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BusinessWire: Toshiba launches T4KE1, a near-infrared 2.1MP BSI sensor that supports iris recognition on mobile devices. Sample shipments start today.

T4KE1 is a 2.1 MP 1.12um BSI CMOS image sensor with a 1/7.3 inch optical format and 60fps at 1080p image output. The new sensor captures images for recognition with higher sensitivity than conventional CMOS image sensors, as it discards the usual color filter in the pixel structure, increasing sensitivity in the near infrared spectrum.


PRNewswire: "This is an exciting time for the image sensor business, as new applications and technologies are affording electronics manufacturers wider opportunities for improving their devices' capabilities," said Andrew Burt, VP of the Image Sensor Business Unit, System LSI Group at TAEC. "Toshiba is helping device makers meet these growing requirements by continually introducing innovative technology into our CMOS image sensor family, such as the NIR iris recognition in our new T4KE1."

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Sony has completed the acquisition of Softkinetic Systems S.A., after reaching an agreement with the company and its major shareholders. With this acquisition, Softkinetic - which possesses ToF image sensor technology, as well as related systems and software - has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony.

Sony will focus on combining Softkinetic's ToF range image sensor technology expertise with its own technologies with the aim of developing the next generation of range image sensors and solutions, not only in the field of imaging, but for broader sensing-related applications as well.

Overview of Softkinetic Systems S.A.

Headquarters: Brussels, Belgium
Employees: 77
Business offices: Brussels, Belgium; Sunnyvale, CA, USA
Primary areas of business:

• Development and licensing of ToF range image sensors
• Development and licensing of range imaging software, such as for range image signal processing and gesture recognition
• Development of ToF range image sensor modules and reference designs

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The latest crop of SPI color night vision videos specifically states that they are shot at starlight with now moon. The first video uses 50mm F1.2 lens:



The second video was shot with 80mm F1.4 lens:

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Light Co. introduces its first multi-aperture camera product. The L16 camera will retail for $1,699 and ship in late summer 2016. A limited quantity will be available for pre-order through November 6, 2015 at a special price of $1,299. The camera offers:

• Adjust focus and depth of field even after a photo is taken, all the way to f/1.2
• Built-in 35-150mm true optical zoom
• Exceptional low light performance
• Low image noise
• 3 fast prime lenses
• DSLR quality images up to 52MP

The company's Vimeo video talks about the camera design:




Update: Imaging Resource adds few more details about the L16 camera:

"L16 packs in sixteen 13-megapixel camera modules at three different focal lengths – 35mm (5), 70mm (5) and 150mm (6) – for a total of 52-megapixels. Each of these modules captures an individual image, which is then stitched together via software to yield a photo that Light claims is equal to the quality of a DSLR with a large lens attached."

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PRNewswire: Cadence Tensilica Vision P5 processor core offers up to 13X performance boost, with an average of 5X less energy usage on vision tasks compared to the previous generation IVP-EP imaging and video DSP. The Vision P5 DSP is built from the ground up for applications requiring ultra-high memory and operation parallelism to support complex vision processing at high resolution and high frame rates. It is aimed to off-loading vision and imaging functions from the main CPU to increase throughput and reduce power. End-user applications that can benefit from the DSP's capabilities include image and video enhancement, stereo and 3D imaging, depth map processing, robotic vision, face detection and authentication, augmented reality, object tracking, object avoidance and advanced noise reduction.

The Vision P5 core includes an expanded and optimized Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) targeting mobile, ADAS (which includes pedestrian detection, traffic sign recognition, lane tracking, adaptive cruise control, and accident avoidance) and IoT systems.

The Vision P5 core includes these new features:

• Wide 1024-bit memory interface with SuperGather technology for maximum performance on the complex data patterns of vision processing
• Up to 4 vector ALU operations per cycle, each with up to 64-way data parallelism
• Up to 5 instructions issued per cycle from 128-bit wide instruction delivering increased operation parallelism
• Enhanced 8-,16- and 32-bit ISA tuned for vision/imaging applications
• Optional 16-way IEEE single-precision vector floating-point processing unit delivering a massive 32GFLOPs at 1GHz

EETimes believes that such kind of a processor could increase the number of cameras in smartphone from 2 to 4.

