Archives for April 2014

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Polytec, ESPROS Photonics' distributor of ToF cameras, has published a Youtube video showing the epc6xx 8x8 pixel camera in action:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Marketwired: Teledyne DALSA introduces the first in its new Rad-icon series of CMOS X-Ray cameras. The Rad-icon 1520 detector features 1548 x 2064 pixel resolution, an active area of 15.3 x 20.4 cm, and 99um pixel size and delivers real-time frame rates of up to 30 fps. "The Rad-icon digital x-ray cameras deliver a unique combination of speed, resolution and connectivity," commented Thorsten Achterkirchen, VP X-Ray Imaging for Teledyne DALSA. "The 1520 is only the beginning of what we are promoting as a cost-effective and flexible platform for high performance digital x-ray imaging for non-destructive testing."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

PR Newswire: Dual Aperture keeps announcing its partners. Recently, it has announced its image sensor partner (Hynix/SiliconFile) and DSP partner (eWBM). Now the company says that it cooperates with Ability Enterprise on camera design. Ability Enterprise and Dual Aperture partner together on a technology licensing agreement whereby Ability Enterprise will incorporate Dual Aperture's 4-color sensor technology, image processing algorithms and various application software, into their latest line of camera module products.

Dual Aperture's technology utilizes a proprietary 4-color sensor design comprised of RGB and IR pixels. Built with separate apertures for the RGB and IR pixels, the sensor is able to generate two distinct images, one in the RGB spectrum and the other in the IR, with a single capture. This allows to estimate a depth of the image, as explained in a Youtube video:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

EETimes, Venture Beat: Aquifi, founded by a few ex-Canesta engineers, announce Fluid Experience - software only gesture recognition based on a regular HD-resolution webcam, machine learning algorithms and cloud services. The cloud part accumulates the different users experience with the gesture tracking and processes it to improve the accuracy over time.

"If Kinect was the first generation, we’re building the second generation," said Nazim Kareemi, Aquifi CEO. "In the past, you had to adapt to the machine. We want it to adapt to you." The Palo Alto, Calif.-based Aquifi has raised $9M from Benchmark Capital, and private investors including Mike Farmwald, cofounder of Rambus. Aquifi was founded in 2011, and it has 29 employees. A Youtube video presents the company and its technology:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

EETimes publishes a popular article "Sensors Beyond Megapixels" by Junko Yoshida on image sensor applications beyond the mainstream consumer ones. No revelations there, the article just briefly talks about automotive, food sorting, dental, and few other applications.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Panasonic announces that its ToF Image Sensor D-IMager will be discontinued at the end of December 2014. Thanks to MR for the link!

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

VLSI Symposia tipsheet publishes a re-phrased version of Sony curved image sensor paper abstract accompanied by a figure:

"Curved CMOS Image System: When light transmitted by a lens strikes a perpendicular target such as a CMOS image sensor, it forms a circle of light called an image circle. It’s difficult for a flat (planar) CMOS image sensor to deliver high image sensitivity at high resolution (highly scaled pixel pitch) because of the fundamental physical limit known as quantum efficiency. To break through that physical limit and to achieve higher sensitivity anywhere within the image circle at higher resolution, Sony built and will describe an imaging system that comprises a hemispherically curved, back-illuminated CMOS image sensor (BIS) and integrated lens. It doubles the sensitivity at the edge of the image circle while increasing sensitivity at its center by a factor of 1.4, with a 5x reduction of dark current (Jd) compared to a planar BIS. Moreover, a common problem known as lens field curvature aberration (Afc) is mitigated by the curved sensor itself, and so the curved BIS enables higher system sensitivity with a brighter lens with a smaller F number (Fn) than is possible with a planar BIS. In addition, by controlling the tensile stress of the BIS chip to produce a curved shape in the first place, the energy band-gap (Eg) is widened and a lower Jd is achieved. (Paper T2.1, “A Novel Curved CMOS Image Sensor Integrated with Imaging System,” K. Itonaga et al., Sony)"

