensional objects, and a field of view that is the first to be dynamically configurable, which means that measurement points can be concentrated where sensing is needed most. The new LIDAR is married to the existing sensing system for 360-degree coverage. TRI expects to source additional suppliers as disruptive technology becomes available in the future."

Toyota video explains the new Platform 2.1 features:

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Sony publishes flyers of 2.8MP IMX421LLJ and 2MP IMX422LLJ Pregius sensors featuring 4.5um pixel and faster frame rates:


FLIR (former Point Grey) video explains the main differences between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generations of Pregius sensors:



Sony also added VGA IMX397CLN 2nd generation sensor to its lineup.

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Basler whitepaper "Applications for Time-of-Flight Cameras in Robotics, Logistics and Medicine" compares different 3D camera technologies:

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