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CCTV News quotes IHS analyst Brian O'Rourke giving Sony image sensor market share numbers for Q2 2015:


Sony image sensor business spin-off is called "both expected and surprising at the same time. Over the past two years, Sony has spun out its audio and video business (February 2015), and its TV and PC businesses (February 2014). However, the semiconductor spin out is different. While the TV, PC and A/V businesses had been struggling to some extent with increased competition and a slow-growing world economy, the semiconductor business has generated a significant amount of Sony's recent revenues and profitability. The semiconductor business is highlighted by image sensors, a historically successful and profitable business for Sony.
...
Today, it dominates the CMOS image sensor business, with Q2 2015 revenues of slightly over USD1 billion, good for over 42% of the worldwide market, nearly three times the revenue of its closest competitor, Samsung Electronics.
...
Why interfere with a good thing? The current Sony corporate structure seemed to be working well enough to ensure image sensor success. How will the new Sony Semiconductor Solutions benefit the image sensor business? The answer may be in simplifying a corporate structure so that Sony can react more rapidly."

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PRNewswire: OmniVision received a notice from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States ("CFIUS") that it has concluded its review of the proposed acquisition of OmniVision by a consortium composed of Hua Capital Management Co., Ltd., CITIC Capital Holdings Limited, and GoldStone Investment Co., Ltd., and determined that there are no unresolved national security concerns with respect to the proposed acquisition. OmniVision expects the proposed acquisition to close in the third or fourth fiscal quarter of fiscal year 2016.

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Reuters, Bloomberg: Sony announces that it will establish Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation ("Sony Semiconductor Solutions") to further reinforce this business, and concentrate on sustained growth in image sensors, its primary business focus. R&D, business control, sales and other operations related to the semiconductor business, which are currently overseen by business groups and R&D units within Sony Corporation, will be transferred to Sony Semiconductor Solutions. The new company will aim to commence operations on April 1, 2016. In February 2015, Sony outlined its intention to sequentially split out the business units currently within Sony Corporation and operate them alongside existing Sony Group companies. The aim of these measures is to ensure clearly attributable accountability and responsibility from the perspective of shareholders, management policies with an emphasis on sustainable profit generation, and the acceleration of decision-making processes and reinforcement of business competitiveness. The decision to establish Sony Semiconductor Solutions forms part of this strategy.

Terushi Shimizu, currently Deputy President, Device Solutions Business Group, Sony Corporation, is expected to be appointed President, Sony Semiconductor Solutions. Sony Semiconductor Corporation (President: Yasuhiro Ueda) and Sony LSI Design Inc. (President: Makoto Ishii), which cover Sony's semiconductor manufacturing and design operations respectively, will become subsidiaries of Sony Semiconductor Solutions.

The Devices segment, including Sony Semiconductor Solutions, battery and storage media businesses, will continue to be overseen by Tomoyuki Suzuki, Executive Deputy President and Corporate Executive Officer, Sony Corporation.

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PRNewswire: LensVector announces that its liquid crystal autofocus lens, LV4522, has made its retail debut through a partnership with Sunny Opotech and Vital Mobile.

LV4522 uses proprietary technology to transform a liquid crystal cell into a variable focus lens, said to consume about 80% less power than the traditional mechanical lens currently used in mobile devices. Since the device does not use any moving parts, manufacturing LV4522 costs about half as much as it does to manufacture voice-coil motors and is inherently more reliable. Additionally, each module is seamlessly integrated into each smartphone, not requiring individual adjustment or tuning by the handset manufacturer.

LensVector has made initial shipments though its partnership with production partner Sunny Optical to Vital Mobile, which is currently selling LV4522-enabled phones in Taiwan, Bangladesh and India under the Karbonn brand.

As LV4522 ships, LensVector is preparing to ship its next-generation lens by year's end, which provides dramatically higher image resolution, twice the focusing speed of most mechanical lenses, and a minimum focus distance of just 5cm, half the distance of most existing lenses used in mobile devices.

The current lens and the next-generation lens are based on patented technology that transforms a liquid crystal cell into a variable focus lens using small electrical charges to dynamically change the refractive index of the lens material:

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The pco.flim camera system is said to be the first standard product for luminescence lifetime imaging using a two tap CMOS sensor. The camera can internally generate a wide range of frequencies and also accepts external modulation signals.

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The Edinburgh Reporter: Photon Force Ltd. formed at the University of Edinburgh has won 2015 Converge Challenge Award – Scotland’s premier company creation competition jointly funded by the Scottish Funding Council and Scotland’s eight research-intensive universities. Photon Force Ltd. was founded by Richard Walker, a Post Doctorate Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering. Richard received £35,000 to start his business plus a further £25,000 in business support from a number of commercial and professional services organisations.

Photon Force Ltd designs, builds and supplies scientific sensors that can very precisely detect and measure single photons. While this technology is in high demand for many applications, such as biomedical imaging, Richard identified that current systems are bulky, slow and restrictive. Photon Force has developed an integrated image sensor solution which will deliver significant competitive advantage with respect to incumbent systems.

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PRNewswire: Socionext, the company created by merging of Fujitsu and Panasonic semiconductor businesses, announces a volume production of MB86S29, a 'camera front engine' specialized for Bayer data processing with new functions supporting the latest image sensors.

The MB86S29 is the newest Milbeaut Image Processor for smartphones. By accommodating new functionalities of the latest image sensors, the MB86S29 lets module makers implement these functions without replacing their application processors.

Recently, it is common to find cameras in smartphones or other mobile devices that are configured with application processors (AP) equipped with built-in ISP functionalities. These APs can directly process output from image sensors, and help reduce the footprint and cost of camera modules. The MB86S29 supports this trend as a "Camera Front Engine" that replaces conventional ISPs. Connected in between an image sensor and an AP, it is specialized for Bayer data processing, so users can configure their APs with the same interface directory connected to image sensors, and to make full use of PDAF and HDR.

The MB86S29 has 4 lanes each of 2.1Gbps MIPI Rx / Tx. It can process 16MP images at 30 fps. It is also applicable for noise reduction, shading correction, and 3A (AE / AF / AWB) detection. It is available in the smallest package of any member of the Milbeaut series, at 4mm x 4mm.

The MB86S29 has been designed to utilize "Hybrid AF", which combines the accuracy of contrast AF and the speed of phase detect AF, enabling maximum 4x faster AF, in comparison with the previous Milbeaut products. Low power consumption is just 310mW when processing phase detect AF.


The MB86S29 also supports Sensor HDR. Conventional HDR imaging, which generates a picture from multiple frames taken with different exposures, has disadvantages, such as image blurs caused by the difference between the frames, and time needed to take those multiple frames. The MB86S29 can process data with different exposure settings within one image so it can process the HDR images with higher visibility in 16MP, at the speed of 30 fps.


MB86S29 Specifications

• 16MP at 30fps, Bayer Output
• Compatible with PDAF Sensors
• Compatible with Sensor HDR
• Defective Pixel Correction (including pixels for PDAF)
• Shading Correction
• Package: 4mm x 4mm
• MIPI-Rx: 4 lanes (2.1Gbps) + 2 lanes (1.5Gbps)
• MIPI-Tx: 4 lans (2.1Gbps)
• Dual ARM processor Core

The new MB86S29 is available for $3.00 each when purchased in volume quantities of 5 Million pieces or more.

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BusinessWire: Toshiba announces that it has developed a new 2MP CMOS sensor for automotive cameras, CSA02M00PB, equipped with the industry’s first LED flicker mitigation function (first for 2MP sensors). Sample shipments start in March, 2016.

The new 2MP sensor is equipped with Toshiba’s original LED flicker (pulsed LED) mitigation circuit to minimize image flicker caused by LED light sources. When recording LED traffic lights and signs with conventional CMOS sensors, the output images often flickers, preventing an accurate sensing function. Toshiba’s new sensor mitigates the flicker and delivers clear images for faster, more accurate image sensing.

The sensor also adopts Toshiba’s original next-generation HDR system and BSI process. Toshiba’s next-generation HDR system uses the company’s single frame method for clear images free of the degraded resolution and blown-out highlights typical of high contrast-light conditions. Later in the PR, Toshiba talks about different exposure times in a frame: "The maximum frame rate may change per operating conditions specified. Exposure condition 1 assumes 2 different exposure times in a frame; exposure condition 2 assumes 3."

The BSI process is said to be first brought to automotive image sensors by Toshiba. In July 2015, ON Semi too announced its automotive BSI sensor.