Concept of an imaging system which integrates a curved sensor with a brighter (lower F number) lens for better image sensitivity.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Sony presents 13MP IMX214 sensor, already featuring in Oppo Find 7 and OnePlus One smartphones. The 1/4-inch 1.12um pixel IMX214 is said to be "the industry's first 13M-Pixel CMOS image sensor enabling HDR output at 30 frame/s." The new sensor utilizes SME-HDR (Spatially Multiplexed Exposure HDR) technology. It sets two different exposures in a single frame and performs image processing to generate HDR images. A reduced backside optical stack helps to improve the color crosstalk and angular sensitivity over the 1st generation stacked sensor IMX135:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Forza Silicon introduces the Forza 100+ MP CAM Platform featuring a customizable CMOS image sensor operating at 60fps and supporting multiple camera resolutions­. The dual-mode camera operates in B&W or color and has a proprietary onboard image processor. It can be configured to capture image sequences at resolutions approaching 200MP while maintaining 60fps speed. The modular platform includes a high resolution, visible CMOS image sensor module and camera reference design that can be customized to allow for fast integration into multiple camera hardware designs and applications.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Brandywine Photonics got first images from its FBX-640×512 BSI CMOS sensor with deep depletion, specifically designed for hyperspectral imaging with enhanced NIR sensitivity. The QE, dark noise, and frame rate numbers will be reported later. The sensor was first announced in May 2013 as being in the fab.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Marketwired: InVisage announces $18M round of funding bringing the total amount that it has raised since its creation to more than $100M. Investors include GGV Capital, Nokia Growth Partners, RockPort Capital, InterWest Partners, Intel Capital and OnPoint Technologies. The additional funding enables InVisage to scale manufacturing capacity from its initial pilot production line to support high volume customers and further its mission to mass produce fast, thin, high performance cameras in ultra-small form-factors.

InVisage also expands its leadership team with two new additions: Ephraim Kwok as CFO and Emanuele Mandelli as VP of Engineering. Mandelli has more than 20 years of image sensor, x-ray detectors and particle physics detectors experience. Most recently, he worked for AltaSens.

Venture Beat quotes Invisage CEO, Jess Lee telling that "the company expects to deliver its final product samples to manufacturing partners within the next few quarters, and it will take another six to nine months before the technology can be implemented in future products".

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Lytro announces its second generation lightfield camera having DSLR look and featuring a new, custom-designed 40 Megaray image sensor (vs 11 Megaray in the 1st generation). As with the 1st Lytro generation, the number of pixels in the final image has not been disclosed.

Lytro Illum sensor

Venture Beat publishes a video interview with Lytro Founder Ren Ng explaining the features of the new camera:



DPReview publishes a Q&A session with Lytro CEO Jason Rosenthal and Ren Ng. Few quotes:

Q: "What's new about the sensor? It's listed at 40 megarays, but how would you explain that in terms that are more relatable to stills photographers?"

Rosenthal: "It's basically a 4x step up in terms of both number of pixels and underlying resolution, as well as sensor area size ... The sensor in the previous camera was 1/3", essentially a mobile sensor. This is a 1" sensor with an [underlying] 40-megapixel resolution."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Aptina reports that ZTE Star 1 smartphone features the company's Clarity+ color filter technology.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Sony has updated its pages on Effio and Xarina ISPs for security and surveillance cameras. The high-end Xarina line is going to be split into 2K and 4K ones with added support for RGB-W CFA and few other features:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Albert Theuwissen continues his "How to Measure MTF" series of articles. The latest part discusses MTF measurements at different wavelengths.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Himax investor presentation reveals a cooperation with ST and plans to start a mass production of 2x2 and 4x4 array cameras in Q2 2014:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

TechCrunch: Google Street View team reports that its recent text and street numbers recognition algorithm can be successfully used for solving CAPTCHA puzzles widely used on the web to determine a human versus a spam bot. The algorithm has been presented in a paper at the International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR).

I have a feeling that this algorithm has leaked outside Google, as starting from about Sept. 2013 the amount of spam comments in this blog has grown dramatically. On same days, per each real comment I get 10 spam ones, in spite of CAPTCHA protection.

Google algorithm recoginizes this with 99.8% accuracy

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

iFixIt teardown of Google Project Tango 3D camera revealed that it uses Primesense's recent Capri PS1200 SoC and its IR illuminator projects a familiar structured light dot pattern:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

EETimes: Yves Faroudja presents a layered way to improve the video compression efficiency at NAB. He adds a new pre-processor layer, prior to a standard encoder such as H.264, HEVC, or MPEG 2, and post-processor (after compression decoding). "We take an image and simplify it; and that simplified image goes through the regular [standards-based] compression process," Faroudja explains. "But we never throw away information." This additional information is inserted in what Faroudja calls a "support layer." This compresses signals not used in Faroudja's so-called simplified image. Together with the decompressed simplified image, the support layer helps reconstruct the original image in full resolution and at 35-50% reduced bit rate at the same quality.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Imec published a brochure about its image sensor services offerings: "Imec offers services ranging from development-on-demand,
over prototyping, to low-volume production." Imec has 200mm and 300mm image sensor fabs with 65nm, 90nm and 130nm processes, including an extensive image sensor toolbox:

