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As Rob pointed in comments, there is a nice Andor webinar comparing trade-offs in EMCCD and sCMOS camera design:

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Transparency Market Research predicts that the global camera module market will grow from a net worth of nearly $12.00 billion in 2012 to $43.06 billion by the end of 2019, growing at a CAGR of nearly 19.7% between 2013 and 2019. Rising demands for CMOS camera modules and robust expansion of the market in Asia-Pacific countries such as India, China, Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore are supporting growth of the market.

The global camera module market is highly fragmented with market players competing hard to acquire significant market shares. Major businesses operating in the global camera modules’ marketplace include SEMCO, Liteon Chicony, Toshiba, STMicro, LG-Innotek, Primax, Sharp, Foxconn, Sunny, Samsung Fiberoptic, BYD, Vista Point, Cowell, Truly, and KMOT.

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Dutch PC Magazine reports that Netherlands is the first country where Intel RealSense 3D camera-equipped computers have become available on the market. Only two products featuring RealSense technology have reached the shops so far. Asus N551JQ Ultrabook offers the 3D camera as an option:


The second product is Lenovo B50-30 All-in-one PC, too offering RealSense camera and applications as an option.

The RealSense hardware has a visible camera, an IR camera, and a laser projector. The working distance is said to be 30-50cm.


Dutch Hardware.info site shows the first RealSense products and their camera:

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Alexima's patent application US20140367552 "Image sensors, methods, and pixels with tri-level biased transfer gates" by Jaroslav Hynecek and Alexander Krymski proposes a global shutter "pixel with a transfer gate that is controllable among at least three biasing conditions, including a first biasing condition in which electrons are transferable from a photodiode to a potential well under the transfer gate, a second biasing condition in which the electrons are confined in the potential well under the transfer gate, and a third biasing condition in which the electrons are transferable out of the potential well under the transfer gate." The pixel cross-section and its band diagram in all 3 modes is shown below:

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Dual Aperture International (DAI) has raised $5.7M in Series A funding led by Value Invest Korea (VIK), based in Seoul, South Korea. eWBM, a licensee of DAI’s technology, also participated in the round.

Cheol Lee, CEO of VIK says, “In the past few years, many companies have tried to enable low-cost and low-power 3-D image capture, depth estimation and gesture tracking. We think it’s time to approach the problem anew. We see Dual Aperture’s technology as a game changer and with the engineering resources and world class engineers of CISS, we see an opportunity for Dual Aperture International to disrupt the imaging business in mobile and beyond.”

Dual Aperture's technology and alliances have been covered here, here and here.

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Rice University: Sidong Lei, a graduate student in the Rice lab of materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan, synthesized a single-layer matrix of copper, indium and selenium atoms (CIS). Lei also built a prototype three-pixel CCD to prove the material’s ability to capture an image:


The device traps electrons formed when light hits the material and holds them until released for storage, Lei said. CIS pixels are highly sensitive to light because the trapped electrons dissipate so slowly, said Robert Vajtai, a senior faculty fellow in Rice’s Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering. “There are many two-dimensional materials that can sense light, but none are as efficient as this material,” he said. “This material is 10 times more efficient than the best we’ve seen before.”

No info on the new sensor's QE is given, however article states that the sensor is transparent.

Manufacturing process starts with few-layer exfoliated CIS on a silicon substrate, ten fabricates three pairs of titanium/gold electrodes on top of the CIS and then cuts the CIS into three sections with a focused ion beam.

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Spectronet posted a presentation "Sony Pregius sensors: A quantum leap for machine vision cameras" by Horst Mattfeldt, Matrix Vision GmbH. Most of it is devoted to the first generation 5.8um pixel IMX174 sensor:


There is also Vimeo video version in German.

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Germany-based BASF, the world's biggest chemical company, develops a 3D image sensor and a camera. "In 2011, BASF scientists invented a new technology with the potential to impact markets as diverse as consumer electronics, automotives, medical applications, and the security industry. At the heart of this technology is a new physical effect, enabled by chemistry developed within BASF. Through a novel distance measurement technique, 3D position detection and 3D imaging can be performed as never before.

