Archives for October 2014

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Sony announces the IMX224MQV 1/3-inch 1.27MP CMOS sensor for automotive cameras, said to have the world's highest sensitivity levels of any image sensor of its kind (for type 1/3 image sensors with HD or higher resolution, based on Sony research, as of the announcement date, October 16, 2014). The new sensor is capable of capturing high-resolution color images in light conditions as low as 0.005 lux, a level equivalent to that of a moonless night and one that is far below illumination levels under a star-filled night sky. The is set to become Sony's first image sensor for automotive cameras to meet the requirements of the AEC-Q100 reliability tests. The sensor sampling starts on Nov. 2014, mass production is planned for Dec. 2015.

The IMX224MQV sensor has 2,350mV (standard F5.6) sensitivity, a level of sensitivity that is around twice that of older Sony IMX238LQJ sensor with 3.75um pixels and the industry's highest. This was achieved through the adoption of photo diodes that improve the conversion efficiency of light into electrons and through the addition of circuits that improve the conversion efficiency of those electrons into voltage. Also, a PGA with a gain up to 72 dB further contributes to the ultimate achievement of a minimum object illuminance of 0.005 lux. With this design, it now becomes possible to capture high-resolution color images even on a dark road at night with no stars to illuminate the surroundings.

This image sensor also supports a WDR that allows for extended exposure time, which, when compared to conventional multi-exposure WDR systems, makes possible improved image quality in low light conditions when combined with a compatible ISP (Mass production of compatible ISP from Sony is planned on June 2016). Furthermore, the sensor's pixel has an improved NIR sensitivity for better object recognition when used in with NIR LED illumination.

IMX224MQV image captured at 0.005 lux (F1.4, 16.7ms exposure, 72 dB gain)

Going forward, Sony intends to expand its image sensor reach beyond the realm of digital imaging devices and into the arena of "sensing" as well. Building off products such as the "IMX224MQV," Sony will pioneer and tap into a new market for image sensors that are capable of acquiring and discerning information from captured images such as objects' distance, movement, shape, and color, for use in vehicles and elsewhere.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

IRLYNX and CEA-Leti announce a technology-development partnership for a new CMOS-based infrared technology that will allow a new type of smart and connected detectors in buildings and cities.

Leti’s Silicon Development Division and the Optics and Photonics Division will develop a technology platform for IRLYNX in the field of human-activity detection and characterization. IRLYNX is focusing for its part on a specific IC design, a customized optic integration and the “on-die” data processing of such human-sensing-activity module. These products will be able to count people, distinguish humans, get positions and determine posture for applications in energy saving, safety and security and human/object interactions.

The collaboration is based on the development of specific microelectronic steps above CMOS IC and on the hosting of IRLYNX R&D’s activities inside Leti’s clean-room facilities.

“Through this strong partnership with CEA-Leti, we continue to deploy our strategic plan as expected. The capacities and how-know of Leti in advanced-technologies development are really an advantage for IRLYNX. With this agreement and Leti’s support, we are shortening our time to market,” said Sébastien Fabre, IRLYNX CEO.

"The collaboration with IRLYNX highlights Leti’s mission to support startup initiatives and emphasizes our expertise in IR imaging devices and technologies," said Bruno Mourey, VP of Leti’s Optics and Photonics Division. “IRLYNX is a very good match for Leti, because the IRLYNX team has an innovative IC design, clear optic-integration goals and a persuasive business plan.”

With its recent first round of funding, which raised 1M€, IRLYNX will be able to deliver first products in Q3 2015.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Japan ITE (Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers) Transactions on Media Technology and Applications announces a forthcoming Special Section on “Image Sensors and Imaging Systems” to be published in October 2015. The objective of the special section is focus on the image sensors and imaging systems technologies, architectures, devices, methods, and their applications. You are strongly encouraged to submit original research papers of the topics which include:

• Image sensor technologies
• Image sensor applications
• Imaging systems
• Related process and circuit technologies
• Next-generation technologies for image sensors and imaging systems

Papers must be submitted by February 2, 2015.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Vision Systems Design publishes an article "CMOS Imagers Look to Increase Dynamic Range" by Andrew Wilson presenting Forza Silicon's 4-way shared pixel combining rolling and global shutters:


Every fourth pixel pixel has a global shutter, which is said to enable rolling shutter artifacts removal in the subsequent processing.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

According to unconfirmed rumors, Apple has approached an individual who used to work for ST with a view to set up an Apple imaging center in the Grenoble area. Apparently, Apple is getting interested in ST's SPAD technology used in LG G3 for AF. The ex-ST individual is working to broker Apple access to this technology, based in Grenoble.

Seeing the recent stream of ToF patents from Primesense-Apple, one can speculate that Apple is contemplating the use of ST SPADs in its oncoming 3D camera.

Meanwhile, ST is reducing its image sensor footprint on the Edinburgh, Scotland site, pulling out of doing optical modules in the wake of continued reduced market share. Reportedly, Apple has had a recruitment day for image sensor designers in Edinburgh, with very select invites.

Update: The post has been updated according to a request I've received.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

2nd Asian Image Sensors and Imaging Systems Symposium is to be held on December 1-2, 2014 at Tamachi Campus, Tokyo Institute of Technology. The agenda is quite interesting:

Process technologies

• “Recent trend of image sensor development” (40-min) by Nobukazu Teranishi (University of Hyogo and Shizuoka University, Japan)
• “Highly sensitive image sensors using micro color splitters” (30-min) by Seiji Nishiwaki, Tatsuya Nakamura, Masa-aki Suzuki (Panasonic Corp.)
• “Wide spectral response and highly robust Si image sensor technology” (30-min) by Rihito Kuroda and Shigetoshi Sugawa (Tohoku University, Japan)

Circuit technologies

• “High speed vision chips based on multiple levels of parallel processors” (30-min) by Nanjian Wu (Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China)
• “Column-parallel oversampled ADCs for high performance CMOS image sensors” (30-min) by Youngcheol Chae (Yonsei University, Korea)
• “Column parallel SS-ADC with TDC using multi-phase clock signals for CMOS imagers” (30-min) by Masayuki Ikebe (Hokkaido University, Japan)
• “Column-parallel cyclic ADC for CMOS imagers” (30-min) by Shoji Kawahito (Shizuoka University, Japan)

Low-power technologies

• “Ultra low voltage and low power mixed-signal circuits” (30-min) by Hiroki Ishikuro (Keio University, Japan)
• “Low power image sensor” (tentative) (30-min) by Chih-Cheng Hsieh (National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan)

TOF depth map sensors

• “A 2-D/3-D image sensor with PPD-based lock-in pixels” (30-min) by Seong-Jin Kim (Institute of Microelectronics, A*STAR, Singapore)
• “High-resolution time-of-flight range imagers with lateral electric field modulation pixels” (30-min) by K.Yasutomi, K.Kagawa, S.Kawahito (Shizuoka University, Japan)

Imaging systems

• “Functional imaging of biological tissues based on diffuse reflectance spectroscopy with a digital RGB camera” (30-min) by Izumi Nishidate (Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan)
• “Multi-color, stain-free medical imaging by stimulated Raman scattering microscopy” (30-min) by Yasuyuki Ozeki (The University of Tokyo, Japan)

Scientific image sensors

• “CCD image sensor for astronomical applications” (30-min) by Hisanori Suzuki, Masaharu Muramatsu, Yasuhito Miyazaki, and Shin'ichiro Takagi (Hamamatsu Photonics K. K.)
• “Radiation image sensor with SOI technology” (30-min) by Yasuo Arai (High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Japan)
• “Advancement of sensor technologies and live imaging -- from a user's viewpoint” (30-min) by Yasushi Okada (RIKEN Quantitative Biology Center (QBiC), Japan)

Next technology trends

• “Implantable bioimaging device based on CMOS image sensor technology” (30-min) by Takashi Tokuda, Hiroaki Takehara, Toshihiko Noda, Kiyotaka Sasagawa, and Jun Ohta (Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Japan)
• “Plasmonics for sensor applications” (30-min) by Atsushi Ono, Hiroaki Satoh, and Hiroshi Inokawa (Shizuoka University, Japan)
• “Computational imaging” (30-min) by Hajime Nagahara (Kyushu University, Japan)

