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ISSCC 2015 program has 11 image sensor-related papers in 3 sessions, and one image sensing tutorial. T10 tutorial "CMOS Sensors for 3D Imaging" by David Stoppa covers all 3D techniques with an emphasis on ToF imagers.

Session 6 "Image Sensors and Displays" contains 5 image sensor papers:

A 1/1.7-inch 20Mpixel Back-Illuminated Stacked CMOS Image Sensor for New Imaging Applications
A. Suzuki, N. Shimamura, T. Kainuma, N. Kawazu, C. Okada, T. Oka, K. Koiso, A. Masagaki, Y. Yagasaki, S. Gonoi, T. Ichikawa, M. Mizuno, T. Sugioka, T. Morikawa, Y. Inada, and H. Wakabayashi
Sony, Atsugi, Japan
Sony Semiconductor, Kikuyou, Japan
Sony, Shinagawa, Japan
Sony LSI Design, Fukuoka, Japan
Sony LSI Design, Atsugi, Japan

133Mpixel 60fps CMOS Image Sensor with 32-Column Shared High-Speed Column-Parallel SAR ADCs
R. Funatsu, S. Huang, T. Yamashita, K. Stevulak, J. Rysinski, D. Estrada, S. Yan, T. Soeno, T. Nakamura, T. Hayashida, H. Shimamoto, and B. Mansoorian
NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories, Tokyo, Japan
Forza Silicon, Pasadena, CA

A 45.5µW 15fps Always-On CMOS Image Sensor for Mobile and Wearable Devices
J. Choi, J. Shin, D. Kang, D-S. Park
Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Suwon, Korea

Single-Shot 200Mfps 5×3-Aperture Compressive CMOS Imager
F. Mochizuki, K. Kagawa, S-I. Okihara, M-W. Seo, B. Zhang, T. Takasawa, K. Yasutomi, S. Kawahito
Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Japan
The Graduate School for the Creation of New Photonics Industries, Hamamatsu, Japan

25.3μW at 60fps 240×160-Pixel Vision Sensor for Motion Capturing with In-Pixel Non-Volatile Analog Memory Using Crystalline Oxide Semiconductor FET
T. Ohmaru, T. Nakagawa, S. Maeda, Y. Okamoto, M. Kozuma, S. Yoneda, H. Inoue, Y. Kurokawa, T. Ikeda, Y. Ieda, N. Yamade, H. Miyairi, M. Ikeda, S. Yamazaki1
Semiconductor Energy Laboratory, Kanagawa, Japan
University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Session 11 "Sensors and Imagers for Life Sciences" has another 5 image sensor papers:

A 10.8ps-Time-Resolution 256×512 Image Sensor with 2-Tap True-CDS Lock-In Pixels for Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging
M-W. Seo, K. Kagawa, K. Yasutomi, T. Takasawa, Y. Kawata, N. Teranishi, Z. Li, I. A. Halin, S. Kawahito
Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Japan
Putra University, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

A 160×120-Pixel Analog-Counting Single-Photon Imager with Sub-ns Time-Gating and Self-Referenced Column-Parallel A/D Conversion for Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging
M. Perenzoni, N. Massari, D. Perenzoni, L. Gasparini, D. Stoppa
Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), Trento, Italy

A 67,392-SPAD PVTB-Compensated Multi-Channel Digital SiPM with 432 Column-Parallel 48ps 17b TDCs for Endoscopic Time-of-Flight PET
A. Carimatto, S. Mandai, E. Venialgo, T. Gong, G. Borghi, D. R. Schaart, E. Charbon
Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

A Time-Correlated Single-Photon-Counting Sensor with 14GS/s Histogramming Time-to-Digital Converter
N. A. W. Dutton, S. Gnecchi, L. Parmesan, A. J. Holmes, B. Rae, L. A. Grant, R. K. Henderson
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
STMicroelectronics, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

A Multimodality CMOS Sensor Array for Cell-Based Assay and Drug Screening
J. S. Park, T. Chi, J. Butts, T. Hookway, T. McDevitt, H. Wang
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA

Session 16 on Emerging Technologies has one image sensor paper:

A Large-Area Image Sensing and Detection System Based on Embedded Thin-Film Classifiers
W. Rieutort-Louis, T. Moy, Z. Wang, S. Wagner, J. C. Sturm, N. Verma
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

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Pixart patent application US20140358302 "Apparatus having gesture sensor" by Chung-yuo Wu, Yi-hsien Ko, and Nientse Chen proposes gesture control that can finely change the water flow, rather than a simple on/off IR switch used now:

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BusinessWire: Ambarella announces that the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) has honored the company with the award for “Most Respected Emerging Public Semiconductor Company (achieving $100 to $250 million in annual sales).” “In previous years, Ambarella has been awarded six GSA awards including ‘Start-up to watch,’ ‘Most Respected Private Semiconductor Company’ and last year’s Morgan Stanley ‘Favorite Analyst Semiconductor Company.’ This year’s honor is a tribute to Ambarella’s diligence and continued excellence in business practices,” said Jodi Shelton, president of GSA.