The new sensor integrates functions to meet the requirements of ASIL, the Automotive Safety Integrity Level intended to protect life, and supports failure detection, report flagging and control of vehicles. It is also compliant with AEC-Q100 (Grade 2) and is suited both for front end sensing cameras for the ADAS and the latest viewing applications, such as e-Mirror and CMS (Camera Monitor System).

Toshiba foresees three-fold growth in the automotive CMOS image sensor market in the period to 2020. Toshiba will continue to develop its automotive CMOS sensor business to fully meet expanding market requirements.

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Edoardo Charbon is promoted to a Full Professor of Microtechnology in the School of Engineering (STI) at EPFL:

"Edoardo Charbon is an internationally recognised leader in the field of photosensors, especially single-photon avalanche diodes. By combining applied physics with electrical engineering he has achieved groundbreaking successes in the production of photon counters for large-format sensors. His findings have resulted in important advances in areas such as medical imaging, particularly positron emission tomography. In addition to his academic excellence, Edoardo Charbon will contribute his experience in teaching and technology transfer to EPFL."

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Orbbec presents Astra Pro, a 3D camera with 720p high-definition color, and Persee, said to be the world’s first 3D camera with a fully functioning computer. The devices are first available to supporters of the Orbbec Indiegogo campaign. The Indiegogo campaign will raise funds to mass produce and ship Astra Pro by the end of the year and Persee in early 2016. The cameras have been pre-announced in May 2015.

“We believe that the future of computing is 3D and all consumer devices will include 3D cameras in the near future,” said Yuanhao (Howard) Huang, founder and CEO of Orbbec. “Achieving this vision requires superb 3D cameras that are affordably priced and universally available. It also requires a world-class hardware and development platform, which we are delivering with Orbbec Persee.”

Orbbec camera features:

• Highest Resolution – With smoother gradients, precise contours, and the ability to filter out low-quality depth pixels in a way other cameras cannot, Orbbec 3D cameras are suitable for 3D scanning and point cloud development.
• Longest Range – With a range of 0.4m - 8m, Orbbec 3D cameras are intended for a wide range of scenarios, including gesture control, robotics, 3D scanning, and many new areas.
• Exceptional Accuracy – Orbbec 3D cameras offer depth measurement accurate to within 0.5 centimeters at a distance of 2 meters.
• Lowest Latency –Astra Pro is said to be the most responsive 3D camera on the market today.

So far, Orbbec published two patent applications on its 3D camera design: WO2014135127 and WO2014135128. The English abstract of the later application "DYNAMIC PHASE ACQUIRING DEVICE" by HUANG Yuanhao says:


"Provided is a dynamic phase acquiring device, comprising: a light-acquisition port (1), a semi-reflective semi-transmitting lens (2), a phase shifter (3), a polarizer (4), a planar mirror (5), a photo-sensitive element (6), and a phase processor (7); the acquired light passes through the light-acquisition port and reaches the semi-reflective semi-transmitting lens, and then follows two paths: one path sequentially passes through the phase shifter, the polarizer, and the photo-sensitive element, forming a first image; the other path is reflected by the planar mirror and then directly passes through the polarizer and reaches the photo-sensitive element, forming a second image; the pixels of the first image are in one-to-one correspondence with the pixels of the second image; the photo-sensitive element is connected to the phase processor; the photo-sensitive element transmits the first and second images to the phase processor, and the phase processor generates phase data; the phase shifter provides phase lead or phase lag ranging from 1 degree to 20 degrees. By using the phase shifter to provide a lead or a lag by a small angle, such as from 1 to 20 degrees, or even from 5 to 10 degrees, phase data can be obtained via two-path image detection, thus eliminating the need for optical elements for at least one path detection, and thereby simplifying the structure and reducing costs."

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SeekingAlpha predicts that Cambridge Mechatronics smart alloy OIS actuators (SMA) is set to benefit from mass adoption of OIS in smartphones. The main sign is that its manufacturing Cambridge Mechatronics with Hutchinson Technology have partnered with New Shicoh, China's largest producer of auto-focus camera actuators.

"This is significant because SMA technology is much cheaper to manufacture than its counterpart, VCM technology, and more importantly, it's much thinner. The best point of reference is the iPhone 6, which uses a VCM OIS actuator in the camera and has a large bump on the back of the phone. As SMA technology goes mainstream, the camera bump goes away, and HTCH is the sole manufacturer of that product.

There's no question about the demand for the product. In addition to the issue of thickness on the back camera, there's the issue of the front camera. Currently, there are no smartphones on the market with an OIS camera on the front because of the thickness. The selfie craze has consumers demanding better cameras on the front of the phone, and with SMA technology, that is finally possible."

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SPI Corp publishes two more color night vision videos:



The second Youtube video is here.

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ON Semi publishes a Youtube video showing different approaches to fish eye lens de-warping implemented in its AP0102 automotive image processor:



Another Youtube video overviews the company's automotive image processors offerings.

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IEDM 2015 published its technical program. Section 30 "Advanced Imagers and Photodetectors" has 7 papers:

30.1 Multi-storied Photodiode CMOS Image Sensor for Multiband Imaging with 3D Technology,
Y. Takemoto, K. Kobayashi, M. Tsukimura, N. Takazawa, H. Kato, S. Suzuki, J. Aoki, T. Kondo, H. Saito, Y. Gomi, S. Matsuda, and Y. Tadaki
Olympus Corporation

We demonstrated multiband imaging with a multi- storied photodiode CMOS image sensor comprising two semiconductor layers that function individually for optimized performance. The sensor captures a wide variety of multiband images, including visible RGB images taken with a Bayer filter and invisible infrared images, at the same time without color degradation.

30.2 First Demonstration of 0.9 μm Pixel Global Shutter Operation by Novel Charge Control in Organic Photoconductive Film,
M. Takase, Y. Miyake, T. Yamada, T. Tamaki, M. Murakami and Y. Inoue
Panasonic Corporation

This paper introduces new charge generation and extraction operation in organic photoconductive film sensor. By spatial and temporal control of electric field in organic photoconductive film, high speed global shutter operation in sub-micron pixel, electrical iris control without ND filter, phase difference detective autofocusing are demonstrated.

30.3 Color Image Sensor with Organic Photoconductive Films (Invited),
T. Sakai, H. Seo, T. Takagi, M. Kubota, H. Ohtake, and M. Furuta*
NHK Science and Technology Research Laboratories, *Kochi University of Technology

A color image sensor with three-stacked organic photoconductive films (OPFs) and transparent readout circuits for high-resolution, high-sensitive, compact color video cameras is described. The sensor separates and simultaneously detects the three primary colors. We fabricated test image sensors and confirmed the feasibility of a color video camera with three-stacked OPFs.

30.4 Optical Performance Study of BSI Image Sensor with Stacked Grid Structure
Y.-W. Cheng, T.-H. Tsai, C.-H. Chou, K.-C. Lee, H.-C. Chen, and Y.-L. Hsu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company

Stacked grid structure is implemented into BSI image sensors and device performance for various grid dimension and height has been investigated. Simulated angular response shows less QE degradation in large incident angle and SNR-10 has a ~10% improvement for devices with stacked grid structure.

30.5 Avalanche Photodiode Featuring Germanium-Tin Multiple Quantum Wells on Silicon: Extending Photodetection to Wavelengths of 2 μm and Beyond,
Y. Dong, W. Wang, S.Y. Lee*, D. Lei, X. Gong, W. Khai Loke*, S.-F. Yoon*, G. Liang, Y.-C. Yeo
National University of Singapore, *Nanyang Technological University

We report the world’s first demonstration of a Ge0.9Sn0.1 multiple quantum wells on Si avalanche photodiode (Ge0.9Sn0.1 MQW/Si APD), achieving a cutoff wavelength λ above 2 μm. A high optical responsivity of 0.33 A/W is achieved at λ = 2003 nm due to the internal avalanche multiplication.

30.6 High Dose Efficiency, Ultra-high Resolution Amorphous Selenium/CMOS Hybrid Digital X-ray Imager,
C.C. Scott, A. Parsafar, A. El-Falou, P.M. Levine, K.S. Karim
University of Waterloo

We demonstrate high dose efficiency from a high- resolution 5.6 µm×6.25 µm pixel pitch amorphous selenium/CMOS hybrid X-ray imager that could radically accelerate bioengineering research by enabling lab-based in vivo pre-clinical imaging. Compared to existing scintillator-based imagers, our approach enables 100× gains in dose efficiency at spatial frequencies of 20-60 cycles/mm.

30.7 Stacked Image Sensor Using Chlorine-doped Crystalline Selenium Photoconversion Layer Composed of Size-controlled Polycrystalline Particles,
S. Imura, K. Kikuchi, K. Miyakawa, H. Ohtake1, M. Kubota, T. Okino*, Y. Hirose*, Y. Kato*, and N. Teranishi**,
NHK Science and Technology Research Laboratories, *Panasonic Corporation, **University of Hyogo

We demonstrate a stacked CMOS image sensor overlaid with a chlorine (Cl)-doped crystalline selenium (c-Se) photoconversion layer. The size of the polycrystalline particles of c-Se, which is strongly related to the fixed pattern noise, is perfectly controlled by Cl doping to c-Se; hence, the resulting device provides clearer images.

Session 19 has 1 paper on flexible image sensors:

19.5 Large Area Sensing Surfaces: Flexible Organic Printed Interfacing Circuits and Sensors (Invited),
S. Jacob, M. Benwadih, J. Bablet, M. Charbonneau, A. Aliane, A. Plihon, and A.Revaux,
CEA, LITEN

Organic Large Area Electronics has been identified as a key enabling technology for smart sensing. This paper presents the last major results on different printed organic interfacing circuits and sensors which have been integrated together to achieve an image sensor on a flexible plastic substrate, demonstrating the potential of our technology for large area sensing surfaces.

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The Verge, Phonearena, Androidpolice: Google announces Huawei-made Nexus 6P phone featuring a large 1/2.3-inch 12.3MP sensor with 1.55um pixels. The sensor is made by Sony. One of the trade-offs in such a large sensor size is a lack of optical image stabilization in Nexus 6P.

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EurekaAlert: Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering press release presents "an innovation that may usher in the next generation of light sensing technology with potential applications in scientific research and cellphone photography.

Thayer professor Eric Fossum -- the engineer and physicist who invented the CMOS image sensor used in nearly all cellphone and digital cameras, webcams, medical imaging and other applications -- joined with Thayer PhD candidate Jiaju Ma in developing pixels for the new Quanta Image Sensor (QIS)."

"Their new sensor has the capability to significantly enhance low-light sensitivity. This is particularly important in applications such as "security cameras, astronomy, or life science imaging (like seeing how cells react under a microscope), where there's only just a few photons," says Fossum. "When we build an image sensor, we build a chip that is also sensitive to these photons. We were able to build a new kind of pixel with a sensitivity so high we could see one electron above all the background noise."

"The new pixels are considerably smaller than regular pixels since they are designed to sense only one photon, but many more are placed on the sensor to capture the same amount of total photons from the image. "We'd like to have 1 billion pixels on the sensor and we'll still keep the sensor the same size," says Ma."

"We deliberately wanted to invent it in way that is almost completely compatible with today's CMOS image sensor technology so it's easy for industry to adopt it," says Fossum. Engineering its size is a step in that direction.

"The question was how to build this in a current, commercially accessible, not-too-expensive CMOS process." he says. "You use all the tricks you can think of. Being able to measure one electron is fundamental from a scientific point of view and we were able to do it without a 'Manhattan Project'." Other challenges his group is working on are in reading out a billion pixels hundreds or thousands of time each second without dissipating too much heat, and also in creating images from all the data that is collected.

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TechInsights' iPhone 6s teardown report reveals that its cameras cost is about 7.7% of the whole BOM, about the same proportion as in iPhone 6:


Business Insider gives an easier to grasp BOM chart, with camera being #4 most expensive component:

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PRNewswire: Grand View Research estimates global image sensor market at USD 8.81 billion in 2013. The market is expected to reach USD 12.03 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 4.6% from 2014 to 2020.

Medical applications accounted for over 6.0% of overall image sensors market volume in 2013, and are expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.2% from 2014 to 2020. This growth is attributed to demand from minimally invasive procedures such as endoscopy.

CCD devices are particularly used in medical and scientific applications. The segment had a revenue share of over 12% in 2013, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 1.3% from 2014 t0 2020.

North America image sensors market accounted for over 32% of the overall revenue in 2013. However, Asia Pacific is expected to outpace North America over the next six years. Countries such as India and China are expected to play a key role in regional growth.

North America image sensor market revenue by application, 2012-2020, (USD Million)

North America image sensor market was the largest regional industry in terms of revenue and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.7% from 2014 to 2020. This growth is attributed to stringent government regulations regarding driver and vehicle security.

North America was closely followed by Asia Pacific, which accounted for over 32% of the revenue share in 2013. Developing economies such as India, China, and Latin America countries are expected to majorly contribute to market growth

Europe image sensor market is also has a considerable revenue share of USD 2,006.8 million in 2013 is expected to be 2,503.1 million by 2020 growing at a CAGR of 3.2% from 2014 to 2020.

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I'm not sure if this is a fresh news, but Teledyne DALSA expands its foundry services to CCD process:

"Teledyne DALSA Semiconductor’s 150mm CCD process offers surface or buried channel operation at up to 15V with two or three layers of polysilicon and one, two or three layers of metal. A modular processing approach allows our foundry customers to adjust process parameters to meet the most demanding requirements for CTE (greater than 99.999%), charge storage capacity, and dark current (lower than 1nA/cm2). The base process uses 1X projection lithography with 2.5µm design rules, allowing die sizes of up to 100mm X 100mm. Where required, tighter alignment tolerances and smaller feature sizes can be obtained by using 5X lithography, using a mix and match or all-stepper approach. The maximum die size attainable with the stepper is 22mm X 22mm, but larger sensors can be fabricated using stitching."

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The first two sessions of the ToF Harvest Imaging Forum 2015 are sold out. On many many people requests, the speaker David STOPPA agreed to run a 3rd session on January 11-12, 2016 at the same location. Registration for the third session is open via the Harvest Imaging website.

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SPI Corp publishes a dedicated page on its X27 color night vision camera with large number of Youtube videos, such as this one:



and another one:

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PRNewswire: OmniVision announces the OV2281, a new PureCel sensor to implement a biometric security functionality mobile devices. The low-power, ultra-compact OV2281 leverages 1.12-micron pixel and optimized IR sensitivity. It enables reliable iris recognition for smartphones, tablets and notebooks, in both landscape and portrait orientations.

"With the convergence of digital identities, security concerns and mobile commerce, industry experts project that 13 billion biometric applications will be downloaded by 2.2 billion mobile users between 2014 and 2020, [according to Acuity Market Intelligence report]" said Archie de Guzman, staff product manager at OmniVision. "In this context, iris detection appears poised to become the next trend in biometric security for mobile devices. The OV2281 therefore enters the market as an extremely compelling solution by offering accurate horizontal or vertical iris detection in a compact and power-efficient package."

The 1/7.5-inch OV2281 PureCel sensor can record 1080p high-definition video at 60fps in both portrait and landscape orientation, thus supporting iris detection in either situation. When recording full-resolution 1920 x 1920 video at 30fps, the sensor requires just 120 mW. It also supports an ultra-low power mode that can reduce power consumption to approximately 25 mW. As a monochrome sensor, the OV2281 boasts exceptional IR sensitivity. This sensitivity allows it to produce clear and fully stable images in difficult low-light conditions.

The sensor fits into a 5.5 x 5.5 mm module with a z-height of less than 4.5 mm. The OV2281 is currently in volume production.

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Olympus presented its 16MP global shutter stacked sensor at Fraunhofer System Integration Technologies seminar in June 2015:

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SPI Corp. updates its Hyper Fidelity Intensified Sensor HFIS page and publishes a Youtube video of X27 sensor, said to be the color version of X26:

"COMING SOON: x27 COLOR TUBELESS NIGHT VISION Sensor, with full color day/night imaging capabilities, the video shown above was filmed at night with 1/4 moon conditions. Color Night vision Imaging performance and sensitivity has never been available until now."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

IEEE Journal of the Electron Devices Society allows an early open access to the paper "Characterization of Quanta Image Sensor Pump-Gate Jots with Deep Sub-electron Read Noise" by Jiaju Ma, Dakota Starkey, Arun Rao, Kofi Odame, and Eric R. Fossum of Dartmouth College. The paper reports noise of the best pixel in the array of 0.22e-: