Archives for November 2020
Canon RF 70-200mm f4L IS USM review so far
Image Sensors at IEDM 2020: Facebook, Samsung, Omnivision, Sony, More…
Image Sensors World Go to the original article...
IEDM publishes its 2020 program with many image sensor-related papers:- Sony presents 10um BSI SPAD with 14% PDE @ 940nm, possibly used in Apple iPad/iPhone LiDAR
- Facebook and Brillnics present low power sensor
- Samsung presents 108MP Nonacell sensor with 0.8um pixels and 18Ke- FWC in 3x3 binning mode
- Omnivision presents 64MP sensor with 0.7um pixels with 18Ke- PWC in 2x2 binning mode
- Imec presents SWIR imager with 1.82um pixels
- Much more...
Park, Woonil Choi, Zhiqiang Lin, Wu-Zang Yang, Alan Chih-Wei Hsiung, Lindsay Grant,
This paper presents a 64MP, backside-illuminated, imager using 0.7um pixel-pitch with 7.0ke- FWC. Switchable-conversion-gain was also demonstrated to have high 18.0ke- FWC in 4-Cell mode. Several new processes were implemented to overcome pixel performance degradation. As a result, this high FWC imager achieves low dark-noise and high QE, comparable to 0.8um.
16.4 A Global Shutter Wide Dynamic Range Soft X-ray CMOS Image Sensor with BSI Pinned Photodiode, Two-stage LOFIC and Voltage Domain Memory Bank,
A prototype soft X-ray CMOS image sensor (sxCMOS) with BSI pinned photodiode with a 45µm-thick Si substrate, two-stage LOFIC and voltage domain memory bank with high density capacitors is presented. The fabricated chip demonstrated a high QE toward soft X-ray with a single exposure 129dB dynamic range by global shutter.
16.5 Imaging in Short-Wave Infrared with 1.82 µm Pixel Pitch Quantum Dot Image Sensor
High pixel density SWIR image sensor with 1.82 μm pixel pitch is presented. PbS QD photodiode is monolithically integrated on custom CMOS readout. We show through-silicon vision and lens-free imaging (LFI) examples. To our knowledge, this is the smallest pitch SWIR pixel ever reported and the first QD-based LFI system.
16.6 A Back Illuminated 10μm SPAD Pixel Array Comprising Full Trench Isolation and Cu-Cu Bonding with Over 14% PDE at 940nm,
We developed a BI 10um SPAD array sensor using pixel-level Cu-Cu bonding and metal-buried Full Trench Isolation. Using a 7um thick Si layer, a fine-tuned potential and process, over 14% PDE at λ=940nm and the best in class DCR were achieved. Low timing jitter and suppressed X-talk were also demonstrated.
Alberto Valdes-Garcia, Petar Pepeljugoski, Ivan Duran, Jean-Olivier Plouchart, Mark Yeck, Huijuan Liu,
IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
Advances in semiconductor and packaging technologies have downsized sensing devices including visible-domain/IR and mmWave radars. This paper discusses challenges and opportunities associated with portable multi-spectral imaging systems, where data from across the EM spectrum is captured, processed, and displayed simultaneously. A prototype system, experimental data, and potential applications are discussed.
A 3.5um square 1.2M pixel indirect time of flight sensor achieves 18,000e- full well capacity and 32% quantum efficiency with diffraction structure. Low power consumption is also achieved, due to low resistance Cu-Cu connection wiring. These device architectures enable high resolution and wide dynamic range 3D depth sensing.
33.2 A 2.8 μm Pixel for Time of Flight CMOS Image Sensor with 20 ke- Full-Well Capacity in a Tap and 36 % Quantum Efficiency at 940 nm Wavelength,
A 2.8μm 4-tap global shutter pixel has been realized for a compact and high-resolution time of flight (ToF) CMOS image sensor. 20,000 e- of full-well capacity (FWC) per a tap is obtained by employing a MOS capacitor. 36% of quantum efficiency (QE) 86 % of demodulation contrast (DC) are achieved.