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Nikkei Tech, PCWorld: Panasonic presents Hikari ID technology based on ID signals transmitted by backlighting LEDs of LCD signs. The LEDs flicker at a rate that is imperceptible to the human eye, but picked up by smartphone camera sensors from up to 5m away. The transmission speed is said to be several kilobits per second, according to Panasonic, significantly faster than conventional speeds for visible light communication (VLC). Panasonic plans to commercialize a device that transmits an ID from a light source in fiscal 2015.


PCWorld: Fujitsu presented a similar illumination-based LED technology, but with a slower speed of 10bps. Fujitsu too aims to commercialize it during its fiscal 2015.

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Silvaco publishes an application note on 4T pixel radiation damage simulation. The simulator includes quite fine effects: "Particle bombardment can change the arrangement of the atoms in the crystal lattice creating lasting damage, and increase the number of recombination (defect) centers depleting the minority carriers and degrading the analog properties of the affected semiconductor junctions. High dose rates of particles (particles/area-s) can cause partial annealing (“healing”) of the damaged lattice, leading to a lower degree of damage than with the same doses delivered in low intensity over a longer time period."

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AIT has presented a high-speed line scan sensors at Vision Show in Stuttgart in Nov 2014. The sensor works with line-rates of 200kHz (true RGB) and 600kHz (B/W), respectively. This allows for an RGB image resolution of 0.4mm at a speed of 300km/h. The sensor can be synchronised with the inspection speed which is suitable e.g. for the detection of hair-line cracks in railway lines. Fraunhofer IMS fabricates the sensor in its 0.35µm CMOS process which is certified for automotive applications.

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German industrial and machine vision camera vendor Basler has presented a series of ToF cameras at Vision Show in Stuttgart. The new cameras are said to provide a monochrome or color 2D image together with per-pixel depth information:


Thanks to HJ for the links!

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Lytro has added focus depth control feature to its lightfield camera postprocessing suite. A Youtube video shows how it works:

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SystemPlus Consulting publishes FLIR Lepton thermal imaging module reverse engineering report. 60 x 80 micro-bolometric array-based Lepton is used in FLIR One low cost iPhone clip-on camera and in Norwegian PD-100 micro UAV (thanks to SO for the info!). SystemPlus' report says:

"The microbolometer array is grown monolithically on top of a readout integrated circuit (ROIC) to comprise the complete focal plane array (FPA). An anti­reflection (AR) coated window is bonded above the sensor array via a wafer­level packaging (WLP) process, encapsulating the array in a vacuum. The purpose of the vacuum is to provide high thermal resistance between the microbolometer elements and the ROIC substrate, allowing for maximum temperature change in response to incident radiation.

The system electronics that receive and process the signal are a custom application­ specific integrated circuit (ASIC) device mounted in flip­chip on the substrate. Digital Optics' WLO brings an important part of the cost reduction. The silicon lenses are made at the wafer level with lithography and etching processes. The final cost reduction comes from the core housing, which is a three­dimensional molded interconnected device (3D­MID). Incorporating a conductive circuit pattern inside the housing provides grounding and allows FLIR to integrate a temperature sensor. Thanks to its strong integration at the core level with innovative WLO, wafer­level packaging (WLP) and custom ASIC use, the FLIR Lepton is the world's smallest microbolometer­based thermal imaging camera core."

(Source: LEPTON Infrared Camera Module Report, Dec. 2014, System Plus Consulting

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Business Wire: ON Semi/Aptina's AR0230CS sensor is a 1/2.7-inch device with 105dB DR combining low-light capabilities with superior NIR sensitivity for security cameras. It supports HDR video with improved motion compensation, advanced local tone mapping (ALTM), and digital lateral overflow (DLO) to minimize motion artifacts and enhance HDR color reproduction. AR0230CS' dual-conversion gain 3.0µm DR-Pix pixel has two modes: a low conversion gain mode that is optimized to offer greater charge handling capacity in bright environments and a high conversion gain mode which delivers increased sensitivity and reduced readout noise in low light environments.

“With demands for higher resolutions, the growth in professional and consumer 1080p security cameras has been tremendous and the 2.1 megapixel, 1/2.7 inch AR0230CS sensor is well positioned for this market,” said Alvin Wong, senior director of automotive and industrial CMOS imaging products, ON Semiconductor. “This sensor’s extensive dynamic range, superior low light performance and NIR sensitivity set it apart from other imaging solutions on the market.”

The AR0230CS is currently sampling and is expected to be in mass production in Q1 2015.

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Vision Systems Design publishes an interview with Michael DeLuca, product marketing, Image Sensor Business Unit, ON Semiconductor. ON Semiconductor areas of growth, according to DeLuca, include intelligent transportation systems, security, medical, documentation/scanning, automotive, and consumer products. "Machine vision continues to expand into new applications," said DeLuca. "As technology expands, so does the need for automation and productivity, which creates new opportunities."

One of such unusual applications has been presented by Lumenera at VISION Show, a camera-based phonograph. While many people tried to implement this, Lumenera's demo sounds better than some others that I have heard:

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Sony publishes an updated flyer on its semiconductor business status. Compared with the previous updates from August and June, the image sensor annual sales forecast has been increased one more time from 360,000M yen in June to 390,000M in August, to 410,000M now, although it's not clear if it comes from a weaker yen or is the real sales growth:

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International Image Sensor Society (IISS), the home of International Image Sensor Workshop (IISW), calls for Nominations for the 2015 Walter Kosonocky Award for significant advancement in image sensor technology. The Walter Kosonocky Award is presented bi-annually for THE BEST PAPER published in the calendar years 2013 and 2014 and representing significant advancement in solid-state image sensors. The award commemorates the many important contributions made by the late Dr. Walter Kosonocky to the field of solid-state image sensors.

In the past, only the IISW technical program committee members provided nominations and ratings to the nominated papers but IISS decided this time to solicit nominations from wider audience, i.e., attendees to the past IISW and anyone in the imaging community. The deadline for nominations is February 2nd, 2015.

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DailyMail, MacWorld, BusinessInsider and many other sites quote a rumor that the next generation iPhone 7 "camera might be the biggest camera jump ever... it's some kind of weird two-lens system where the back camera uses two lenses and it somehow takes it up into DSLR quality imagery."

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Germany-based XIMEA presents 3D cameras of Slovakia-based Photoneo said to be able to resolve 50um depth difference at 1m distance:


The cameras feature:

• Real per-pixel measurement thanks to unique method of sensing
• Extraordinary scanning range thanks to laser technology
• Efficient customizable projection system (different Wavelengths)
• Ambient light suppression
• Customizable FoV (5° - 90°)
• Power efficient
• Fast processing and low latency
• Adaptive scanning: possibility to select high-res or high-fps mode
• No Motion Blur
• Future-proof: Scalable to higher resolution

Photoneo presents 3D face scan raw data from its camera with 0.5mm resolution:

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Nature publishes "Single-shot compressed ultrafast photography at one hundred billion frames per second" paper by Liang Gao, Jinyang Liang, Chiye Li, and Lihong Wang from Washington University in St Louis, MO. While somewhat slower than the previously presented 4.4 Tera-fps system, the new camera is said to be completely passive. The abstract says:

"further increasing frame rates using CCD or CMOS technology is fundamentally limited by their on-chip storage and electronic readout speed. Here we demonstrate a two-dimensional dynamic imaging technique, compressed ultrafast photography (CUP), which can capture non-repetitive time-evolving events at up to 10^11 frames per second. Compared with existing ultrafast imaging techniques, CUP has the prominent advantage of measuring an x–y–t (x, y, spatial coordinates; t, time) scene with a single camera snapshot, thereby allowing observation of transient events with temporal resolution as tens of picoseconds. Furthermore, akin to traditional photography, CUP is receive-only, and so does not need the specialized active illumination required by other single-shot ultrafast imagers."

A figure below explains the camera principle:

CUP image formation model.

The two videos below demo the fast camera performance on laser pulse reflection from a mirror and laser pulses racing in different media:

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2r1y came out of stealth mode to present a structured light 3D camera with dynamically controlled illumination. Here is a quote from JPR Tech Watch on the 2r1y's approach:


The company's flyer says: "2r1y’s new technology starts with a resolution of 1MP at 33ms. Both the resolution and performance are scalable, allowing for 2, 5 and 10+MP depth maps... The technology has also been demonstrated generating high density 3D point clouds. A point cloud with approximately 2mm accuracy can be generated in under 50ms and with sub millimeter relative accuracy in under 400ms. Key processes of this new methodology are being demonstrated in the lab. The software which controls and ties the functions together is currently in development."

