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SeekingAlpha: ST Q4 2018 earnings call has interesting updates on the company's image sensor business:

"...our Analog, MEMS and Sensors group, AMS, revenues totaled $988 million, an increase of 9.5% with double-digit growth in Imaging, and single-digit growth in Analog and MEMS.

...our investments in the next generation of imaging sensor technologies. These will enable us to continue our leadership in our focus technologies for personal electronics, and to address selected industrial and automotive applications in the future... we have important R&D effort to continuously improve the performance of our device, especially addressing the Time-of-Flight application and the 3D sensing.

The strategy of ST is to be a leader on, let's say, global shutter technology... We have, let's say, improved efficiency master plan in this technology to offer the best global shutter of technology to our customer. And we do believe that this technology will enable ST to continue to sustain, okay, this market. But in personal electronics, but as well in other application, like industrial and automotive in the future.

Then we have, let's say, complementary to this - let's say, emerging global shutter technologies and product, we want also to have a strong leadership on the Time-of-Flight based devices, ambient lighting, Time-of-Flight sensor, Time-of-Flight sensors for proximity sensing ranging, but also enabling virtual reality or augmented reality application. This require technology improvement."

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PRNewswire: Suzhou, China-based Jingfang Optotelectronics (WLOPT), in collaboration with Beauchamp Beer B.V, acquired the Dutch Anteryon. The Eindhoven-registered Anteryon was spun off from Philips in 2006 with the intention to mass produce wafer level optics and mobile phone camera modules based on that. Now, 12 years later, the company delivers optical components and related services for business and consumer markets. Its core technologies comprise of IP and a proprietary replication technique to produce high end hybrid optical lenses combined with ultraprecise glass and surface structuring, optical and mechanical coatings and opto-mechanical and electronic assemblies including Hyper Spectral Imaging.

"This acquisition is an important milestone in WLOPTs long-term growth strategy and provides WLOPT with access to key technologies for the development of miniaturized optical solutions for high-volume consumer applications, such as smartphones, next-generation security and automotive applications," said Wang Wei, WLOPT's chairman. "The Anteryon technology and renowned team of experts in micro-optics, combined with our resources, will strengthen our ability to provide radically distinctive solutions in a variety of high-growth, high-volume consumer optics applications."

"We are extremely excited about the vision, commitment, drive and innovation power of our new partner. The technology and innovation level and execution power of WLOPT is unique and guarantees a market introduction of the upcoming OptiL products in line with high-volume market demands," said Gert-Jan Bloks, CEO of Anteryon.

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Autosens keeps publishing video presentations from its 2018 Brussels conference:

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BusinessWire: Samsung introduces its smallest high-resolution image sensor, the ISOCELL Slim 3T2, said to be the industry’s most compact 20MP image sensor at 1/3.4-inches. The 0.8μm-pixel ISOCELL Slim 3T2 is aimed to both front and back cameras in mid-range smartphones. The 1/3.4-inch 3T2 fits into a tiny module making more space in ‘hole-in or notch display’ designs.

“The ISOCELL Slim 3T2 is our smallest and most versatile 20Mp image sensor that helps mobile device manufacturers bring differentiated consumer value not only in camera performance but also in features including hardware design,” said Jinhyun Kwon, VP of System LSI sensor marketing at Samsung Electronics. “As the demand for advanced imaging capabilities in mobile devices continue to grow, we will keep pushing the limits in image sensor technologies for richer user experiences.”

When applied in rear-facing multi-camera settings for telephoto solutions, the 3T2 adopts an RGB color filter array instead of Tetracell CFA. The small size of the image sensor also reduces the height of the tele-camera module by around 7% when compared to Samsung’s 1/3-inch 20MP sensor. Compared to a 13MP sensor with the same module height, the 20Mp 3T2 retains 60% higher effective resolution at 10x digital zoom.

The Samsung ISOCELL Slim 3T2 is expected to be in mass production in Q1 2019.

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Emberion, Graphenea, and AMO have been approved a European Innovation Council Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) project to help bring to the market the G-IMAGER, a graphene imager based on graphene-on-wafer technology. The G-Imager is a SWIR detector for applications in semiconductor inspection, sorting systems, spectroscopy hyperspectral imaging and surveillance. The projected market size for SWIR cameras in 2020 is around $1 billion.

