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I got an unusual request from Dario Clocchiatti, a fresh graduate from Università degli Studi di Udine, Italy. After reading critical responses on many theses posted in this blog, Dario would like to present his MS degree thesis for a review. The thesis work has been done over a period of six months in CMOSIS, under Guy Meynants supervision.

The thesis "Characterization of Single Pixels in CMOS Image Sensors" is available for download at Google Drive. It covers a wide range of information, starting from various pixel operation aspects, all the way to the electrical measurements (optical characterization is not covered) and even PPD device simulations. Some figures from the thesis:

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Business Wire: ON Semiconductor announces 8.6MP APS-H format CCD aimed to industrial imaging applications. The KAI-08670 TRUESENSE CCD has 7.4um pixel size and is available in monochrome, Bayer Color and TRUESENSE Sparse Color Filter Pattern configurations.

"Many applications, such as those found in industrial inspection, intelligent traffic and surveillance markets, can’t compromise on imaging quality," said Chris McNiffe, VP, Image Sensor Business unit at ON Semiconductor. "The KAI-08670 Image Sensor extends the superior performance of our 7.4 micron CCD family to a new resolution node, expanding options for customers who require this advanced level of imaging performance."

As always, Truesense releases all significant performance parameters with no NDAs:


Engineering Grade devices are available today, with full production planned by the end of the year.

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ISSCC publishes an interesting video of 2014 Plenary Talk by Erik Heijne on particle imaging "How Chips Pave the Road to the Higgs Particle and the Attoworld Beyond" (requires Microsoft Silverlight). Few slides from the presentation:


And here is a Vimeo link to the presentation. Thanks to DSSB for the link!

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ElectroIQ: CMOSIS publishes a fairly detailed article "Global shutter image sensors" by Guy Meynants. The article compares few types of GS pixels, dividing them into charge domain and voltage domain families:

CDS charge domain pixel

CMOSIS' CDS voltage domain pixel

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Apple iPhone6 and iPhone6 Plus smartphones feature new 8MP camera and sensor. While keeping the same pixel size and count, the new sensor features "Focus pixels" and 1080p60 video with HDR mode and "auto image stabilization" (on top of OIS in 6 Plus model and EIS in iPhone 6):

"Focus Pixels are enabled by the new Apple-designed image signal processor. They provide the sensor with more information about your image, giving you better and faster autofocus that you can even see in preview."

"Auto image stabilization makes up for motion blur and hand shakiness by taking four photos with a short exposure time. Then the best parts of those photos are combined into one image with as little noise, subject motion, and hand shake as possible."

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SeekingAlpha: ADAS vision processor maker Mobileye climbs to about 2x of its IPO valuation a month ago, crossing $11b mark. The most recent surge is attributed to Toyota design win:

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Marketwired: Ziptronix Direct Bond Interconnect (DBI) hybrid bonding has been used by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in is three-layer imager, made with wafer-to-wafer and die-to-wafer processes. The demonstrator, a vertically integrated x-ray photon imaging chip (VIPIC) detector, was developed by a collaboration of scientists and engineers from Fermilab, Brookhaven National Laboratory and AGH University from Poland.

First, the wafer-to-wafer bonding was used to bond two ASIC wafers with TSVs. Then, the bonded wafer pair is thinned to expose the TSVs on one side, then singulated. The singulated die stacks are then bonded to an x-ray sensor wafer using die-to-wafer hybrid bonding. Subsequent thinning of the other side of the bonded wafer pair allows backside connections to the 3-layer assembly.

"Implementing DBI hybrid bonding enables us to design sophisticated combinations of sensors and readout electronics," said Ron Lipton, Staff Scientist, Fermilab. "By enabling vertical signals through stacked sensor, readout and processing layers, we can design large-scale arrays that are side-edge buttable with high fill factor."

"This is an advanced three-layer imaging chip manufactured using DBI hybrid bonding," said Paul Enquist, CTO, Ziptronix. "Electrical data shows that this approach achieves lower noise, higher bandwidth and higher gain due to lower capacitive load when compared with parts stacked using bumping. This increases the sensitivity of the 3D image sensors, making them ideal for use in high-end applications."

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Toby Delbruck, Zurich University, Switzerland, posted a Youtube demo of his Dynamic Vision Sensor: "Conventional vision sensors see the world as a series of frames. Successive frames contain enormous amounts of redundant information, wasting memory access, RAM, disk space, energy, computational power and time. In addition, each frame imposes the same exposure time on every pixel, making it difficult to deal with scenes containing very dark and very bright regions.

The Dynamic Vision Sensor (DVS) solves these problems by using patented technology that works like your own retina. Instead of wastefully sending entire images at fixed frame rates, only the local pixel-level changes caused by movement in a scene are transmitted – at the time they occur. The result is a stream of events at microsecond time resolution, equivalent to or better than conventional high-speed vision sensors running at thousands of frames per second."

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SeekingApha's Ambarella quarterly call transcript has an update on the company's upcoming 14nm products:

Fermi Wang - President and CEO:

First of all, 14 nanometer is still one of our main focuses on the R&D side this year, and it’s essential to us, because we believe when we deliver our 14 nanometer products for our next generation camera products, it will help us continue to improve our performance and also increase the gap between us and competitors in terms of power consumption and video performance.

And the current schedule, we are still on track, and we believe we will have a product coming out next year.

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EETimes-Asia publishes an interview with Nicky Lu, chairman of Etron (Hsinchu, Taiwan), chair of the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association and chair of the World Semiconductor Council, talking about China intentions in semiconductors. Few quotes on the offer to Omnivision:

If it succeeds in the OmniVision acquisition, China can easily take OminVision's business away from TSMC and bring it to SMIC. As far as Lu is concerned, "The game is fair, and things in China are moving faster than ever."

By taking over the world's leading CMOS image sensor vendor, China will gain instant access to the global market and the company's formidable market share. More importantly, such a deal generates demand for volume production of CMOS image sensors in China (not in Taiwan)—enough to fill the capacity of home-grown Chinese fabs like Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) based in Shanghai.

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Tech-On: Sony developed three IP cameras featuring the new BSI sensor with 10x sensitivity over the previous products. The lowest illuminance of a subject is 0.05 lux comparing with 0.5 lux in the previous generation of Sony BSI sensors. Sony is expected to announce the three cameras in series, starting on Sept. 12, 2014. The news cameras also feature HDR mode based on fusion of two frames with different shutter speeds:

An HDR image taken by the newly-developed camera using infrared light in the dark (right) and an image taken by an existing camera (source: Sony)

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Evertiq: CMOSIS, has assigned Bruce Bradford as the new Director of Business Development based in Cary, North Carolina to manage CMOSIS operations and growth in America. Bruce Bradford used to work for Fairchild Imaging and e2v.

"We are extremely delighted with this important step in the further development of CMOSIS as a leading player in advanced CMOS image sensors," said Lou Hermans, COO, CMOSIS. "We are investing in establishing CMOSIS America and the assignment of Bruce Bradford to support our existing customer base and to pursue new relationships and opportunities. We are delighted to have Bruce Bradford joining our team as the newly appointed Director of Business Development. We see America as an important region with lots of opportunities for our business. Bruce’s long history with CMOS sensors, CCD’s and camera systems marketplace will bring our business in America to the next level. A local, US presence was the logical step to achieve this."

"The investment in the new entity shows the dedication to support the business in the region," Bruce Bradford said.

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Albert Theuwissen publishes a call for papers for a Special Issue of IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices on Solid-State Image Sensors. Previous special issues on solid-state image sensors were published in 1976, 1985, 1991, 1997, 2003 and 2009.