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New Imaging Technology introduces the WDR InGaAs products family, including sensors and camera modules. NIT SWIR products are based on a Wide Dynamic Range ROIC and offer DR of more than 140dB in a single image. The internal Fixed Pattern Noise correction gives a high uniformity pictures in all light conditions with no need of Look-up table.

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Today at the Embedded Vision Alliance meeting, Almalence announces SuperSensor, a technology for mobile camera quality improvement without hardware modifications. “Mobile handset makers always come to a point where camera quality improvement is impossible due to size restrictions or the cost, usually both”, says Eugene Panich, CEO of Almalence. “Using a computational component such as SuperSensor is a way to improve mobile camera features without adding a micron to its size and at just a small fraction of the cost of typical hardware improvement. While hardware improvements can take years to utilize, the time to market for a computational component could be as short as days, and you can even put it into the devices that are already sold via a system upgrade.”

Unlike other imaging solutions, each of which improves some specific property such as dynamic range or noise level only, SuperSensor is said to provide a complex improvement. Its effect is said to be similar to replacing a 1/4” sensor with a 1/3” sensor containing more pixels, which results in higher resolution, lower noise, higher speed, and wider dynamic range altogether:

Top: the font is too small, the illumination is too low and dynamic range is too high to capture the pictures. Bottom: same scenes, same conditions, same camera, but with SuperSensor technology.

The full resolution comparison images, pdf presentation, and Android demo application can be downloaded here. The first devices which utilize the Almalence SuperSensor technology are expected to be available on the market in 2015.

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PRNewswire: OmniVision's revenues for the quarter that ended on October 31, 2014 were $394.0M, as compared to $406.5M in the previous quarter, and $397.2M a year ago. Based on current trends, the company expects revenues for the next quarter will be in the range of $275M to $305M.

Non-GAAP net income was $36.9M. GAAP gross margin was 22.0%, as compared to 21.7% for the previous quarter, and 18.8% a year ago. The sequential increase gross margin reflected an increase in revenues recorded on the sale of previously written-down inventory and a continued mix shift towards the newer generation products. The Company ended the period with cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaling $525.2 million, a slight increase of $1.0 million from the previous quarter.

"Our mobile phone and automotive products continue to be the drivers behind our strong results this quarter," said Shaw Hong, CEO of OmniVision. "We are pleased with our execution in China, and with the emergence of India as a key geography for us. We are also excited about the launch of our high-performance stacked-die PureCel-S products, which demonstrates our technology leadership."

SeekingAlpha publishes Omnivision conference call transcript with more details of the past quarter business.

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Teledyne DALSA Possibility blog publishes "Keeping up with CMOS Sensor Design" video featuring Matthias Sonder, one of the company's lead designers, talking about the interface speed challenges in his design:

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Rambus publishes a Youtube video with Patrick Gill showing the company's lensless camera operation:



Meanwhile, it appears that Rambus somewhat downplays its image sensor activities in its recent investor presentations. For example, in the Nov. 2014 presentation, imaging appears in only one slide #29:

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Intel keeps posting promotional videos for its 3D camera-based RealSense technology. The first one shows refocusing capability similar to Pelican Imaging and some Nokia products:



The second video demos 3D scanning:

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Business Wire: Lattice Semiconductor announces its MachXO3 FPGA-based bridge between Sony sub-LVDS CMOS image sensors to the MIPI CSI-2 interface to cost-effectively create camera-based products for mobile, surveillance, machine vision and medical applications. “The sub-LVDS to CSI-2 bridge solution gives designers the freedom to architect their camera based sub-system without compromise,” said Ted Marena, Director of Strategic Marketing, Lattice Semiconductor. “This solution provides flexibility to match the best Sony image sensor with any AP or ISP with minimal additional space, power and cost.”

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Paul Lee, ex-Kodak engineer, now with Exelis Geospatial Systems, Amityville, NY, has been elevated to IEEE Fellow Members "for contributions to the development of CMOS image sensor technology and the pinned photo-diode active pixel sensor." US5625210 patent "Active pixel sensor integrated with a pinned photodiode" by Paul Lee, Robert Guidash, Teh-Hsuang Lee, and Eric Stevens is one of Kodak's classics, and, quite possibly, the most often referred image sensor patent.

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Harward University published PhD Thesis "Vertical Silicon Nanowires for Image Sensor Applications" by Hyunsung Park. The thesis proposes to use Si nanowires of different diameter to create color filters. Oval wires can be used as polarization filters.

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