Archives for November 2013

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Optics.org: Caeleste and PCO announce their collaboration to explore novel concepts and ideas in the field of CMOS image sensors. This collaboration is aimed at innovative and advanced product developments and will keep PCO a leader in state-of-the art scientific and industrial cameras.

Patrick Henckes, CEO of Caeleste says: "We are very happy to be able to team up with of one of the most advanced scientific camera manufacturers in the world. Our beyond-state-of-the-art focus fits perfectly their continuous innovation efforts." Emil Ott, CEO of PCO: "We are excited to start together with the experts of Caeleste to explore new frontiers in image sensors. We are looking forward [to] what the combination of Caeleste's know-how and creativity paired with our technical skills in camera design might achieve."

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ISSCC 2014 Advance Program has been published and revealed a number of image sensor papers. First, there is F2 forum "3D Stacking Technologies for Image Sensors and Memories" featuring presentations from Sony, TSMC, STMicro and Tohoku University:

3D System Module with Stacked Image Sensors, Stacked Memories and Stacked Processors on a Si Interposer
Mitsumasa Koyanagi , Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

Challenges and Opportunities of 3D Chips Stacking - A Foundry’s Perspective
Douglas Yu, TSMC, Hsinchu, Taiwan

3D Stacked CMOS Image Sensor Exmor RSTM
Taku Umebayashi, Sony, Kanagawa, Japan

Evolution of 3D Integration for CMOS Image Sensor Cameras
Lindsay Grant, STMicroelectronics, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

The Image Sensors session has 6 papers, 3 of them are devoted to ToF devices. The most interesting one presents Microsoft's new Kinect solution:

A 512×424 CMOS 3D Time-of-Flight Image Sensor with Multi-Frequency Photo-Demodulation up to 130MHz and 2GS/s ADC
A. Payne, A. Daniel, A. Mehta, B. Thompson, C. S. Bamji, D. Snow, H. Oshima, L. Prather, M. Fenton, L. Kordus, P. O’Connor, R. McCauley, S. Nayak, S. Acharya, S. Mehta, T. Elkhatib, T. Meyer, T. O’Dwyer, T. Perry, V-H. Chan, V. Wong, W. Qian, Z. Xu
Microsoft, Mountain View, CA

Other papers are:

1/4-inch 8Mpixel CMOS Image Sensor with 3D Backside-Illuminated 1.12μm Pixel with Front-Side Deep-Trench Isolation and Vertical Transfer Gate
J. Ahn, K. Lee, Y. Kim, H. Jeong, B. Kim, H. Kim, J. Park, T. Jung, W. Park, T. Lee, E. Park, S. Choi, G. Choi, H. Park, Y. Choi, S. Lee, Y. Kim, Y. J. Jung, D. Park, S. Nah, Y. Oh, M. Kim, Y. Lee, Y. Chung, I. Hisanori,J. Im, D-K. Lee, B. Yim, G. Lee, H. Kown, S. Choi, J. Lee, D. Jang, Y. Kim, T. C. Kim, G. Hiroshige, C-Y. Choi, D. Lee, G. Han
Samsung Electronics, Yongin, Korea

243.3pJ/pixel Bio-Inspired Time-Stamp-Based 2D Optic Flow Sensor for Artificial Compound Eyes
S. Park, J. Cho, K. Lee, E. Yoon
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

A 1000fps Vision Chip Based on a Dynamically Reconfigurable Hybrid Architecture Comprising a PE Array and Self-Organizing Map Neural Network
C. Shi, J. Yang, Y. Han, Z. Cao, Q. Qin, L. Liu, N-J. Wu, Z. Wang
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

A 413×240-Pixel Sub-Centimeter Resolution Time-of-Flight CMOS Image Sensor with In-Pixel Background Canceling Using Lateral-Electric-Field Charge Modulators
S-M. Han, T. Takasawa, T. Akahori, K. Yasutomi, K. Kagawa, S. Kawahito
Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Japan
Brookman Technology, Hamamatsu, Japan

A 0.3mm-Resolution Time-of-Flight CMOS Range Imager with Column-Gating Clock-Skew Calibration
K. Yasutomi, T. Usui, S-M. Han, T. Takasawa, K. Kagawa, S. Kawahito
Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Japan

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The only image sensors in EDN list of Hot 100 Products of 2013 are ESPROS Photonic's epc600/610 ToF camera and SiOnyx XQE image sensors.

Espros' ToF camera chips were awarded for a small 2.6x2.6mm footprint and that only a few passive components and a couple of LEDs are required to build a distance sensor with them.