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Laser Focus publishes an article "Advances in Imaging: Pulsed laser illumination enables high-resolution 3D imaging" by Ritchie Logan, VP business development, and Kirsty Walls, senior electro-optics engineer at Edinburgh, Scotland-based Odos Imaging. Few interesting quotes:

"Typical approaches to TOF imaging have often included illumination that is periodically modulated, in conjunction with an image-sensor pixel architecture capable of demodulating the reflected signal. This demodulation of an optical signal can then be used to extract the phase change of the optical signal, thus measuring distance.

odos imaging has developed TOF 3D imaging systems based on an alternative approach: pulsed illumination. The systems incorporating this approach operate at high spatial resolutions, matching the typical resolutions of intensity-only machine-vision cameras, but crucially providing the benefit of depth measurement at each pixel. Recently released is the first commercially available pulsed TOF system intended specifically for the machine-vision market, a system with a spatial resolution of 1280 × 1024 pixels."

"Pulsed TOF imaging provides a number of unique benefits. At the application level, system integrators can appreciate the benefits of operation in high ambient light conditions and simple synchronization of multiple systems; however, pulsed illumination is also the key enabler of high-resolution TOF imaging."

An example scene with 3D information shows the intensity image (left) and the depth image (right) [false color, 816 × 600 resolution].

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Tomasz Hemeprek from Physics Institute of the University of Bonn, Germany posted a long and interesting interview with Bart Dierickx taken at Workshop on CMOS Active Pixel Sensors for Particle Tracking held in Sept. 2014 in Bonn. Bart tells about how he founded Fillfactory and then Caeleste, different projects, few bits of image sensor history and also his views on image sensor future, and more.

Few quotes:

Q: How many different pixel design have you done in life?

A: I have designed myself at least 100 different imagers and as a team leader or CTO certainly more than 100. Many of those chips contained multiple variants of a baseline pixel. A large part must have been classic 3T and 4T pixel and an even larger amount of pixels which are “special”, with logic inside, or analog processing, or hybrid, or having some special feature like time gating or having certain functionality or redundancy. Every project is different. So if you ask, it will be around 1000.

Q: How the image sensors will look like in 10 years. Do you look at the mobile market what they are doing?

A: The pixel size race will stop, but what is not yet really there is a global shutter in a small pixel. That race is now going on. Today a 1µm pixel is a rolling shutter pixel: if you move your camera you get the jello effect. Global shutter pixels are the next big thing. They are racing again, maybe down to 1.5 µm? But also that race might stop or reverse, as happened with telephones: about 5 years ago mobile phones became smaller and smaller and everybody said that they would become so small that you would lose them. Suddenly they became bigger again due to the smartphones. All those smartphones have the size to fit in your hand and the hand does not scale.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

2015 International Image Sensor Workshop (IISW) to be held in Vaals, The Netherlands on 8-11 June, 2015 calls for papers:

The 2015 International Image Sensor Workshop will provide an opportunity to present innovative work in the area of Solid-State Image Sensors and share new results with the Imaging community. The workshop is intended for image sensor technologists and has limited attendance. As in the previous years, the workshop will emphasize active interaction and encourage exchange of information among the workshop participants in an informal and open atmosphere at a great venue. The scope of the workshop includes all aspects of electronic image sensor design and development. In addition to regular papers, the workshop will include invited talks, poster presentations and the announcement of the Walter Kosonocky Award winner.

Papers on the following topics are solicited:

Image Sensor Design and Performance

• CMOS Imagers, CCD Imagers, CID Imagers,
• APD arrays sensors.
• New and disruptive architectures
• Global shutter Image sensors
• Low noise readout circuitry, ADC designs
• Single Photon sensitivity sensors
• High frame rate image sensors,
• High Dynamic Range sensors,
• Low voltage and low power imagers
• High image quality. Low noise. High sensitivity. Improved color reproduction.
• Non-standard color patterns with special digital processing
• Imaging System-on-a-chip , On-Chip image processing

Pixels and Image Sensor Device Physics

• New devices and pixel structures.
• Advanced materials.
• Ultra miniaturized pixels development, testing, and characterization
• New device physics and phenomena
• Electron Multiplication pixels
• Techniques for increasing QE, well capacity,
• reducing crosstalk, and improving angular response
• Front side illuminated and back side illuminated pixels and pixel arrays
• Pixel simulation: Optical and Electrical simulation,
• 2D and 3D, CAD for design and simulation.
• Improved models.

Application Specific Imagers

• Image sensors and pixels for range sensing: TOF, RGBZ, Structured light, stereo Imaging, etc.
• Image sensors with enhanced spectral sensitivity (NIR, UV, IR)
• Sensors for DSC, DSLR, Mobile, digital video camera and mirror-less cameras
• Array Imagers and sensors for Multi-Aperture imaging and Computational Imaging
• Sensors for medical applications, microbiology, genome sequencing
• High energy photon and particle sensors (X-ray, Radiation).
• Line arrays, TDI, Very large format imagers
• Multi and hyperspectral imagers
• Polarization Sensitive imagers

Image sensor manufacturing and testing

• New manufacturing techniques.
• Backside thinning
• Stacked imagers, 3D integration,
• Advanced optical path, Color filters, Microlens,
• Light guide
• Nanotechnologies for Imaging
• Wafer level cameras. Packaging and Testing
• Reliability. Yield. Cost.
• Defects. Leakage current.
• Radiation damages and radiation hard imagers

Submission of papers:

Abstracts should be submitted electronically to the Technical Program Chair, Pierre Magnan ( IISW2015papers@isae.fr ) by January 23, 2015.
An abstract should consist of a single page of text with up to two pages of illustration, and includeauthors’ name(s) and affiliation, mailing address, telephone and e-mail address.
The electronic file with abstract should be prepared in .pdf format. The name of the file should be the last name of presenter.
Abstracts will be considered on the basis of originality and quality. High quality papers on work in progress are also welcome.
Authors will be notified of the acceptance of their abstract by February 28, 2015
Final-form paper submission date is April 17, 2015.

IISW 2015 location

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Pelican Chief Imaging Scientist Dan Lelescu presented "The Computational Array Camera" at the IEEE Santa Clara Valley Consumer Electronics Society meeting on Sept. 23, 2014. Few slides from the presentation:


Pelican also publishes two depth map videos that Dan Lelescu showed at the meeting: Pelican lobby, and trees outside.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

SEMI: Albert Theuwissen, CEO of Harvest Imaging and professor at Delft University of Technology, is the recipient of the European SEMI Award 2014. The Award, which recognizes Theuwissen’s outstanding contribution to the continuing education of engineers, was presented during the SEMICON Europa Executive Summit in Grenoble On Oct 7, 2014.

Albert Theuwissen worked for nearly 20 years at Philips Research and then at DALSA in lead engineering and management roles. In 2001, Theuwissen became a part-time professor at Delft University of Technology. In 1995, he wrote the textbook “Solid-State Imaging with Charge-Coupled Devices” which is now a standard reference work in the field of solid-state imaging.

After “retiring” in 2007, Theuwissen founded Harvest Imaging and has played a major role in the continuing education of engineers in the field of solid-state imaging and digital cameras. He has taught and trained over 3,000 engineers at image sensor companies (such as Kodak, Sony, Samsung, Aptina, ST Microelectronics, Micron, Intel, Philips, Canon, DALSA, and Panasonic) and consumer product companies (such as Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, Motorola, Siemens, Research InMotion, Thomson, and many others). In addition, he has conducted short courses at IEEE’s IEDM, ISSCC, ICIP and SPIE’s Electronic Imaging Conference.

Continuing education — outside of the scope of university professors operating as part-time short-course instructors — within the industry is critical. By educating technologists and application specialists, Theuwissen created a successful model for future technological education: the entrepreneur-educator.

“Albert recognized the need for technical education and created a successful continuing education offering that navigates and conforms to the competitive and proprietary IP environment, benefitting thousands of electron-device engineers and also the industry,” said Heinz Kundert, president of SEMI Europe. “It is an honor to recognize Albert for his outstanding contributions to the European semiconductor and microsystems industry.”

The European SEMI Award was established more than two decades ago to recognize individuals and teams who made a significant contribution to the European semiconductor and related industries. Prior award recipients hailed from these companies: Infineon, Semilab, Deutsche Solar, STMicroelectronics, IMEC, Fraunhofer Institute, and more.

Congratulations, Albert!

Update: Somebody (not Albert) sent me a picture from the award ceremony:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

PRNewswire: OmniVision announced the OV16850, a 16MP imager for smartphones. Using an 1.12um pixel and leveraging OmniVision's stacked die technology, the PureCel-S OV16850 captures stills and video in native 16:9 aspect ratio.

"16-megapixel sensors represent another milestone in the 'megapixel race' for higher resolution cameras in smartphones. Coming in a native high definition 16:9 aspect ratio, the OV16850 is designed with the smartphone camera user's experience in mind," said Bahman Hadji, product marketing manager at OmniVision. "As smartphone OEMs increase display resolutions to 1080p Full HD (FHD) and 1440p Quad HD (QHD), the OV16850 offers a camera experience matching these display aspect ratios and filling the smartphone screen without any loss in field-of-view for snapshots and video. It also utilizes OmniVision's stacked die technology and a high chief ray angle to enable a 16-megapixel camera solution in a compact 9.5 mm x 9.5 mm x 5.5 mm module."

The 1/2.6-inch OV16850 is capable of capturing full-resolution 16MP images at 30fps, 4K2K video at 30fps, QHD video at 60fps, and 720p video at 120fps. It is said to deliver the best-in-class sensitivity, SNR, and full-well capacity for a 1.12um pixel. Additionally, the OV16850 features alternate-row HDR mode.

The sensor is currently sampling and is expected to enter volume production in Q1 2015.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Nikkei Tech publishes quite a controversial story on the new Sharp technology: Sharp has developed a camera that colorizes NIR nighttime video and exhibited it at Ceatec Japan on Oct. 7-11, 2014. The company plans to commercialize it in a monitoring camera in November 2014, and to use it in automotive camera later on. The camera color filter "separates near-infrared light into red, green and blue lights. The filter is not made of an organic material but an inorganic material."

The near-infrared LEDs emit light to a distance of 5 to 10m. The reflected light passes through the lens and the newly-developed filter to a Sharp CCD and then used to produce a color image. No further technology details are reported.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Business Wire: TowerJazz and the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI), a non-profit government-funded research institute in Republic of Korea, announce an on-going collaboration which has led to successful development of a X-Ray image sensor which is ready for the commercial market.

Since 2009, TowerJazz has partnered with KERI to provide pixel IP, special R&D assistance and other support. The global X-ray equipment market for medical, dental and veterinary applications reached the $10 billion mark in 2012 and should increase by 18% to $12 billion by 2017, according to IMS Research. KERI already has agreements with various commercial companies for technology transfer and detailed plans are under discussion now. KERI expects mass production to begin in 2015 for this CMOS image sensor and expected sales revenue could easily reach over $10M per year once ramp up occurs.

“With the great support of TowerJazz, our image sensor is ready to be commercialized. Since the beginning, TowerJazz has been supporting and encouraging us throughout the development process by providing specialized technical service and prompt response from on-site experts with diverse experience. We will maintain our strong relationship while starting production in the coming year for this product and we look forward to future cooperation at TowerJazz’s 12” fab in Japan through TowerJazz Panasonic Semiconductor Co.,” said Dr. Sung Chae Jeon, Principal Research Engineer, KERI.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Marketwired: Horizon Technology Finance Corporation, a finance company that provides secured loans to venture capital and private equity backed development-stage companies, announces it led a venture loan facility, in which Square 1 Bank participated, for InVisage Technologies, Inc. InVisage will use the funds primarily for working capital purposes.

"We are pleased to add InVisage to our top tier list of venture loan portfolio companies," stated Gerald A. Michaud, President of Horizon. "InVisage's QuantumFilm platform and series of products address the fundamental physics limitations of today's silicon-based image sensors used in smartphone cameras and other applications. This loan facility provides InVisage with strategic capital to support the manufacturing and commercialization of its products."

InVisage President and CEO, Jess Lee, shared, "We are pleased to have Horizon as one of our investment partners and are fortunate to have attracted top-tier investors that share our vision of creating the next era of cameras -- fast, thin, high performance -- to transform the mobile, photography and connected device segments. This significant loan facility is an affirmation of the growth opportunity we see for our QuantumFilm™ platform and series of products. We now have additional financial flexibility to drive and market our capabilities to Tier 1 customers."