• Specific substrate (HR-Silicon, thick or graded dopant epi)
• Pixels (3T, 4T, trench isolation, embedded CCD pixels in CMOS)
• BSI processing
• Hyperspectral filters
• Special ARCs (CMOS compatible)
• Stitching / Butting capabilities for large area imagers
• Micro-bumping, 3D integration with TSVs
• Capability to develop dedicated pixel technologies (e.g. for SPADs).
• Organic imagers (polymer photo diodes & full imagers)

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Lightfield Forum reviews Panasonic patent application on high resolution light field imaging. The US20140078259 "Light field image capture device and image sensor" by Masao Hiramoto, Yasunori Ishii, and Yusuke Monobe proposes to place microlens behind the photosensitive layer, rather than in front of it like in most other light field imaging approaches. This promotes the Panasonic-Fujifilm organic sensing layer possibilities:


The control layer 1b switches the light reflected from the layer 1c between the 1st and 2nd image capturing sessions:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Business Wire: ON Semiconductor announces a new PYTHON CMOS image sensor family based on 4.8um global shutter pixels. With resolutions of 300K, 500K and 1.3MP respectively, the PYTHON 300, 500 and 1300 feature in-pixel CDS (ipCDS) - global shutter with CDS in a relatively compact pixel size. The new PYTHON pixel combines a read noise of less than 9 e-, with 7.7 V/lux sensitivity and frame rates as high as 850fps (VGA format). A highly configurable sequencer also allows designers to tailor the sensor operation to the exact needs of the application, including support for fast on the fly updates to the sensor configuration. The sensor's operation is supported across the -40°C to +85°C industrial temperature range.

The new VGA, SVGA and SXGA are the first three sensors in the PYTHON family, with additional higher resolutions planned for release in the near future. All are pin-to-pin compatible with one-another and with the existing VITA1300 image sensor.

"With our new PYTHON image sensors we provide a cost-effective, high performance solution that will address the needs of the growing number of image sensing applications across a range of end markets," said Thad Smith, Director of the Image Sensor business unit at ON Semiconductor. "PYTHON offers an image sensing solution that not only provides appealing levels of speed without compromising image quality, but is also configurable and flexible enough to provide simple integration across multiple resolutions."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Rambus PCT application WO/2014/055391 "Conditional-Reset Multi-Bit Read-out Image Sensor" by Thomas Vogelsang, Michael Guidash, Song Xue, and James Harris talks about a version of the old idea to expand DR by resetting pixel each time its signal value crosses a threshold during the integration time: "If the pixel signal exceeds a sampling threshold, the photosensitive element is reset. During an image capture period, digital values associated with pixel signals that exceed a sampling threshold are accumulated into image data."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

EETimes Europe publishes an article on how the automotive power circuit for image sensor is built. Nothing unusual there, looks more like an application note. The authors tried to adapt the sensor power to 25mVpp noise coming from a switched regulator. The camera is based on Aptina 1.2MP sensor.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Imaging Resource publishes an interview with Foveon's GM Shri Ramaswami explaining resolution enhancement claims of the latest Foveon Quattro sensor. Basically, the reason is that the top high resolution layer is "blue-heavy" rather than blue:


"You can see that the top layer is blue-heavy, but it's not blue. The next layer is green-heavy, but it isn't green. The bottom is red-heavy. None of these is just red, green, or blue -- that really allows you to do something very interesting. So this is fundamentally a pretty smart way to keep your information, but at the same time, reduce the whole load on the system, because these things are not pure colors. It may sound counterintuitive, but it actually allows you to separate out very cleanly all the detail information -- as we call it -- from the top layer, and understand where the color detail comes from. In other words, it allows us to actually get back what was apparently lost." Regarding the possibility to enhance resolution with a pure RGB sensitivity, Shri responds "It would be impossible then, without that correlation, to do this."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Sony patent application US20140084138 "Solid-state image sensor, method for the same, and electronic device" by Takashi Machida is quite similar to few other global shutter pixel proposals. I wonder if this patent will be ever granted:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Omnivision patent application US20140084135 "Backside-Illuminated Photosensor Array With White, Yellow ad Red-Sensitive Elements" by Gang Chen, Duli Mao, Hsin-Chih Tai proposes to use different PD depths in BSI sensor to get pixels sensitive to white (PD extends all the way to the backside), Yellow, and Red (shallow PD). I'm not sure what are the advantages of this approach, but it's a simple and nice idea:

Go to the original article...