The G-Imager will be based on the scientifically proven operation of a graphene channel coupled to nanocrystal light absorbers. The nanocrystals serve the function of strong light absorbers for high efficiency, whereas the graphene channel efficiently transports the generated charge to electrical contacts for detection. The benefits of G-Imager compared to other SWIR detectors, apart from the dramatic cost reduction, will be a lack of cooling requirements, low noise, large dynamic range, broad spectral range and scalable pixel size. These benefits guarantee quick market uptake of the product beyond the project duration, which is 24 months.

To bring G-Imager to the market, the project consortium will have to tackle challenges related to maturing the innovation. Namely, the production process yield for the detectors meeting a specified set of quality requirements must be guaranteed at a minimum of 85%, which is an industry standard. The technology readiness level must be raised to level 8, while scaling up the production process to meet volume requirements. Graphenea will scale up production of 200mm graphene-on-wafers to 10,000 wafers/year. A key project goal is integration into semiconductor production processes, such that G-Imager production is compatible with demanding requirements of the foundries where high-volume semiconductor device production takes place, like the foundry at AMO GmbH. AMO will develop a new “graphene device foundry service” to industrialize production of the photodetector. The SWIR detector production will be finalized at Emberion, where VGA resolution imager products will be made by depositing and patterning photosensitive materials on the graphene devices. Product finalization includes encapsulation, dicing and packaging the final imager products and integrating them into Emberion’s camera core products.

The consortium expects the project to assist in raising the cumulative net income of the consortium members to 60M€ in 4 years.

In a separate announcement, Emberion is to present a cost-competitive 512× 1 pixel VIS-SWIR linear array sensor for visible light to shortwave infrared (VIS-SWIR) detection at SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco on February 5-7, 2019. The sensor provides superior and consistent responsivity with very low noise over the broad (400 – 1800 nm) spectral range. The sensor is primarily designed for spectrometry applications. The sensor comprises an array of 25 × 500 µm2 pixels monolithically built on a tailor-made CMOS ROIC.

Beyond the linear array product introduced, Emberion will offer VGA imagers in late 2019. These VGA sensors cover the same VIS-SWIR spectral range (400-1800 nm wavelength) and are well suited for night and machine vision as well as hyperspectral imaging.

A 2017 Nature paper explains how the company's graphene imagers work:

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PRNewswire: OPPO reveales its forthcoming smartphone 10x lossless zoom technology meets commercial standards and is ready for mass production:

"OPPO has developed a triple-camera solution consisting of "Ultra Wide Angle + Ultra Clear Master + Telephoto". The ultra-wide-angle camera has an equivalent focal range of 15.9mm, bringing a unique capability to the wide-angle viewfinder. The primary camera guarantees photo quality, and the telephoto camera, with 159mm equivalent focal range, combined with the original "peep-up structure" to support high-magnification zoom, can ensure a high-quality long-distance shot.

To maintain image quality at all ranges, OPPO has introduced dual OIS optical image stabilization on both standard and telephoto cameras."


Oppo also keeps developing its periscope-based design of 10x optical zoom camera and reports that the design passed the drop tests.

OPPO also releases a new wide zone on-screen optical fingerprint recognition technology with recognition area up to 15 times of the current mainstream optical solution. The new optical fingerprint recognition includes two-finger simultaneous entry and authentication, achieving a security level 50,000 times of that of a single fingerprint.

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ALA News: Sofradir and its subsidiary ULIS announce their participation in the Nano 2022 initiative, which sees the Group invest €150M ($171M) over the period 2018-2022.

This announcement follows the European Commission’s approval on December 18, 2018 of the ‘Important Project of Common European Interest’ (IPCEI), a joint project by France, Germany, Italy and the UK to give €1.75 billion (approx. $2bn) in public support for research and innovation in microelectronics.

Nano 2022 will enable ULIS to develop the next generations of IR detectors to address trends in autonomous systems for smart buildings (workspace management, energy savings), road safety and in-cabin comfort of vehicles. It also enables Sofradir to develop the very large dimension IR detectors needed for space and astronomy observations as well as compact and light sensors that can be used in portable devices and on drones. Nano 2022 contributes to the funding of the pilot lines required for developing these technologies and products.