This study demonstrates a new characterization scheme to assess the density and profile of defects in the lateral direction and to verify their impacts using CMOS image sensor-based structures. We present a 3D (vertical and lateral) defect map as well as possible optimization strategies for ultra-low leakage devices.
3 Year-Old Aeva Goes Public at $2.1B Valuation
Image Sensors World Go to the original article...
PRNewswire: 3 year-old FMCW LiDAR startup Aeva announces a reverse merging with InterPrivate Acquisition Corp. to be listed on NYSE at $2.1B valuation. This transaction is to provide up to $363M in gross proceeds, comprised of InterPrivate's $243M held in trust and a $120M fully committed common stock PIPE at $10.00 per share, including investments from Adage Capital and Porsche SE.
The combined company expected to have an estimated post-transaction equity value of approximately $2.1B and is expected to be listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol AEVA following anticipated transaction close in Q1 2021.
- In 2019, Aeva announced a partnership with Audi's Autonomous Intelligent Driving entity. Aeva has also partnered with multiple other passenger car, trucking and mobility platforms to further adoption of ADAS and autonomous applications.
- Aeva is in a production partnership with ZF, one of the world's largest automotive Tier 1 manufacturers to top OEMs, to supply the first automotive grade 4D LiDAR from select ZF production plants. The partnership — Aeva's expertise in FMCW LiDAR technology combined with ZF's experience in industrialization of automotive grade sensors — represents a key commitment to accelerate mass production of safe and scalable 4D LiDAR technology.
Sony CIS Sales Predicted to Fall by 42% in a Year
Image Sensors World Go to the original article...
BusinessKorea tells: "Sony’s image sensor sales are predicted to fall from 240 billion yen in the second quarter of this year to 130 billion yen in the second quarter of next year.
This is leading to an opportunity for Samsung. The latecomer in the industry has focused on Xiaomi, Vivo and others rather than Huawei.
Samsung is aiming to rise to the top in the global image sensor market by 2030. Last year, Samsung’ share in the market was 18.1 percent and Sony’s was 53.5 percent."
LiDAR News: Livox, Voyant, Aeye, Conti, Luminar, Daimler
Image Sensors World Go to the original article...
Livox announces two new products, Mid-70 and AVIA:
Voyant Photonics President Peter Stern talks about Apple LiDAR:
"The iPhone time-of-flight LiDAR, probably built with the same amazing SPAD array used in the iPad, coupled with a VCSEL array for illumination, is an engineering marvel. It’s absolute magic.
After working on LiDAR three decades ago that could detect telephone lines kilometers away from a fast-moving, low-flying helicopter, I have been waiting for this kind of LiDAR magic for a long time.
At Voyant, we have a different approach. No VCSELs, no SPADs. Adapting microscopic optical components from datacom chips to active sensing, we have created a coherent pixel array for LiDAR, similar to the ubiquitous CMOS image sensors found everywhere. Each pixel both transmits and receives light at 1550 nm wavelengths.
Moon Photography Tutorial
Cameralabs Go to the original article...
The Moon is one of my favourite subjects to photograph and in this tutorial I'll show you how to take great photos of it including exposure, phases, Earthshine and how to plan a Moon-rise with a landscape in the foreground!…
The post Moon Photography Tutorial appeared first on Cameralabs.
Optical Quantum Random Number Generator
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APL Photonics paper "An optical chip for self-testing quantum random number generation" by Nicolò Leone, Davide Rusca, Stefano Azzini, Giorgio Fontana, Fabio Acerbi, Alberto Gola, Alessandro Tontini, Nicola Massari, Hugo Zbinden, and Lorenzo Pavesi from University of Trento, FBK, and University of Geneva describes how photon shot noise-based RNG is built:
"We present an implementation of a semi-device-independent protocol of the generation of quantum random numbers in a fully integrated silicon chip. The system is based on a prepare-and-measure scheme, where we integrate a partially trusted source of photons and an untrusted single photon detector. The source is a silicon photomultiplier, which emits photons during the avalanche impact ionization process, while the detector is a single photon avalanche diode. The proposed protocol requires only a few and reasonable assumptions on the generated states. It is sufficient to measure the statistics of generation and detection in order to evaluate the min-entropy of the output sequence, conditioned on all possible classical side information. We demonstrate that this protocol, previously realized with a bulky laboratory setup, is totally applicable to a compact and fully integrated chip with an estimated throughput of 6 kHz of the certified quantum random bit rate."
RGB Color Error Tested with Hyperspectral Camera
Image Sensors World Go to the original article...
MDPI paper "How Good Are RGB Cameras Retrieving Colors of Natural Scenes and Paintings?—A Study Based on Hyperspectral Imaging" by João M. M. Linhares, José A. R. Monteiro, Ana Bailão, Liliana Cardeira, Taisei Kondo, Shigeki Nakauchi, Marcello Picollo, Costanza Cucci, Andrea Casini, Lorenzo Stefani, and Sérgio Miguel Cardoso Nascimento from University of Minho, University of Lisbon, Portuguese Catholic University (Portugal), Toyohashi University of Technology (Japan), and Istituto di Fisica Applicata “Nello Carrara” del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italy), describes an interesting experiment:
"RGB digital cameras (RGB) compress the spectral information into a trichromatic system capable of approximately representing the actual colors of objects. Although RGB digital cameras follow the same compression philosophy as the human eye (OBS), the spectral sensitivity is different. To what extent they provide the same chromatic experiences is still an open question, especially with complex images. We addressed this question by comparing the actual colors derived from spectral imaging with those obtained with RGB cameras. The data from hyperspectral imaging of 50 natural scenes and 89 paintings was used to estimate the chromatic differences between OBS and RGB. The corresponding color errors were estimated and analyzed in the color spaces CIELAB (using the color difference formulas ΔE*ab and CIEDE2000), Jzazbz, and iCAM06. In CIELAB the most frequent error (using ΔE*ab) found was 5 for both paintings and natural scenes, a similarity that held for the other spaces tested. In addition, the distribution of errors across the color space shows that the errors are small in the achromatic region and increase with saturation. Overall, the results indicate that the chromatic errors estimated are close to the acceptance error and therefore RGB digital cameras are able to produce quite realistic colors of complex scenarios."
SiPM for Time Domain NIR Spectroscopy
Image Sensors World Go to the original article...
IEEE JSSC publishes an open-access paper "Large-Area, Fast-Gated Digital SiPM With Integrated TDC for Portable and Wearable Time-Domain NIRS" by Enrico Conca, Vincenzo Sesta, Mauro Buttafava, Federica Villa, Laura Di Sieno, Alberto Dalla Mora, Davide Contini, Paola Taroni, Alessandro Torricelli, Antonio Pifferi, Franco Zappa , and Alberto Tosi from Politecnico di Milano.
"We present the design and characterization of a large-area, fast-gated, all-digital single-photon detector with programmable active area, internal gate generator, and time-to-digital converter (TDC) with a built-in histogram builder circuit, suitable for performing high-sensitivity time-domain near-infrared spectroscopy (TD-NIRS) measurements when coupled with pulsed laser sources. We used a novel low-power differential sensing technique that optimizes area occupation. The photodetector is a time-gated digital silicon photomultiplier (dSiPM) with an 8.6-mm 2 photosensitive area, 37% fill-factor, and ~300 ps (20%–80%) gate rising edge, based on low-noise single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) and fabricated in 0.35- μm CMOS technology. The built-in TDC with a histogram builder has a least-significant-bit (LSB) of 78 ps and 128 time-bins, and the integrated circuit can be interfaced directly with a low-cost microcontroller with a serial interface for programming and readout. Experimental characterization demonstrated a temporal response as good as 300-ps full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) and a dynamic range >100 dB (thanks to the programmable active area size). This microelectronic detector paves the way for a miniaturized, stand-alone, multi-wavelength TD-NIRS system with an unprecedented level of integration and responsivity, suitable for portable and wearable systems."