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

1. Pixel device physics (New devices and structures, Advanced materials, Improved models and scaling, Advanced pixel circuits, Performance enhancement for QE, Dark current, Noise, Charge Multiplication Devices, etc.)
2. Image sensor design and performance (New architectures, Small pixels and Large format arrays, High dynamic range, 3D range capture, Low voltage, Low power, High frame rate readout, Scientific-grade, Single-Photon Sensitivity)
3. Image-sensor-specific peripheral circuits (ADCs and readout electronics, Color and image processing, Smart sensors and computational sensors, System on a chip)
4. Non-visible “image” sensors (Enhanced spectral response e.g., UV, NIR, High energy photon and particle detectors e.g., electrons, X-rays, Ions, Hybrid detectors, THz imagers)
5. Fabrication, packaging and manufacturing (stacked image sensors, back-side illuminated devices)
6. Miscellaneous topics related to image sensor technology

Submission Deadline: February 28th, 2015
Targeted Publication Date: January 2016

Guest Editor-in-Chief:
Prof. dr. Albert Theuwissen, Harvest Imaging, Bree, Belgium, and Delft University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands.

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EETimes: While MIPI M-PHY is still struggling to be adopted in mobile cameras, MIPI comes up with a multi-level signalling scheme in its newest C-PHY standard proposal. "C-PHY uses a 3-pin architecture and an embedded clock. Each of the pin trios represents one lane with up to three lanes supported for a total of 9 pins. It also uses a new encoding scheme to increase the number of bits transmitted to approximately 2.28 bits per symbol. The projected data rate is 2.5 Gsymbols/s for an effective data rate of about 5.7 Gbits/s.

A further C-PHY nuance is that the signal is transmitted single-ended, but received as a differential signal. Clock is recovered from the earliest edge of the symbol transition. A delay circuit with negative hold times is used to sample data, an approach that is potentially more resistant to noise and jitter."

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Image Engineering publishes explanations on why ISO changed the resolution chart in Feb. 2014.


"The problems users had with the old chart:

1. It is defined as a high contrast test chart with a white background. This sometimes causes clipping in the highlights or/and the shadows.
2. Visual analysis is often impossible
3. The high contrast edge is subject to sharpening which leads to misleading results when looking at an SFR derived from the edge"

The new chart is sine Siemens star image considered to be better suited for the resolution measurements, although system sharpening can still present a measurement challenge.

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Mike Electric publishes a video teardown of FLIR One camera and its thermal sensor Lepton core (part 1, part 2):

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Rice University group presented a paper on Google Glass power consumption breakup at Asia-Pacific Workshop on Systems 2014 (APSYS) at Beijing, China:

"Draining our Glass: An Energy and Heat Characterization of Google Glass"
Robert LiKamWa, Zhen Wang, Aaron Carroll, Felix Xiaozhu Lin, and Lin Zhong

The power is by far dominated by camera and image processing:


The same is seen in the temperature profiles:

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Microsoft-sponsored research on low power image sensor is now published as a patent application US20140232932 "Energy-proportional image sensor" by Robert LiKamWa, Nissanka Arachchige Bodhi Priyantha, Matthai Philipose, Lin Zhong, and Paramvir Bahl. Basically, it says that all the circuits need be to in power down mode during the idle time, and the resolution needs to be lowered when not necessary:

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Sony and Stanford University files a patent application US20140231620 "Image sensor and imaging method with single shot compressed sensing" by Yusuke Oike and Abbas El Gamal aimed to save the image sensor power: "Low power consumption is a primary concern in many CMOS image sensor applications. As the resolution of these sensors has increased while maintaining or increasing their frame rate, the analog to digital conversion (A/D) associated with the sensors has become a dominant component of power consumption. Typical image compression techniques reduce the readout rate (and hence the I/O power consumption), but cannot reduce the power consumption associated with the A/D conversions."

So, the application proposes to modify the image sensor readout architecture so that compressed sensing techniques can be applied to save power. The idea is to divide the pixel array into small blocks 12 and add a MUX at the ADC input combined with an ADC activation generator "generating a random activation code that determines which of the plurality of A/D converters is activated; and obtaining a digital read-out of the analog signals from the activated A/D converters."


The readout timing is modified, so that for each pixel block 12, first the reset level is digitized and then the signal level goes through oversampled ADC, such as 1st order sigma-delta modulator:


Then the MUX select control PMX and ADC activation code ACT work in concert to distribute the signal across a number of ADCs, whereas the reset and signal level from the each pixel are processed by the same ADC:


"According to compressed sensing a compressible signal can be recovered from a small number of random measurements by sparsity promoting non-linear recovery algorithms. Therein, the number of A/D conversions represented by M can be sufficiently less than the number of pixels in a unit of pixel block represented by N, to recover the original image. When M number of A/D converters are simultaneously dedicated to N pixels, the image sensor outputs M digital codes for the N pixels so that the compression ratio M/N can be sufficiently less than 1.

The power consumption and bandwidth of both the A/D conversion and input-output transmission can be suppressed by a factor of M/N in comparison to a normal operation wherein N, A/D conversions are required to obtain an image of N pixels. For example, 16 A/D converters dedicated for a unit of pixel block of 256 pixels achieves a compression ratio of 1/16. Note that the compression ratio can easily be varied by changing the number of A/D converters dedicated for a unit of pixel block at the multiplexers. Further, this feature also enhances the frame rate for a given power consumption level, as frames are outputted at the rate of N/M"

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Business Wire: In quite an unusual PR, Toshiba has published its image sensor business strategy and priorities:

Toshiba (TOKYO:6502) will focus on development and sales expansion of automotive and medical imaging sensor, in addition to sales expansion with Chinese smartphone manufacturers based on the BSI (backside illumination image sensor) technology and technologies that realize high sensitivity and speed. The current image sensor market is mainly for smart phones and digital cameras and has a scale of approximately 800 billion yen [1]. Future growth is expected on such factors as expansion to automotive applications and bringing higher performance levels to existing applications.

Smartphone sensors

The volume zones for image sensor used in the main cameras mounted on current smartphones are 8- to 13-million pixels. Toshiba supplies products mounting high-sensitivity image processing technology such as HDR[2] and Bright Mode[3]. We have already developed a 20-million pixels sensor for high-end market. We are meeting customer needs by developing more cost-competitive products.

Automotive sensors

Currently Toshiba sells sensor for view camera. We will use our original HDR to develop automotive image sensors, as demand for such products is expected to expand in the future. We will propose a system with TMPV75 Series, our automotive image recognition LSI, so as to expand sales to both domestic and overseas customers.

Medical sensors

We have formed an alliance with and invested in CapsoVision, Inc. (CV), maker of a capsule endoscope, as one aspect of promoting Toshiba’s healthcare business. We are now developing image sensor to mount in CV capsule endoscopes. We are also considering entering the market of sensors for catheters or endoscopes.

[1]: Toshiba survey.

[2]: HDR (High Dynamic Range) is a function that captures high contrast scenes naturally by widening the range of light and dark tones. Toshiba has developed HDR for video as well as still images in both high light and dark contrast settings. Our HDR synthesizing realizes smooth and vivid video recording by suppressing blurring and false colors.

[3]: Bright Mode is a technology to realize bright high speed movie recording. It can record movies that are up to 4 times brighter than those shot in normal mode. It can also record at frame rates as high as 240 frames a second in full HD equivalent by adopting an interlaced format. Toshiba provides high quality video technologies required for high speed video and for such features as smooth slow-motion playback, etc.

The new PR joins a series of similar ones on LSI strategy, discrete semiconductors strategy, and storage products strategy.

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PRNewswire: During the last fiscal quarter ended on July 31, 2014, Omnivision shipped 249 million sensors. The non-GAAP gross margin was 22% and net income was $54M, bringing the company cash and short-term investments balance to $524M.

Revenues for the quarter were $406.5M, as compared to $331M in the previous quarter, and $373.7M a year ago. The company expects revenues in the next quarter will be in the range of $360M to $390M.

SeekingAlpha publishes the company's earnings call transcript. Few quotes:

Shaw Hong, CEO:

"The Company's Board of Directors is reviewing and evaluating HCM's proposal. No decision has been made with respect to the proposed transaction. And there are no assurance that this or any other transaction will be consummated. We are focused on our operating our [bench] (ph). We do not intend to provide update with respect to this or any other transaction except as required by applicable law. We think you in advance for your understanding."

"We are also developing a full complement of ASIC with advanced image procession functions by combining our sensors with image processing and other peripheral functions. We can offer our customers with complete imaging system solution, such as in our machine vision products. In our core smartphones, tablet and PC market cameras are enabling new application such as capturing 3D depth information using computational photography to improve image quality and developing new human interface applications. We have partnered with industry leaders to enable 3D depth sensing for both smartphones and tablets."

"We are extremely pleased with our success in China and we expect this market will continue to be a major driver of our future goals."

"We expect India to rapidly grow to become a significant geography for OmniVision over the next few years."

Ray Cisneros, SVP of Worldwide Sales and Sales Operations:

In our first fiscal quarter, we shipped 249 million units, as compared to 201 million units in our prior quarter. The increase in volume was predominately driven by increases in 5-megapixel and HD sensors. The average selling price in our first quarter was $1.63 as compared to $1.64 in our prior quarter.

"Unit sales of 3-megapixel to 5-megapixel category represented approximately 40% of total shipments as compared to 34% in the prior quarter for the same category. The significant increase in unit shipments in this category was predominately driven by larger 5-megapixel sensor shipments to the mainstream smartphone segment in Asia."

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EETimes: Hindustan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (HSMC), Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) and three private equity groups Hahn & Company, Askveritas and Bain Capital have expressed interest in acquiring image sensor foundry Dongbu HiTek. Dongbu and its main creditor, Korea Development Bank, agreed to select the preferred bidder in September 2014. Some of the past and current Dongbu customers are Pixelplus, SiliconFile, SETi, Clairpixel, Rayence, Foveon.

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Chipworks analyst Ray Fontaine publishes an analysis "iPhone’s Cameras – What’s Coming in the iPhone 6?" based on the history of iPhone cameras:

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Business Wire: TowerJazz Panasonic Semiconductor Co. announce its first third party CIS customer, Himax Imaging, that is developing the next generation high end cameras for smart phone applications using TPSCo’s 1.12um pixel. The pixel incorporates cutting edge light loss reduction technologies using a proprietary 65nm process, allowing 1.12um pixel with a QE of 74%. Through proprietary design and processing the dark current at 60C is measured at 6.5 electrons per second, and the readout noise is 0.9 electrons.

"Himax Imaging has been focused on delivering high value image sensors to mobile, consumer, surveillance and automotive markets with our ultra low power and low noise architectures. After extensive evaluation of TPSCo’s 1.12um state of the art pixel, we believe that our architecture combined with TPSCo’s advanced 65nm CIS process, which provides extremely low dark noise, high quantum efficiency, and excellent angular response, will enable DSC quality performance for our next generation of high resolution image sensors," said Amit Mittra, VP and CTO of Himax Imaging.

"We are very pleased that Himax Imaging is putting their trust in TowerJazz and is now working with us through TPSCo to enable technological advances for its next generation products," said Avi Strum, VP and GM, CMOS Image Sensor BU, TowerJazz.

"By utilizing the advanced features of our 1.12um-pixel CIS 65nm process, Himax Imaging will offer evermore innovative technology to meet their customers’ -- some of the world’s leading device manufacturers -- growing demands for both high quality, yet cost-effective, cameras for high end smart phone applications. We are excited to work with Himax Imaging and look forward to more product engagements in the future," said Guy Eristoff, CEO, TowerJazz Panasonic Semiconductor Co.

TPSCo’s 1.12um-pixel CIS platform includes: advanced 65nm specialty process for CIS, color filters and micro-lenses, stacked light pipe technology for enhanced optical performance, optical/device simulations design optimization, operating voltage of 1.2/1.8/2.8V, 4LM metallization (3LM-Cu and 1LM-Al) and 32nm pitch M1. For mobile and DSC applications, the features include: high resolution sensors, demanding frame rate, high sensitivity and dynamic range, low dark current, and high angular response performance.

Reuters adds that, according to its sources, "the deal would bring in $20 million a year in revenue for the [TowerJazz-Panasonic] joint venture"

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The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) announces its 2014 award winners. "The Camera Origination and Imaging Medal honors the recipient by recognizing significant technical achievements related to invention or advances in imaging technology including sensors, imaging processing electronics, and the overall embodiment and application of image capture devices. Eric R. Fossum will receive the 2014 award in recognition of his leadership in the invention and development of the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) active pixel sensor (APS) technology. This advancement was first published in 1993 while Fossum worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Additionally, he promoted the new technology to a broad range of manufacturers as a new way of making camera image sensors. CMOS image sensor technology is now widely deployed in motion picture and television cameras, cell phones, medical devices, security systems, and many other professional and consumer applications."

Congratulations, Eric!

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Nature: A group of researchers propose a photography which uses light that has not interacted with the object being photographed. "This form of imaging uses pairs of photons, twins that are ‘entangled’ in such a way that the quantum state of one is inextricably linked to the other. While one photon has the potential to travel through the subject of a photo and then be lost, the other goes to a detector but nonetheless 'knows' about its twin’s life and can be used to build up an image.

Normally, you have to collect particles that come from the object to image it, says Anton Zeilinger, a physicist at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna who led the work. “Now, for the first time, you don’t have to do that."

One advantage of the technique is that the two photons need not be of the same energy, Zeilinger says, meaning that the light that touches the object can be of a different colour than the light that is detected. For example, a quantum imager could probe delicate biological samples by sending low-energy photons through them while building up the image using visible-range photons and a conventional camera. The work is published in the 28 August issue of Nature."

In fact, the paper has been already published today:

"Quantum imaging with undetected photons"
Gabriela Barreto Lemos, Victoria Borish, Garrett D. Cole, Sven Ramelow, Radek Lapkiewicz & Anton Zeilinger

"Our experiment is fundamentally different from previous quantum imaging techniques, such as interaction-free imaging or ghost imaging, because now the photons used to illuminate the object do not have to be detected at all and no coincidence detection is necessary. This enables the probe wavelength to be chosen in a range for which suitable detectors are not available. To illustrate this, we show images of objects that are either opaque or invisible to the detected photons. Our experiment is a prototype in quantum information—knowledge can be extracted by, and about, a photon that is never detected."


The implementation is quite complex and, probably, can only be used in specialized niche applications, if at all: "Our experiment uses two separate down-conversion nonlinear crystals (numbered NL1 and NL2), each illuminated by the same pump laser, creating one pair of photons (denoted idler and signal). If the photon pair is created in NL1, one photon (the idler) passes through the object to be imaged and is overlapped with the idler amplitude created in NL2, its source thus being undefined. Interference of the signal amplitudes coming from the two crystals then reveals the image of the object. The photons that pass through the imaged object (idler photons from NL1) are never detected, while we obtain images exclusively with the signal photons (from NL1 and NL2), which do not interact with the object."

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PR Newswire: SoftKinetic announces the DepthSense Human Tracking Library (HTLib), for PlayStation 4(PS4). DepthSense HTLib was designed to track up to four players simultaneously, monitoring 21 different joints on each player, like shown in the promotional video:

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BDTi publishes an article on Movidius' recently announced Myriad 2 vision processor, said to be 20 times more power effective than the company's previous generation chip. The sensor is used in Google Project Tango devices, and the article is accompanied by a video presentation by Johnny Lee, the Tango technical leader:

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Business Wire: Toshiba launches T4KA7, a 1/2.4-inch, 20MP BSI sensor enabling 6mm z-height camera modules for smartphones and tablets. The new sensor features 1.12um pixels and improved frame rate of 22fps, 1.8 times faster than that of Toshiba’s previous 20MP sensor.

T4KA7 sample shipments start today. A reference module incorporating the new product is currently under preparation and will be available from Sept 1.

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SiOnyx Director of Marketing Steve Nobble talks about the hiring challenges in a Youtube interview. The 5 year-old company is planning to grow from 25 employees now to about 45 next year:

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