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Fraunhofer vision sensor presentation at Vision Show 2018 has been published by SpectroNet:

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On January 1st, TSMC published 2017 Annual Report and Business Overview with an info on CIS process development:

• 0.13µm SPAD technology platform speeds up customer product development of LiDAR applications. Customers can use TSMC’s SPAD platform to achieve the best time-to-market, which will accelerate LiDAR’s use in automotive and security industries.
• TSMC expanded its technology for optical fingerprint sensing, from 0.18µm and 0.11µm CMOS image sensors to collimator, enabling customers to customize their optical fingerprint sensors. Fingerprint sensing is a critical authentication scheme for many electronic communications and payment systems.
• A high-performance sub-micron pixel development was completed and made ready for mass production;
• NIR QE gained significant boost by innovative structure and usage of new material
• Pitch density of wafer bond technology was pushed higher to maintain the Company’s world-wide leading position
• Q&R worked with customers to complete stacked CIS Column Level Hybrid Bond (CLHB) process/product qualification and successfully shipped to customers in 2017

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Autosens publishes a couple of more videos from its 2018 conference in Brussels, Belgium:

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ClearViewImaging publishes FLIR (PointGrey) presentation on image sensor technology news, explaining Sony 3rd generation Pregius sensor features among other things:

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Swiss startup Eyeware develops 3D eye tracking software for depth sensing enabled consumer devices, such as Microsoft Kinect, Intel RealSense, Orbbec Astra, etc. How do they track gaze from low-resolution 3D images?

"Generally speaking: We require a low-resolution 3D pixel cloud of the face and eye regions and are agnostic to the underlying technology. It works as well for ToF sensors (i.e. non-RGB images). Our software uses that input to model the head pose and eye regions, providing the gaze vector in real-time."

Eyeware announces the closing of its seed financing round of 1.9M CHF ($1.9M USD). The seed round was led by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), in partnership with TRUMPF Venture GmbH, Swiss Startup Group, and Zurich Kantonalbank.

Eyeware is a spin-off of Idiap Research Institute and EPFL created in September 2016. Eyeware software can use automotive grade ToF cameras to estimate attention of drivers for in-cabin monitoring and infotainment systems. The capital will be used by the Eyeware team to bring the 3D eye tracking development kit ready for integration into consumer applications.

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BusinessWire: SiOnyx announces a $19.9m award for the delivery of digital night vision cameras for the IVAS (Integrated Visual Augmentation System) program.

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BBC publishes its version of the camera damage by CES LiDAR story. It turns out that the owner of camera has quite an extensive experience with LiDARs. He sort of confirms that the problem might be specific to Aeye LiDAR:

"I have personally tested many lidar systems and taken pictures up close and [they] did not harm my camera."

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AutoSens starts to publish videos from its Brussels 2018 conference. One of the first videos is Michael Watts, CEO of Analog Photonics, presentation:

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Teledyne-e2v publishes a poster on its TDI CMOS sensor presented in October 2018:

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Yole Developpement report on "Uncooled Infrared Imagers and Detectors 2019" forecasts:

"The uncooled IR detector and imager market looks promising, with annual growth of 7% in value over the 2018-2024 period. For microbolometers, numerous commercial applications have driven the imager market growth. These include thermography, surveillance, personal vision systems (PVS) and firefighting. Most noticeably, shipments exceeded a million units in 2017, mostly due to FLIR’s Lepton core and SEEK Thermal’s success, heading to two million units in 2021!

The uncooled IR imager business is still driven by commercial markets, which will continue to expand quickly, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR2018-2024) of 15.8% in shipment volumes. These markets will represent 93% of all shipments by 2024. Thermography will have a 9% shipment volume CAGR2018-2024. This application is a sure thing for the microbolometer market, with IR imagers used here for industrial and commercial applications including home diagnosis and hot spot identification. Firefighting is an attractive opportunity with 20% shipment volume CAGR2018-2024. There is a very large potential market, with 37 million firefighters worldwide."

Some of the key events on the market are:

• LG Innotek announced that it is promoting its thermal imaging infrared camera module business. This sounds exciting as LG is the leader for visible camera modules and is Apple’s supplier.
• Amazon introduced 9 cashierless stores in 2018, which include hundreds of cameras including infrared sensors. 3,000 stores are expected by 2021.
• Following the success of the CATS60 smartphone, Caterpillar launched the CATS61 with increased functionality. In two years, it shipped more than 500,000 units of the CATS60.
• Leonardo DRS launched its TENUM 640 core, based on a Wafer-Level-Packaged VOx microbolometer with 10μm x 10μm pixel size, making it the smallest available anywhere.