Up to now, in state-of-the-art technologies, 3D information was captured either passively by calculating the information from pictures of different perspective angles (triangulation), e.g in stereoscopic cameras, or actively by time-of-flight measurements (ToF). Both traditional technologies use up a large amount of computing power and often require postproduction processing. Now, the BASF sensor works passively with only one lens, and it does not need triangulation for the 3D data capture; this significantly decreases the demand for computing power and makes the 3D data capture very fast: with the new BASF 3D sensor technology real-time 3D imaging may find it’s way into our daily lives."

BASF 3D Sensor

A 120 page-long patent application WO2012110924 "Detector for optically detecting at least one object" by Mohamedi Haroun Al, Ingmar Bruder, Felix Eickemeyer, Peter Erk, Stephan Irle, Andreas Pelster, Rüdiger Sens, and Erwin Thiel, explains how it works:

"the invention is based generally on the hitherto unreported and surprising insight that specific optical sensors exist whose sensor signal is not only dependent on a total light power of the illumination of the sensor region, for example of the sensor area, of these sensors but in which a pronounced signal dependence on a geometry of the illumination, for example a size of a light spot of the illumination on the sensor region, for example the sensor area, also exists. This is generally not the case for most conventional optical sensors, in particular for most inorganic semiconductor sensors, since here the sensor signal is generally dependent only on a total power of the illumination, that is to say an integral over the intensity over the entire light spot which is generally independent of the size of the light spot, that is to say the geometry of the illumination, as long as the light spot lies within the limits of the sensor region. It has surprisingly been discovered, however, that in specific optical sensors, for example organic optical sensors, such a dependence of the sensor signal occurs in which the sensor signal on the one hand rises with the total power of the illumination, but on the other hand, even given a constant total power, is dependent on a geometry of the illumination. Examples of such optical sensors are explained in even greater detail below. By way of example, the sensor signal, given the same total power, can have at least one pronounced maximum for one or a plurality of focusings and/or for one or a plurality of specific sizes of the light spot on the sensor area or within the sensor region."

The application then states that the organic dye-based sensor's response changes if the light is modulated, and using a modulation at different frequencies at two sensors, one can separate illumination and geometrical data. Then the description says:

"In contrast to known detectors, in which a spatial resolution and/or imaging of objects is also generally tied to the fact that the smallest possible sensor areas are used, for example the smallest possible pixels in the case of CCD chips, the sensor region of the proposed detector can be embodied in a very large fashion, in principle, since for example the geometrical information, in particular the at least one item of location information, about the object can be generated from a known relationship for example between the geometry of the illumination and the sensor signal."

The application does not explain much about the processing and how the distance is measured:


The last part of the application is filled by rows of organic chemistry formulas, not sure what they mean:

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Grass Valley's LDK 6000 DPM CCD Multiformat HDTV Camera System, first introduced at the NAB Show in 2000 by Phillips, which was subsequently acquired by Grass Valley, gets 2014 Emmy Award for its ability to capture multiple video formats and frame rates without physically changing the image sensor.

Based on Grass Valley's patented Dynamic Pixel Management (DPM) imager technology, the LDK 6000 Camera has been used in a wide variety of high-profile sports events and broadcasting projects. "The Philips LDK6000 HD Camera System, first demonstrated in 2000, uses their patented DPM (Dynamic Pixel Management) imager technology, enabling the camera to capture multiple video formats and frame rates without physically changing the image sensor. The DPM sensor, a full frame transfer (FT) 2/3" type CCD imager, combines 9.2 million sub pixels (1920x4320) to capture 1920x1080, 1280x720, 720x576, or 720x480 pixel images in 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratios as well as 2.37:1 (Cinemascope). The DPM sensor, coupled with a mechanical blade shutter, eliminates the vertical artifacts and distortions exhibited by an Interline Transfer (IT) CCD type sensor."

"Our patented CCD technology was a real breakthrough in 2000, and the work we are doing now with our FT-CMOS technology is the next step. Being out front in capture technology guarantees that our customers will always be ready for any opportunity that arises in the future," noted Mike Cronk, SVP of strategic marketing, Grass Valley.

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Marketwired: Gentex announces an HDR image sensor with per-pixel exposure control: "Automotive video for rear vision requires a camera with high dynamic range, which is the ratio between the brightest and darkest areas of a given scene. The challenge is to display the details in the darkest and brightest areas of a given scene simultaneously, without causing the display to "washout" due to bright light sources. The new Gentex camera meets this challenge in a unique way, with a proprietary CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) imager that delivers unprecedented dynamic range. The imager allows each individual camera pixel to choose its own exposure, self-adjusting so that the brightest and darkest areas of any given scene are clear and visible."

Gentex' Nov 2014 investor presentation gives a little bit more detail on the new HDR sensor:

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Altera presents its video processing solutions in a series of videos. The first video talks about about the challenges in 4K processing IP:



Another video talks about challenges on the way to 8K HEVC encoder:



The third video talks about 4K 60fps real-time HEVC encoder:

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InVisage announces that it has set a new record for capital raised by any imaging company. The company adds China Oceanwide USA Holdings, the US subsidiary of China-based China Oceanwide Holdings Group to its roster of investors. With Oceanwide’s investment, InVisage’s total funding for its latest round has grown to $32.5M. The previous investment round announced in April 2014 has already brought the company's total investment "to more than $100 million." Then, in Oct. 2014, Invisage got a venture loan.

“We’re delighted to continue to attract market-driving investors,” says Jess Lee, CEO at InVisage. “These partners bring solid validation on an increasingly global scale. We are pleased to welcome Oceanwide as part of our broad initiative to address the China market.”

In addition to Oceanwide, InVisage’s latest funding round also includes investments from GGV Capital, Nokia Growth Partners, InterWest Partners, Intel Capital, and RockPort Capital. Ivisage QuantumFilm products are said to be released next year.

In an unrelated news, Invisage publishes a poll of 500 mobile camera users on what bothers them in their cameras. Here are the partial results:

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PRNewswire: SMIC has begun operations at its Shenzhen 200mm wafer fab. This fab is the first 8-inch production line to be put into operation in Southern China, and is also the first domestic IC production line to be launched after the 'National Outline of Promoting the Development of IC Industry' was issued this year. According to the plan, by end of this year, the fab will reach an installed capacity of 10,000 wafers per month; by end of 2015 it will reach 20,000 wafers per month, and will continue to expand its capacity further. The wafer production will mainly be devoted to image sensors, logic circuits, power management ICs and other consumer and communication electronics.

Talking about other SMIC updates, the company's Nov. 2014 presentation shows 0.13um and 0.11um BSI sensors in production and TSV for CIS in development:

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GizmoChina: Huawei presents the new Honor 6 Plus mobile phone with dual rear camera. The two 8MP cameras can shot 13MP pictures when combined, or, in low light, provide a sensitivity equivalent to pixel size of 1.98um. The dual camera also supports HDR mode and fast 0.1s AF based on stereo triangulation and features a new DSLR-like ISP integrated onto its HiSilicon Kirin 925 application processor.

A Youtube video with English subtitles explains the dual camera features:

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ISSCC 2015 program has 11 image sensor-related papers in 3 sessions, and one image sensing tutorial. T10 tutorial "CMOS Sensors for 3D Imaging" by David Stoppa covers all 3D techniques with an emphasis on ToF imagers.

Session 6 "Image Sensors and Displays" contains 5 image sensor papers:

A 1/1.7-inch 20Mpixel Back-Illuminated Stacked CMOS Image Sensor for New Imaging Applications
A. Suzuki, N. Shimamura, T. Kainuma, N. Kawazu, C. Okada, T. Oka, K. Koiso, A. Masagaki, Y. Yagasaki, S. Gonoi, T. Ichikawa, M. Mizuno, T. Sugioka, T. Morikawa, Y. Inada, and H. Wakabayashi
Sony, Atsugi, Japan
Sony Semiconductor, Kikuyou, Japan
Sony, Shinagawa, Japan
Sony LSI Design, Fukuoka, Japan
Sony LSI Design, Atsugi, Japan

133Mpixel 60fps CMOS Image Sensor with 32-Column Shared High-Speed Column-Parallel SAR ADCs
R. Funatsu, S. Huang, T. Yamashita, K. Stevulak, J. Rysinski, D. Estrada, S. Yan, T. Soeno, T. Nakamura, T. Hayashida, H. Shimamoto, and B. Mansoorian
NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories, Tokyo, Japan
Forza Silicon, Pasadena, CA

A 45.5µW 15fps Always-On CMOS Image Sensor for Mobile and Wearable Devices
J. Choi, J. Shin, D. Kang, D-S. Park
Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Suwon, Korea

Single-Shot 200Mfps 5×3-Aperture Compressive CMOS Imager
F. Mochizuki, K. Kagawa, S-I. Okihara, M-W. Seo, B. Zhang, T. Takasawa, K. Yasutomi, S. Kawahito
Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Japan
The Graduate School for the Creation of New Photonics Industries, Hamamatsu, Japan

25.3μW at 60fps 240×160-Pixel Vision Sensor for Motion Capturing with In-Pixel Non-Volatile Analog Memory Using Crystalline Oxide Semiconductor FET
T. Ohmaru, T. Nakagawa, S. Maeda, Y. Okamoto, M. Kozuma, S. Yoneda, H. Inoue, Y. Kurokawa, T. Ikeda, Y. Ieda, N. Yamade, H. Miyairi, M. Ikeda, S. Yamazaki1
Semiconductor Energy Laboratory, Kanagawa, Japan
University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Session 11 "Sensors and Imagers for Life Sciences" has another 5 image sensor papers:

A 10.8ps-Time-Resolution 256×512 Image Sensor with 2-Tap True-CDS Lock-In Pixels for Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging
M-W. Seo, K. Kagawa, K. Yasutomi, T. Takasawa, Y. Kawata, N. Teranishi, Z. Li, I. A. Halin, S. Kawahito
Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Japan
Putra University, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

A 160×120-Pixel Analog-Counting Single-Photon Imager with Sub-ns Time-Gating and Self-Referenced Column-Parallel A/D Conversion for Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging
M. Perenzoni, N. Massari, D. Perenzoni, L. Gasparini, D. Stoppa
Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), Trento, Italy

A 67,392-SPAD PVTB-Compensated Multi-Channel Digital SiPM with 432 Column-Parallel 48ps 17b TDCs for Endoscopic Time-of-Flight PET
A. Carimatto, S. Mandai, E. Venialgo, T. Gong, G. Borghi, D. R. Schaart, E. Charbon
Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

A Time-Correlated Single-Photon-Counting Sensor with 14GS/s Histogramming Time-to-Digital Converter
N. A. W. Dutton, S. Gnecchi, L. Parmesan, A. J. Holmes, B. Rae, L. A. Grant, R. K. Henderson
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
STMicroelectronics, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

A Multimodality CMOS Sensor Array for Cell-Based Assay and Drug Screening
J. S. Park, T. Chi, J. Butts, T. Hookway, T. McDevitt, H. Wang
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA

Session 16 on Emerging Technologies has one image sensor paper:

A Large-Area Image Sensing and Detection System Based on Embedded Thin-Film Classifiers
W. Rieutort-Louis, T. Moy, Z. Wang, S. Wagner, J. C. Sturm, N. Verma
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

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Pixart patent application US20140358302 "Apparatus having gesture sensor" by Chung-yuo Wu, Yi-hsien Ko, and Nientse Chen proposes gesture control that can finely change the water flow, rather than a simple on/off IR switch used now:

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BusinessWire: Ambarella announces that the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) has honored the company with the award for “Most Respected Emerging Public Semiconductor Company (achieving $100 to $250 million in annual sales).” “In previous years, Ambarella has been awarded six GSA awards including ‘Start-up to watch,’ ‘Most Respected Private Semiconductor Company’ and last year’s Morgan Stanley ‘Favorite Analyst Semiconductor Company.’ This year’s honor is a tribute to Ambarella’s diligence and continued excellence in business practices,” said Jodi Shelton, president of GSA.

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Nikkei Tech, PCWorld: Panasonic presents Hikari ID technology based on ID signals transmitted by backlighting LEDs of LCD signs. The LEDs flicker at a rate that is imperceptible to the human eye, but picked up by smartphone camera sensors from up to 5m away. The transmission speed is said to be several kilobits per second, according to Panasonic, significantly faster than conventional speeds for visible light communication (VLC). Panasonic plans to commercialize a device that transmits an ID from a light source in fiscal 2015.


PCWorld: Fujitsu presented a similar illumination-based LED technology, but with a slower speed of 10bps. Fujitsu too aims to commercialize it during its fiscal 2015.

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Silvaco publishes an application note on 4T pixel radiation damage simulation. The simulator includes quite fine effects: "Particle bombardment can change the arrangement of the atoms in the crystal lattice creating lasting damage, and increase the number of recombination (defect) centers depleting the minority carriers and degrading the analog properties of the affected semiconductor junctions. High dose rates of particles (particles/area-s) can cause partial annealing (“healing”) of the damaged lattice, leading to a lower degree of damage than with the same doses delivered in low intensity over a longer time period."

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AIT has presented a high-speed line scan sensors at Vision Show in Stuttgart in Nov 2014. The sensor works with line-rates of 200kHz (true RGB) and 600kHz (B/W), respectively. This allows for an RGB image resolution of 0.4mm at a speed of 300km/h. The sensor can be synchronised with the inspection speed which is suitable e.g. for the detection of hair-line cracks in railway lines. Fraunhofer IMS fabricates the sensor in its 0.35µm CMOS process which is certified for automotive applications.

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German industrial and machine vision camera vendor Basler has presented a series of ToF cameras at Vision Show in Stuttgart. The new cameras are said to provide a monochrome or color 2D image together with per-pixel depth information:


Thanks to HJ for the links!

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Lytro has added focus depth control feature to its lightfield camera postprocessing suite. A Youtube video shows how it works:

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SystemPlus Consulting publishes FLIR Lepton thermal imaging module reverse engineering report. 60 x 80 micro-bolometric array-based Lepton is used in FLIR One low cost iPhone clip-on camera and in Norwegian PD-100 micro UAV (thanks to SO for the info!). SystemPlus' report says:

"The microbolometer array is grown monolithically on top of a readout integrated circuit (ROIC) to comprise the complete focal plane array (FPA). An anti­reflection (AR) coated window is bonded above the sensor array via a wafer­level packaging (WLP) process, encapsulating the array in a vacuum. The purpose of the vacuum is to provide high thermal resistance between the microbolometer elements and the ROIC substrate, allowing for maximum temperature change in response to incident radiation.

The system electronics that receive and process the signal are a custom application­ specific integrated circuit (ASIC) device mounted in flip­chip on the substrate. Digital Optics' WLO brings an important part of the cost reduction. The silicon lenses are made at the wafer level with lithography and etching processes. The final cost reduction comes from the core housing, which is a three­dimensional molded interconnected device (3D­MID). Incorporating a conductive circuit pattern inside the housing provides grounding and allows FLIR to integrate a temperature sensor. Thanks to its strong integration at the core level with innovative WLO, wafer­level packaging (WLP) and custom ASIC use, the FLIR Lepton is the world's smallest microbolometer­based thermal imaging camera core."

(Source: LEPTON Infrared Camera Module Report, Dec. 2014, System Plus Consulting

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Business Wire: ON Semi/Aptina's AR0230CS sensor is a 1/2.7-inch device with 105dB DR combining low-light capabilities with superior NIR sensitivity for security cameras. It supports HDR video with improved motion compensation, advanced local tone mapping (ALTM), and digital lateral overflow (DLO) to minimize motion artifacts and enhance HDR color reproduction. AR0230CS' dual-conversion gain 3.0µm DR-Pix pixel has two modes: a low conversion gain mode that is optimized to offer greater charge handling capacity in bright environments and a high conversion gain mode which delivers increased sensitivity and reduced readout noise in low light environments.

“With demands for higher resolutions, the growth in professional and consumer 1080p security cameras has been tremendous and the 2.1 megapixel, 1/2.7 inch AR0230CS sensor is well positioned for this market,” said Alvin Wong, senior director of automotive and industrial CMOS imaging products, ON Semiconductor. “This sensor’s extensive dynamic range, superior low light performance and NIR sensitivity set it apart from other imaging solutions on the market.”

The AR0230CS is currently sampling and is expected to be in mass production in Q1 2015.

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Vision Systems Design publishes an interview with Michael DeLuca, product marketing, Image Sensor Business Unit, ON Semiconductor. ON Semiconductor areas of growth, according to DeLuca, include intelligent transportation systems, security, medical, documentation/scanning, automotive, and consumer products. "Machine vision continues to expand into new applications," said DeLuca. "As technology expands, so does the need for automation and productivity, which creates new opportunities."

One of such unusual applications has been presented by Lumenera at VISION Show, a camera-based phonograph. While many people tried to implement this, Lumenera's demo sounds better than some others that I have heard:

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Sony publishes an updated flyer on its semiconductor business status. Compared with the previous updates from August and June, the image sensor annual sales forecast has been increased one more time from 360,000M yen in June to 390,000M in August, to 410,000M now, although it's not clear if it comes from a weaker yen or is the real sales growth:

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International Image Sensor Society (IISS), the home of International Image Sensor Workshop (IISW), calls for Nominations for the 2015 Walter Kosonocky Award for significant advancement in image sensor technology. The Walter Kosonocky Award is presented bi-annually for THE BEST PAPER published in the calendar years 2013 and 2014 and representing significant advancement in solid-state image sensors. The award commemorates the many important contributions made by the late Dr. Walter Kosonocky to the field of solid-state image sensors.

In the past, only the IISW technical program committee members provided nominations and ratings to the nominated papers but IISS decided this time to solicit nominations from wider audience, i.e., attendees to the past IISW and anyone in the imaging community. The deadline for nominations is February 2nd, 2015.

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DailyMail, MacWorld, BusinessInsider and many other sites quote a rumor that the next generation iPhone 7 "camera might be the biggest camera jump ever... it's some kind of weird two-lens system where the back camera uses two lenses and it somehow takes it up into DSLR quality imagery."

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Germany-based XIMEA presents 3D cameras of Slovakia-based Photoneo said to be able to resolve 50um depth difference at 1m distance:


The cameras feature:

• Real per-pixel measurement thanks to unique method of sensing
• Extraordinary scanning range thanks to laser technology
• Efficient customizable projection system (different Wavelengths)
• Ambient light suppression
• Customizable FoV (5° - 90°)
• Power efficient
• Fast processing and low latency
• Adaptive scanning: possibility to select high-res or high-fps mode
• No Motion Blur
• Future-proof: Scalable to higher resolution

Photoneo presents 3D face scan raw data from its camera with 0.5mm resolution:

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Nature publishes "Single-shot compressed ultrafast photography at one hundred billion frames per second" paper by Liang Gao, Jinyang Liang, Chiye Li, and Lihong Wang from Washington University in St Louis, MO. While somewhat slower than the previously presented 4.4 Tera-fps system, the new camera is said to be completely passive. The abstract says:

"further increasing frame rates using CCD or CMOS technology is fundamentally limited by their on-chip storage and electronic readout speed. Here we demonstrate a two-dimensional dynamic imaging technique, compressed ultrafast photography (CUP), which can capture non-repetitive time-evolving events at up to 10^11 frames per second. Compared with existing ultrafast imaging techniques, CUP has the prominent advantage of measuring an x–y–t (x, y, spatial coordinates; t, time) scene with a single camera snapshot, thereby allowing observation of transient events with temporal resolution as tens of picoseconds. Furthermore, akin to traditional photography, CUP is receive-only, and so does not need the specialized active illumination required by other single-shot ultrafast imagers."

A figure below explains the camera principle:

CUP image formation model.

The two videos below demo the fast camera performance on laser pulse reflection from a mirror and laser pulses racing in different media:

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