SiOnyx XQE sensors were selected for their "true nightglow detection capabilities in extreme, low-light conditions."

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Truesense presents its second CMOS sensor: 6MP, 160fps, 1-inch KAC-06040. It's said to be "plug and play" compatible with the same external package electro-optical-mechanical dimensions as the earlier announced 12MP KAC-12040 and uses the same 4.7um 5T pixel with GS. As we already got used with Kodak, all the key parameters are presented at the launch time, nice practice:


The sensor targets Machine Vision, Intelligent Transportation Systems, Surveillance, and other applications. The KAC-06040 is available in monochrome and Bayer color configurations, and is sampling now with production planned for Q1, 2014.

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Venturebeat: SoftKinetic announces that its iisu body tracking middleware is used in Just Dance 2014 for PlayStation 4, the popular dance game franchise from Ubisoft. "We are excited to work with Sony Computer Entertainment to bring our award-winning 3D gesture recognition middleware to game titles for the PS4," said Michel Tombroff, CEO of SoftKinetic. "We recognize that the game developer community is one of the most technically-advanced ecosystems, and we have therefore been very dedicated to providing the most sophisticated technology for the PS4. We are confident that the 3D gesture recognition capabilities will not only meet, but exceed, that of any other gaming console on the market today."

Softkinetic's mmiddleware uses the PlayStation Camera for the PS4. "While SoftKinetic focuses on TOF hardware technology, we keep our software 3D hardware agnostic. We have previously provided iisu on both TOF and structured light cameras, and this is our first consumer announcement with a passive stereoscopic camera," says Mitch Reifel, Softkinetic's VP of Sales

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Chroma Automation published a Youtube video on its 7970 CMOS sensor inspection system:

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Imagination launches its PowerVR Series2 ‘Raptor’ architecture for an image signal processor. The initial architectural family announcement will be followed up in due course with core IP family members aimed at specific markets. The ‘Raptor’ interfaces directly to a CMOS sensor – no need for a stacked ISP on the sensor chip itself – and it includes all of the functions needed to prepare images or streaming videos for insertion into a real-time encoder or display to the viewfinder. Included in the pipeline hardware are a set of powerful, configurable image processing blocks to handle the “three A’s” (Auto focus, Auto Exposure, Auto White Balance) in hardware but controlled by the CPU for maximum flexibility.


‘Raptor' includes tunable blocks to correct for various lens aberrations, for variations in illumination across the sensor surface, to remove noise introduced by very high density sensors in low light and to remove bad pixels. Then the raw image turned into an RGB image and tuned for the characteristics of the sensor before being sent off for display and/or encode. All of these operations are said to be done in the most configurable way possible in order to interface to the widest selection of CMOS sensors.


The job of the ISP is evolving rapidly away from being a simple image or video capture device; forward looking features of the ‘Raptor’ architecture include the ability to interact with other powerful vision and video processors in the multimedia subsystem. One example of this is a dedicated interface to a PowerVR video encoder in order to implement low latency video encode for live video conferencing; another is the production of image statistics, or hints, which can be used for a range of imaging and vision enhancements.

Computational photography using the GPU for heavy duty processing is already within the range of the abilities of ‘Raptor’, and forward looking applications include vision applications using multi-camera arrays (‘Raptor’ can simultaneously support multiple sensors with widely different characteristics) as well as higher pixel depth applications for industrial and automotive use. In its most cost-efficient form, ‘Raptor’ supports 10-bit pixel depths which matches the 10-bit encode and decode capability already offered by PowerVR video processors. It can be configured to support much higher bit depths (up to 16) when needed.

PowerVR Vision Platform

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Reuters, VentureBeat, Times of Israel, The Verge, SlashGrear, Forbes and many others quote Hebrew-language publication in Calcalist saying that Apple has acquired Primesense for $345M. So far Primesense has raised $85M of venture capital and has about 150 employees.

Update: Primesense spokesperson refused to comment on rumors. Calcalist speculates that the potential application for Primesense technology is Apple TV.

Update #2: AllThingsD adds its owns sources to the story:
"talks are “close” to complete, but are hung up on end-game issues like liquidity preferences," "the price could be slightly higher than reported, on the order of $20 million more," "the best that could happen, given the circumstances: A big strategic buyer at a decent price."

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SeekingAlpha publishes TowerJazz Q3 2013 earnings call transcript updating on its CIS business:

"In our CMOS Image Sensor business unit, we continued to see growth from our leading European customers for high-resolution, high frame rate, global shutter products. This is a highly competitive field, however, most of the competition is not between us and other foundry providers, but rather between our customers. There are many growth, as well as new applications for industrial cameras, such as traffic control, 3D copiers and border control that contribute to our overall market growth. The continuous move from CCD to CMOS in the industrial sensor market also contributes to the growth of this area of our business.

In the x-ray market, we reported in the past on prototypes of several new sensors for medical and dental applications. Those products are currently ramping nicely to production and are expected to contribute significantly to the CIS business unit's revenue next year and beyond. Several new projects are in the pipeline and considering the very long life of x-ray sensor products in general, we expect the products to be responsible for substantial incremental revenues over the next 5 to 8 years.

Our forecasted high-volume gesture control project is now in its qualification stage and moving according to plan. The gesture activities are with name-brand top-tier customers. This is expected to ramp to mass production next year. We're also making significant steps in the high-end scientific and space sensor area. In the beginning of October, we presented our technology to the CERN Institute in Switzerland and were personally congratulated by the CERN General Director for winning a $5 million contract to supply sensors to the new CERN experimental facility, known as ALICE. We expect to penetrate more into the research in space area in Europe during 2014.

In addition, just last week, we announced that together with SRI International, we delivered the first radiation-hardened CMOS image sensor units to the Naval Research Laboratory for use on the Solar Orbiter Heliospheric Imager, known as SoloHI optical telescope. SoloHI is part of the NASA and European Space Energy, Solar Orbiter Mission. Planned for launch in 2017, the spacecraft is expected to study the sun from a closer distance than any other previous mission, and we are proud to be critically involved in this mission. Although itself not a high-revenue project, it does recognize our technology leadership and brand in a scientific grade rad-hard image sensors."

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Toshiba posted Youtube video of its HDR sensor for automotive applications, presumably the recently announced TCM5126GBA:



Update: Now an English version of this video is available:

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Albert Theuwissen says there are just few last seats remain at the two December sessions of Imaging Forum "ADC for Image Sensors". Those who want to register, please hurry up! The invited lecturer is Marcel Pelgrom, known to every analog designer in the world by his classical works on device mismatch.

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NHK presents 3-layer organic sensor where each layer absorbs a single color:

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This week USPTO published a no less than 8 Aptina's patent applications, two of them on stacked image sensors. US20130293753 application titled "Image Data Compression in Stacked Image Sensors" by Brian Keelan and Dhandapani Dharumalingam proposes a partitioning of the pixel array into many sub-arrays, each having independent row addressing and readout:


The frame rate of each of the sub-arrays might be different, depending on the scene. The image compressing processor chooses a different compression block size and other compression parameters for each sub-array:


US20130293752 application titled "Exposure Time Selection Using Stacked-Chip Image Sensors" by Honghong Peng and Brian Keelan proposes to use different exposure times for different sub-arrays, based on motion information determined by stacked processing circuitry:

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RTT News, NASDAQ: Teradyne announces the promotion of its President Mark Jagiela to CEO position. Jagiela joined Teradyne in 1982 as a design engineer developing image sensor test systems and held a number of management positions since then.

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Nokia Conversations blog tells about a new downloadable application available for Lumia 920-series and 1020 camera phones - Refocus. The application essentially emulates the post-capture refocus capability available in Lytro and Pelican Imaging cameras:

"Once you have the closest object in focus, tapping the screen on your Lumia will start the capture process – which only takes a couple of seconds (try to be very still). During this time, Nokia Refocus performs a ‘focus sweep’ and creates a depth map.

This new way of taking photos is a great example of computational photography. We’ve now got the ability to change a photo once it’s taken and have a photo that simply couldn’t have been taken by a traditional camera.

The result is a series of 2-8 images, depending on what’s in view, each at five megapixels at a different focus that’ll be aligned and forged together to make one image.

By tapping on any part of this final image you’ll be able to shift the focus to that particular part. The great thing here is that you can achieve a variety of different shots from just the one photo."

Refocus app can also put the whole scene into focus at the same time to provide extra clarity:


Engadget says that Refocus is based on Scalado technology that Nokia acquired a year ago.

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SiOnyx technology features in Laser Focus World article on black silicon advances by James E. Carey, principal scientist and co-founder and Martin U. Pralle is VP of business development at SiOnyx. Few quotes:

"A combination of ultralow noise image sensor design and our proprietary black silicon NIR enhanced sensing technology enables broad-spectral-response sensors operating from 400 to 1200 nm with approximately 2 e- of read noise within a monolithic CMOS solution. Extended quantum efficiency (trademarked XQE) SiOnyx sensors deliver increased IR quantum efficiency to enable as much as a 10X improvement (for wavelengths greater than 1000 nm) compared to incumbent CMOS solutions."

"The optimized, proprietary ultrafast laser process does not cause an increase in dark current, read noise, or lag as compared with that of standard process control devices. This ability to significantly boost quantum efficiency (QE) while not degrading any other device parameters is a critical achievement."

A scene is captured with a SiOnyx camera in starry moonless night (note the clear star field in the sky) at 30 frames/s, showing a 1064 nm laser designator on target.

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Business Wire: Forza Silicon and TowerJazz continue their strategic partnership to design and produce mixed-signal and image sensor chips utilizing TowerJazz’s process. During their 11-year relationship, Forza Silicon has completed many projects. Recent developments include the following:

• 133 Mpixel, 60 FPS image sensor
• Low power global shutter SOC imager
• Family of sensors for dental X-ray
• Small size endoscopy sensor
• High-speed global shutter sensor

"We joined TowerJazz’s Design Center Program several years ago and have seen significant efficiencies since we’ve aligned our business processes to meet the time-to-market requirements of our customers," said Barmak Mansoorian, Forza Silicon President. "This partnership is a natural complement to our business model of providing end-to-end design engineering and manufacturing services from circuit design through to production testing."

"We are excited to work with partners such as Forza Silicon who have proven to be true innovators in the CMOS image sensor field," said Avi Strum, VP & General Manager, CMOS Sensors Business Unit, VP Sales, Europe. "Forza Silicon’s great depth of talent and proven ability to work closely with a customer on an idea, collaborate on a design, and follow through to volume production is critical to deliver advanced solutions."

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IEEE Spectrum publishes an article on the Array Camera for Optical to Near IR Spectrophotometry (ARCONS) developed by a group led by Ben Mazin, a physics professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara with colleagues and collaborators from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Oxford University, and Fermilab.

"The heart of ARCONS is a 60-nanometer-thick layer of titanium nitride (TiN) carried on a silicon base. Depending on the ratio of nitrogen to titanium, the layer becomes superconducting at about 1 Kelvin. (As the proportion of nitrogen decreases, the superconducting transition temperature and band-gap energies get lower; consequently, the imager's sensitivity to incoming photons increases. At its tiniest, the band gap of the superconducting TiN is about three orders of magnitude smaller than in a typical semiconductor.)

The TiN layer is etched into a 44 x 46 pixel array, and each pixel gets its own individually tuned microwave resonator and a microlens. The ensemble is enclosed in a lens-topped Dewar jar cooled to 0.1 K. When a photon strikes the sensor surface, is sends a ripple through the superconductor, breaking up the paired electrons—the Cooper pairs—that carry superconducting currents. The more energetic the photon, the more Cooper pairs are divided. Disrupting these pairs alters the impedance of the pixel. This electrical change, in turn, shifts the amplitude and phase of the pixel’s resonance in proportion to the number of Cooper-pair disruptions.

The researchers use a microwave frequency comb to interrogate and read out all 2024 pixels over a single microwave channel. Each pixel can be read about 2500 times per second, accurately seeing colors that range from the ultraviolet (100 nm) through the visible spectrum and into the infrared (longer than 5000 nm)."

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ISORG and Plastic Logic show flexible 96 x 96 pixel sensor in this Youtube video:

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Engadget posted a video presentation by Pelican Imaging at the Expand Show in NYC. The presenter is Paul Gallagher, Pelican's VP Strategic Market Development, incorrectly labeled as CEO in the video:

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Panasonic announces MN34230PL, a 4/3-inch 16.4MP CMOS image sensor for FourThirds format DSLRs. The sensor is said to be the "Lowest noise sensor in the market" and features "New “On Chip Filter” for improved sensitivity":


The other newly announced sensors are 1/3-inch 1.33MP MN34210PL and 1/2.86-inch 2.36MP MN34220PL for security applications. The sensors feature WDR mode and speeds of 60fps at full resolution.

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PR Newswire: Omnivision announces two 2MP CameraChip sensors for feature phones, smartphones and tablets. The OV2680 and OV2685 leverage OmniVision's 1.75um OmniPixel3-HS pixel. Compared to the previous generation 2MP sensors, the OV2680 and OV2685 are cost-effective upgrade solutions that deliver improved image and video quality in a smaller die size. Both sensors support an active array of 1600 x 1200 pixels operating at 30fps and cropped 720p video at 60fps.
The OV2680 RAW sensor fits into an industry standard 5.5 x 5.5 x 4 mm module, while the OV2685 is a fully integrated SoC sensor that fits into an industry standard 6 x 6 x 4 mm module. The OV2680 and OV2685 are available in CSP package. Both sensors are currently sampling, and are expected to enter volume production in Q1 2014.

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Business Wire: Toshiba announces sample shipments of a VGA, 1/4-inch HDR CMOS image sensor, the TCM5126GBA, for automotive view cameras. The sensor is based on 5.6um pixels and delivers 60fps. The product has a small CSP package TSV. This is said to reduce the size by 30% against equivalent products.


Update: PRNewswire copy of the PR.

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Samsung Semiconductor blog published a nice iconography on image sensors in smartphones:

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Engadget publishes a video interview of representative of Pelican Imaging, Samsung and Leap Motion from its Expand conference in NYC:

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PR Newswire: Omnivision announces the fourth sensor in 4 days, and the second one in PureCel family - the OV8858, a 1/4-inch 8MP, 1.12um pixel sensor for mainstream smartphone and tablet market. Compared to OmniVision's previous-generation 1/4-inch 8-megapixel sensor, the OV8858 has improved FWC and sensitivity, and also offers a significant reduction in power consumption and form factor.

The OV8858 has an active array of 3264 x 2448 pixels operating at 30fps. The sensor is capable of recording 1080p60 or 720p90 video, each with additional pixels for EIS. The OV8858, when paired with OmniVision's latest 2MP sensors, can provide full resolution picture-in-picture (ViV) snapshot images at 15fps and preview ViV video at 30fps. The OV8858 fits into an 8.5 x 8.5 mm camera module with a build height of approximately 4 mm. It is currently available for sampling and is expected to begin volume production in Q2 2014.

"Industry analysts expect the 8-megapixel sensor market to grow to about 440 million units in 2014, reflecting year-over-year growth of 20 percent[ according to TSR]. While there are a number of factors that contribute to this anticipation, the main driver is 8-megapixel cameras for mobile devices transitioning from a 1/3-inch optical format to a 1/4-inch optical format to meet consumers' demand for thinner and more cost-effective phones and tablets. On top of that, mainstream mobile devices are expected to upgrade from 1/4-inch 5-megapixel sensors to 1/4-inch 8-megapixel sensors in order to benefit from increased resolution while maintaining the same optical format," said Kalairaja Chinnaveerappan, senior product marketing manager at OmniVision.

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PRNewswire: Omnivision announces the OV13850, a 1.12um PureCel 13MP SOC sensor for mobile devices. The new brand PureCel is explained "PureCel image sensors by OmniVision use innovative proprietary packaging and pixel technology to deliver industry-leading photon conversion, full-well capacity (FWC) and light sensitivity, while significantly reducing power consumption compared to previous-generation image sensors. The result is dramatically enhanced image and video quality in both high- and low-light conditions. OmniVision views PureCel image sensors as the future of high-performance digital imaging solutions."

The 1/3.06-inch OV13850 has array of 4224 x 3136 pixels, operates at 30fps at full resolution and can seamlessly transition between recording video and still images. The sensor supports 4K2K UHD video at 30fps with full-horizontal FOV and EIS or 1080p HD video at 60fps with EIS. In addition, the OV13850 supports the timing for 1080p video at 30fps. The OV13850 fits into an industry standard 8.5 x 8.5 x 5 mm module. The sensor is currently sampling and is expected to enter volume production in Q4 2013.

The sensor is said to be consuming 223mW power, 40% lower than the company's previous generation. This makes it one of the lowest power sensors ever reported in literature (not counting smart sensors that scan only parts of the frame). The current state of the art is WKA-awarded NHK-Shuzuoka University-Brookman experimental 33MP/120fps/12b sensor consuming 2.45W at full speed. Another benchmark is Sony IMX117 12.4MP/35fps/12b sensor consuming 417mW. Sony and NHK sensors both have 12b ADC vs 10b one in Omnivision's PureCel. On the other hand, Omnivision integrates an ISP inside that neither Sony, nor NHK have. So, to me they look at least even in power, and it's nice to see so low power sensors reaching the mass production stage.

In another note, so far only Sony supplied 13MP sensors for smartphones. Now Omnivision and Samsung have them available. "Industry analysts predict 13-megapixel to be the fastest growing resolution within primary cameras for mobile devices in 2014, with the potential to reach sales of more than 330 million units in 2014 [according to TSR]. The low-power OV13850 delivers excellent high resolution video and images in an ultra-slim form-factor. Considering these end-user benefits, we expect the OV13850 to be a highly competitive offering for the next-generation smartphones and tablets. The OV13850 enables our customers to upgrade their cameras from 8-megapixels to 13-megapixels without sacrificing end-user experience or increasing system cost," said Harish Iyer, product marketing manager at OmniVision.

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