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Pixart updated its web site making it much more useful. Now it has much more info about its products, including ones from Primesensor, Pixart subsidiary:

"PrimeSensor Technology Inc., part of the PixArt Group, is a professional CMOS Image Sensor chip design house and provider. The PrimeSensor company has been delivering high quality CMOS Image Sensors over 20 years to various industries, including Surveillance Security, Consumer Electronics and Automotive Camera."

Pixart also publishes a couple of new video demos including one with its gesture recognition module:

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Robosense representative confirms in an interview that their new RS-LiDAR-M1 will cost $200 in mass production:

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Arstechnica reports that a man who snapped Aeye LiDAR at CES claims that the 1550nm LiDAR permanently damaged his expensive Sony ILC camera. Every image he takes now has two bright spots with vertical and horizontal lines emanating from them (click and download the full resolution images to see the fine details):


AEye CEO Luis Dussan stressed that AEye lidars pose no danger to human eyes in an email to Arstechnica. But he didn't deny that AEye's lidars can cause damage to camera sensors. AEye has offered to buy a new camera instead of the damaged one.

"Cameras are up to 1000x more sensitive to lasers than eyeballs," Dussan wrote. "Occasionally, this can cause thermal damage to a camera's focal plane array."

The 1550nm LiDARs leverage the fact that this wavelength is absorbed in the eye before it reaches the retina, and dramatically increase the laser power. AEye is reported to use a powerful fiber laser. While remaining light safe, that high power apparently can damage image sensors inside cameras.

Thanks to TG for the link!

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iniVation and aiCTX announce Speck, world’s first low-power neuromorphic SoC for mobile and IoT applications. Speck is a fully event-driven neuromorphic chip, combining a vision sensor with a convolutional neural network processor, packaged in a single chip. Speck is aimed to applications requiring always-on, real-time response at extremely low power budgets.

“iniVation’s event-based Dynamic Vision Sensor technology provides a true neuromorphic vision sensing solution,” says Kynan Eng, CEO of iniVation. “Our sensor enables low-bandwidth, low-power, real-time vision solutions.”

“Event-based vision is a perfect match for our event-based convolutional network processing architecture,” adds Ning Qiao, CEO of aiCTX. “By putting our processor as close to the sensor as possible, we can provide an ultra-low-power, low-cost solution for vision in mobile and embedded applications.”

Samples of Speck devices will be available starting in Q3 2019.


Thanks to TL for the pointer!

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BusinessWire: AEye announces the AE200 Series of its iDAR Level 3 ADAS applications. The company says it has entered into strategic partnerships with Hella and LG Electronics. The AE200 Series will be one of the iDAR-based artificial perception systems that both Hella and LG Electronics will be using to deliver ADAS solutions to global OEMs at scale.

The AE200 Series includes AEye’s anti-spoofing and interference mitigation and is under ASIL-B functional safety certification. Delivering ADAS L3 long range performance of up to 200M at 10% reflectivity at 0.1° resolution and the short range performance configuration of 50M range at 10% reflectivity, the AE200 Series will be modular in design and capable of up to 120°x 45° Field of View.

Key features of the AE200 include:

• Software-definable LiDAR
• Designed to meet ISO 26262 functional safety requirements, eye safe in all modes
• Four layers of interference mitigation and anti-spoofing technology
• Software and capabilities to support specific ADAS solutions such as Cross Traffic Alerts, Emergency Braking, Front and Rear Collision Warning, and Blind Spot Monitoring, etc.
• Modular for supporting critical ADAS packaging locations including headlamp, windscreen, side mirror, front grill, A-pillar, and C-pillar.
• Optional High resolution RGB or IR camera fused and bore sighted with AEye’s agile LiDAR.