In April 2014, Invisage announced its latest funding round of $18M, bringing the total investment to more than $100M.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Albert Theuwissen publishes a step-by-step guide of slanted edge MTF measurement.

MTF obtained by the slanted edge method.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

PRNewswire: OmniVision announces the OV13860, a 1/2.6-inch PureCel-S OV13860 image sensor uses large 1.3um pixels and leverages OmniVision's new stacked die technology.

"Today's smartphone OEMs are conscious of the fact that users expect higher resolution cameras in their smartphones. But this increase in resolution is often accomplished by a reduction of pixel sizes, which results in a loss of camera performance and low-light sensitivity," said Bahman Hadji, product marketing manager at OmniVision. "The OV13860 is the ideal solution to this dilemma: a unique 1/2.6-inch 13-megapixel sensor with 1.3-micron pixels – 35 percent larger in size than traditional 13-megapixel sensors. Despite its 1/2.6-inch optical format, the OV13860 uses a high chief ray angle (CRA) to enable a camera module z-height of 5.5 mm, suitable for today's slim smartphones. With its large pixels and high CRA, the OV13860 provides an extraordinary 'no-compromise' imaging solution for next-generation flagship smartphones."

The OV13860 is the first in the family of BSI PureCel sensors based on the company's stacked die technology. Among the OV13860's advanced features is autofocus contrast calculation at 120fps while imaging at full 13MP resolution to enable a fast autofocus system. When paired with a high-speed actuator, the OV13860 can provide for nearly instant AF by delivering contrast statistics at up to four times faster than traditional single frame-based contrast calculations. The OV13860 also supports alternate row dual-exposure HDR mode for delivering HDR video in challenging lighting scenes.

The OV13860's large 1.3um pixel is said to have an improved high- and low-light performance, SNR, and full-well capacity when compared to products with 1.12um pixels. The OV13860 can capture full-resolution 13MP still images at 30fps or record 4K2K video at 30fps, 1080p at 60fps, or 720p at 120fps. Each video output format includes additional pixels to support EIS.

The OV13860 is currently sampling and is expected to enter volume production in Q4 2014.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Primesense (Apple now) has filed US20130207970 patent application "Scanning depth engine" by Alexander Shpunt and Raviv Erlich and, more recently, PCT applications "Depth Scanning with Multiple Emitters" by Alexander Shpunt, Ronen Einat and Zafrir Mor, "Mems hinges with enhanced rotatability" by Raviv Ehrlich and Yuval Gerson, and "Detecting failure of scanning mirror" by Alexander Shpunt that present ToF approach based on scanning micro-mirror and APD:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

TSMC patent application US20140264508 "Structure and Method for 3D Image Sensor" by Min-Feng Kao, Dun-Nian Yaung, Jen-Cheng Liu, Chun-Chieh Chuang, Feng-Chi Hung, Shuang-Ji Tsai, Jeng-Shyan Lin, Shu-Ting Tsai, and Wen-I Hsu describes pixel-level interconnect in stacked sensors (BDCT=backside deep contact, BSSI=backside silicon):

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Vision Systems Design: Proceeedings of the IEEE publishes an open-access invited paper "Bioinspired Polarization Imaging Sensors: From Circuits and Optics to Signal Processing Algorithms and Biomedical Applications" by Timothy York, Samuel B. Powell, Shengkui Gao, Lindsey Kahan, Tauseef Charanya, Debajit Saha, Nicholas W. Roberts, Thomas W. Cronin, Justin Marshall, Samuel Achilefu, Spencer P. Lake, Baranidharan Raman, and Viktor Gruev.

The paper proposes to use polarization imaging to detect cancer cells. For unknown reasons, the pixel is current-mode based:

Current-mode pixel schematic and peripheral readout circuitry of the imaging sensor. The pixel’s readout transistor operates in the linear mode, allowing for high linearity between incident photons on the photodiode and output current from the pixel.

Cross section of the pinned photodiode together with the reset, transfer, readout, and select transistors. The diode is an n-type diode on a p-substrate with an insulating barrier between. The readout transistor operates as a transconductor, providing a linear relationship between accumulated photo charges and an output current.

The 7.4um-sized pixel in 180nm process shows excellent PRNU of less than 0.1% rms, in spite of Gm variations between the pixels:

Histogram of all responses of pixels in the imaging array to a uniform illumination at room light intensity. The fixed pattern noise of the current-mode imaging sensor

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Omnivision patent application US20140267848 "Image sensor with pixels having increased optical crosstalk" by the company's President Raymond Wu says "some RGBC patterns may suffer from color aliasing. [...] Color aliasing occurs at least partly due to the alignment of the clear filters within the RGBC pattern. Image sensors with clear pixels are more prone to color aliasing since clear pixels do not produce any color information of their own other than the intensity of light."

"Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure intentionally increase optical crosstalk in the pixel array in order to reduce the effect of color aliasing. [...] In conventional image sensors, optical crosstalk is an unfavorable effect that is mitigated because light straying from neighboring pixels may tend to distort the true color information of the target pixel. However, optical crosstalk has the unexpected benefit of blending the color of the target pixel with its neighboring pixels, thereby reducing color aliasing. Embodiments of the present disclosure intentionally induce and/or increase optical crosstalk as a desirable feature of CMOS image sensors to reduce the effects of color aliasing.

...it may be advantageous to have color pixels increase crosstalk, but to have clear pixels not. In other words, light incident on color pixels may be directed into neighboring clear pixels, but light incident on clear pixels will substantially remain within the clear pixels."

Few ways to increase the crosstalk are proposed. The one below shows a BSI example:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

PRNewswire: Following FLIR One steps, Seek Thermal announces the Seek thermal camera that plugs into iPhone and Android devices. The Santa Barbara, CA-based startup seems to be well funded to buy a thermal.com domain name to promote its sales. The spec is quite impressive for a $199 camera:

• True Thermal Sensor
• 206 x 156 Array
• 32,136 Thermal Pixels
• 12μm Pixel Pitch
• Vanadium Oxide Microbolometer
• Chalcogenide Lens
• 36° Field of View
• Magnesium Housing
• Long Wave Infrared 7.2 - 13 Microns
• -40C to 330C Detection
• Framerate < 9Hz

"Seek's breakthrough technology lets people see heat for the first time, something that only government agencies and companies could afford in the past," said Seek Thermal CEO, Robert Acker. "The Seek camera not only gives average consumers the capabilities in home improvement and safety and security that only professionals used to have, but we are also especially excited about the hundreds of new use cases for thermal that our camera will enable."


Thanks to JZ for letting me know!

Another FLIR One alternative, Hema-Imager Kickstarter project, fell short from its $205,000 fundraising goal recently. HemaImaging product was supposed to use German Heimann Sensors Gmbh thermopile array.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Caeleste publishes Bart Dierickx' tutorial "Radiation hard design in CMOS image sensors," presented at CPIX Workshop held in Bonn, Germany on Sept 15-19, 2014. It's a very nice overview of radiations effects combined with some countermeasures. Few slides out of 53 ones:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

DxO Labs announces version 6 of its Analyzer with a slew of new features:

• HDR testing supporting up to 120dB
• Automated lighting system
• Video analysis now includes exposure, white-balance, sharpness and texture with changing lighting
• New MTF-based calibration for testing higher resolutions
• 6-Axis video image stabilization testing
• 3D camera characterization

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Sony publishes product sheets of its recent stacked sensors that have quite unusual restrictions on the sensor uses:

The 20MP 1/2.3-inch IMX220 document says:


The 13MP 1/3.06-inch IMX214 is intended for cellular phones or tablet devices. The note in the doc says:


The 1.07MP 1/8.32-inch IMX188 product sheet (non-stacked "regular" BSI) says:


Update: Apparently, most of the product briefs released recently have these restrictions. Few more examples: IMX208, IMX219, IMX135.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Chipworks publishes a more detailed report on iPhone 6 and 6 Plus cameras, both front and rear. All cameras have stacked sensors made by Sony. The front FaceTime camera has 2.2um pixels (up from 1.75um in iPhone 5s) and features an interesting CFA pattern:

Go to the original article...