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Phantom Intelligence demo at CES reveals that ON Semi (SensL) SiPM powers its flash LiDAR:

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BusinessWire, Techcrunch, Venturebeat: Motorola Solutions acquires a maker of automated license plate recognition startup VaaS for $445m in cash and equity. The startup was founded in 2014 and has raised $5m. The startup is divided into two companies, 350 employees in total:

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Globes, CTech, JNS report that Samsung is in talks to acquire Corephotonics for $150m. In 2016, Samsung and its investment branch, invested $15m in Corephotonics. So far, Corephotonics has raised $50m.

A year ago, Corephotonics sued Apple for alleged infringement on its dual camera zoom patents. Half a year ago, Corephotonics filed a second lawsuit.

Corephotonics has licensed its dual camera technology to Oppo and Xiaomi.

Corephotonics CEO David Mendlovic said in response to rumors “Samsung is an investor in our company. They have expressed interest by investing in us. There is nothing concrete [about an acquisition] at this stage. We will be happy to inform the public when we know anything.”

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ams launches a spectral sensor chip that is said to bring "laboratory-grade multi-channel color analysis capability to portable and mobile devices."

“The AS7341 marks a breakthrough in the category of spectral sensors in a small package suitable for mounting in a mobile phone or consumer device. It is the smallest such device to offer 11 measurement channels, and also offers higher light sensitivity than any other multi-channel spectral sensor aimed at the consumer market,” says Kevin Jensen, Senior Marketing Manager in the Optical Sensors business line at ams. The new sensors mass production starting in February 2019.

Key Features:

• 8 optical channels distributed over the visible range
• 3 extra channels: Clear, Flicker and NIR channel
• 6 parallel ADCs for signal processing
• Ultra-low-profile package 3.1mm x 2mm x 1mm
• Unit pricing is $2.00 in quantities of 10,000 units.

Benefits:

• Spectral information enables highly accurate object color measurements
• Detection and rejection of environmental influences such as light sources
• Optimized channel count and signal processing for fast measurements
• Mobile phone compatible package

ams also introduces what it calls the world’s smallest integrated 1D ToF distance measurement and proximity sensing module.

The sensor use cases include presence detection, for example to trigger the operation of a facial recognition system when the user’s face is in range. The new TMF8701 sensor fits in a narrow bezel, helping smartphone manufacturers to realize widescreen phone designs that have a high display screen to body ratio.

“Smartphone manufacturers have been clear about the drawbacks of today’s 1D time-of-flight sensors: they are too large, and their performance degrades noticeably in adverse lighting conditions and when the display screen is dirty,” said Dave Moon, Senior Product Marketing Manager in the Integrated Optical Sensors business line of ams. “The TMF8701 addresses all of these concerns, providing customers with a device in a smaller footprint which also offers exceptional rejection of contamination and interference.”

Key Features:

• Direct ToF technology with high sensitivity SPAD detection
• Fast Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC) architecture
• Sub-nanosecond light pulse
• 0 – 10cm proximity detection and 10 – 60cm distance sensing @ 60Hz
• On-chip histogram processing
• 940nm VCSEL Class 1 Eye Safety with 21° FOI
• Sunlight on-chip rejection filter and algorithm
• Industry’s smallest modular OLGA 2.2mm x 3.6mm x 1.0 mm package

The TMF8701 separately identifies reflections from fingerprint smudge contaminations on the display screen and optical reflections from objects beyond the cover glass, such as the user’s face, maintaining reliable performance even when the sensor’s aperture is dirty.

The Class 1 Eye Safe VCSEL emitter has excellent immunity to interference from ambient light and produces accurate distance measurement in all lighting conditions: the module achieves accuracy of ±5% when measuring distance in the range 20-60cm in normal lighting conditions. Even in bright sunlight (100klux), ±5% accuracy is maintained at a range of up to 35cm.

The TMF8701 draws only 940µA in proximity sensing mode when sampling at 10Hz. Always on, it triggers the higher-power face recognition system to start up when the ToF sensor detects the presence of an object up to 60cm from the display screen. The proximity sensing capability of the device can also be used to trigger the display and face recognition system to switch off when detecting a reflective surface at a distance of 0-10cm from the screen. The accuracy of the TMF8701’s distance measurements also supports the selfie camera’s LDAF (laser detect auto-focus) function, especially in low-light conditions.

The TMF8701 sensor is in mass production now. Unit pricing is $2.60 in an order quantity of 5,000 units.


ams also releases the TCS3701, an RGB light and IR proximity sensor that can accurately measure the intensity of ambient light from behind an OLED screen. This capability supports today’s trend to maximize smartphone display area by eliminating front-facing bezels, where an ambient light/proximity sensor is typically located.

This ‘Behind OLED’ ambient light/proximity sensor enables smartphone manufacturers to achieve the highest possible ratio of display area to body size. The TCS3701 senses the addition of the ambient light passing through the display to light emitted by the display’s pixels located just above the sensor. ams has developed unique algorithms which enable accurate detection of ambient light levels without knowledge of the display pixel brightness above the sensor. Light transmission through an OLED screen is limited by its opacity, but the TCS3701’s ultra-high sensitivity to light means that it can still produce accurate light measurements in all lighting conditions.

The TCS3701 is available for sampling now. Unit pricing is $1.25 in an order quantity of 1,000 units.

“Smartphone OEMs today are striving to maximize their products’ screen-to-body ratio, reducing the bezel area as much as possible on the display’s face,” said David Moon, Senior Marketing Manager at ams. “The TCS3701 enables phone designers to take this trend to a new level, potentially eliminating the bezel entirely. This is only possible because the TCS3701 can operate behind an OLED display, a breakthrough enabled by the outstanding sensitivity of the device and by the implementation of sophisticated measurement algorithms to compensate for the optical distortion caused by the OLED display.”

Key Features:

• High ALS and color sensitivity
• 1024X dynamic range
• 0.18µm process technology with 1.8V I²C
• High proximity crosstalk compensation
• Companion non-predictive asynchronous algorithm
• Dark room to sunlight operation
• Reduced power consumption
• When combined with a VCSEL emitter enables operation behind OLED
• Enables ambient light measurement during display blanking periods

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Pamtek presents its dual camera stereo calibration system, the TERA-Stereo:

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BusinessWire: Blackmore introduces Autonomous Fleet Doppler Lidar (AFDL). The multi-beam Doppler AFDL lidar sensor delivers instantaneous velocity and range data beyond 450 meters, with power consumption and size similar to a small laptop. The system supports a 120 x 30-degree field of view, software defined operation, precise velocity measurements with accuracy down to 0.1 m/s on objects moving up to 150 m/s (335 mph), and measurement rates in excess of 2.4 million points/second. Blackmore’s AFDL is available for pre-order and will ship to customers in Q2 2019 for less than $20,000. Samples are shipping to strategic partners now.

With more than $1b invested in the lidar space since 2015, it’s increasingly difficult for end users to identify a solution that delivers as promised. This is because the majority of lidar vendors focus on using pulse-based lidar technologies. As a result, OEMs and suppliers are struggling with the inadequate data created by these power-hungry AM lidar sensors. And as lidar use becomes more prevalent, interference-prone AM systems are less effective and unsafe.

To address this, in 2015 Blackmore introduced the world’s first frequency-modulation (FM) lidar systems for autonomous vehicles, which measure both range and velocity simultaneously. “The reality is that physics ultimately wins, no matter how much funding chases inferior alternatives,” said Randy Reibel, CEO and co-founder of Blackmore. “But more importantly, FM-based Doppler lidar sensors are safer for self-driving applications.”


BusinessWire: Cepton announces two new LiDAR products, Vista-M and Vista-X built with the company's patented Micro-Motion Technology (MMT).

The Vista-M LiDAR packs a 120-deg FOV with 150m range into a sensor the size of a typical box of crayons for integration with a vehicle’s headlights, tail lights and side view mirrors. Currently, Cepton is providing this miniaturized solution to its automotive partners for different integration approaches. The Vista-X LiDAR supports an expanded 200m range capability at a 10% reflectivity target to 120-deg FOV with a uniform 0.2-deg spatial resolution across the entire FOV.

“Cepton is ushering in the next generation of autonomous driving with long range, high resolution 3D perception at an affordable price,” said Jun Pei, CEO and co-founder of Cepton Technologies. “Our Vista-X and Vista-M solutions enable seamless vehicle integration and provide designers with the freedom to create elegant vehicle designs. We are ready to mass produce the Vista Series LiDAR with our tier one suppliers and manufacturing partners for the immediate deployment of autonomous vehicles.”

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LFoundry presentation "Innovation in a Semiconductor Industry" by Sergio Galbiati discusses the company technology and future plans: