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Melexis ToF Sensor to Use Sony CIS Process

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Melexis signs a licensing agreement with Sony to keep using Softkinetic technology in its automotive ToF sensors. Melexis has been Softkinetic licensee for a number of years for products such as the MLX75023, said to be the world’s first automotive ToF sensor in production.

Now, Melexis will collaborate with Sony to further expand this technology. The products derived from this collaboration will be fabricated at Sony’s world-class wafer fabrication facility in image sensor technology and support its offering in the area of gesture recognition.

Francoise Chombar, CEO Melexis, comments: “The combination of Sony's superior image sensor technology and our year-long automotive sensor know-how and experience provides an exciting new platform for enhancing the Time-of-Flight technology. This innovative technology could change dramatically the way drivers communicate with their vehicles. No more touch screens or knobs, but a simple gesture might suffice in the future.


Yole: Apple Camera Innovations Slowing Down?

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i-Micronews: Yole Developpement analysts Pierre Cambou and Guillaume Girardin wrote an analysis of iPhone 6s and 6s Plus camera technology. Their conclusion is that Apple camera module team becomes less innovative over time:

"We’ll have to wait another year for the iPhone’s big hardware update. Video is the new innovation paradigm, followed most likely by 3D imaging within a few years. Now that the competition is closing in on Apple’s proposition, Apple must make a significant technological leap forward. Our take on this is that such a leap is definitely possible, and even underway. It could involve the Linx technology Apple acquired last year, the integration of STMicroelectronics’ laser ranging technology, and probably even more..."

Rambus Wins "Best Paper Award" for its Lensless Sensor Paper

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Rambus paper "Ultra-miniature, computationally efficient diffractive visual-bar-position sensor" by Mehjabin Monjur, Leonidas Spinoulas, Patrick R. Gill and David G. Stork presented at SENSORCOMM 2015 in Italy, wins "Best Paper Award."

Computationally efficient algorithms then process this sensed information to yield an accurate estimate of the position of the bar. The optical grating is very small (120 μm diameter), has large angle of view (140◦), and extremely large depth of field (0.5 mm to infinity). The design of this sensor demonstrates the power of end-to-end optimization (optics and digital processing) for high accuracy and very low computational cost in a new class of ultra- miniature computational sensors.

Chronocam Startup Presents Event-Driven Sensor

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EETimes: Chronocam AS (Paris, France) is a 2014 spin-off of University Pierre et Marie Curie and University of Vienna. The startup is based on 15-year long research on asynchronous image sensors.

"The initial image sensor is QVGA resolution (320 by 240 pixels) with a pixel size of 30-microns on a side and sampling circuit alongside each pixel. The sensor is not clocked and does not send frames of data, said Christop Posch, chief technology officer. Each of the pixels in the array acts independently and sends information that is time-based. In addition, the pixel only sends information when there is a significant change. The result is scene-dependent data compression that results in time-continuous but sparse stream of events sent over an asynchronous data bus. Chronocam calls the technology CCAM EyeOT.

Combined performance figures include up-date speeds equivalent to 100k frames per second, a dynamic range of greater than 120dB. The video compression is a factor of 100 up from conventional image sensors and a power consumption of less than 10mW.
"

The first sensor uses UMC process, and has a size of 1cm by 0.8cm. The company is working on the pixel size reduction.


The company fundings include ones of €750,000 from Robert Bosch Venture Capital and CEA Investissement.

Falcon Eye Camera Offers Color Night Vision with KClux CMOS Sensor

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Tokyo, Japan-based Komamura Corp. offers a color night vision camera under Falcon Eye brand. The company's brochure and the FAQ offers quite a lot of info about the KClux image sensor in it:

"The Falcon Eye cameras do not work with IR illumination or an image intensifier unit as most night vision equipment does.

The Falcon Eye cameras are build with a new type of CMOS sensor and combined with the advanced electronics and image controlling software it has been possible to create this unique system with a light sensitivity way beyond what other night vision systems can deliver.

The proprietary KClux CMOS sensor and KCnoise 2D/3D noise reduction technologies are the secrets behind the revolutionary KC-2000 cameras.

High quality viewing, video recording and photo capturing during day and night with ISO 2,000,000. Can even record through dark tinted glass.

All parts 100% designed, manufactured and assembled in Japan including sensor, housing, and optics.
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And then, Falcon Eye cameras have a dedicated Youtube channel with many video demos:





Thanks to BC for the info!

Workshop on CMOS Image Sensors for High Performance Applications

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CNES, ESA, AIRBUS DEFENCE & SPACE, THALES ALENIA SPACE, SODERN co-sponsor the 4th Toulouse CMOS image sensors workshop “CMOS Image Sensors for high erformance applications,” to be held in Toulouse, France on November 18-19, 2015. The free of charge mandatory workshop registration is open on its web site. The program is quite large for a 2 day event:

SESSION 1 CMOS FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS:

The Status of ESA supported Visible and NIR/SWIR CMOS Image Sensor developments
N. Nelms, European Space Agency.

Space qualification of the CIS115, a 3 MPixel CMOS APS for the JANUS camera on Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer
M.Soman, E. Allanwood, A. Holland, M. Leese, J. Gow, K. Stefanov, Centre for Electronic Imaging, Open University.
H. Michaelis, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Planetary Research.

Highly integrated, backside illuminated CMOS image sensor for EnMAP VNIR camera
M. Mücke, C. Neumann, F. Gansmann, B. Sang, OHB System AG
H. Venus, A. Eckardt, R. Reulke, DLR Institute of Optical Sensor

SESSION 2 CMOS TDI:

CNES CMOS Roadmap and new results in CCD-on-CMOS Test Chip for TDI applications
C. Virmontois, A. Materne, CNES, B. Patin, Sophia Conseil

An Innovative Large Scale Linear CMOS Image Sensor Architecture
MY. Yeh, M. Huang, Jer Ling, National Space Organization(NSPO)

2nd Generation CMOS Charge Transfer TDI: Results on Proton Irradiation
F. Mayer, F. Barbier, J. Endicott, e2v semiconductors,
J. Rushton, K. Stefanov, Open University

Backside illuminated CMOS-TDI image sensor for space applications
N.Ben-Ari, O. Cohen, E. Ilan, S. Elkind, I. Nevo, R. Talmor, N. Shiloah, Y. Chaham, O. Cohen, G. Zohar and R. Dobromislin, SemiConductor Devices (SCD)

Time Delay Integration embedded CCD platform development
P.Boulenc, J. Robbelein, L. Haspeslagh, M. Rosmeulen, L. Wu, S. Terryn, V. Malandruccolo, J. Borremans, P. De Moor, IMEC

SESSION 3 LOW NOISE, HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE:

Low temperature measurements of a large-area, backthinned, and low-noise CMOS sensors
S.Johnson, J. Pratlong, A. Ibrahim, P. Jerram, P. Jorden, e2v technologies
S. Wang and M. Lehner, ASIAA

PERCIVAL: A Back Side Illuminated, Wafer Scale, Low Noise CMOS Image Sensor for the Detection of Low Energy X-Rays
I. Sedgwick on behalf of the PERCIVAL Collaboration (DESY, DLS, Elettra, PAL, RAL)

High Dynamic Range technics for SUPERCAM Remote Micro Imager
A. Toulemont, C. Virmontois, A. Bardoux, CNES

A 120dB dynamic range image sensor with single readout using in pixel HDR
J. Caranana, Pyxalis

QLog – Single Electron Detection Capable Logarithmic CMOS Pixel
Y. NI, New Imaging Technologies SA

SESSION 4 RADIATIONS & IN-FLIGHT HERITAGE:

Radiation results obtained from the CMOS sensor designed for FCI-VisDa detector
R. Simpson, N. Swift, J. Pratlong, A. Pike, P. Jerram, e2v.

Single Event Upset Sensitivity of D-Flip Flop in Infrared Image Sensors for Low Temperature Applications
L. Artola, G. Hubert, ONERA, O. Gilard, M. Boutillier, B. Baradat, CNES
S. Ducret, F. Perrier, N. Ricard, Sofradir, P. Garcia, G. Vignon, TRAD

Examination on long term variation of nonlinearity for GOCI CMOS image sensor
G. Kang, S. Shin, S. Yong, Korean Aerospace Research Institute
P. Coste, P. Luquet, Airbus Defence & Space

SESSION 5 LANDSCAPE OF EUROPEAN FOUNDRIES:

Integration of high-performance optical detection devices in a standard 0.35µm CMOS Process
W. Brockherde, Fraunhofer IMS

IMEC’s offering for space imagers
P. De Moor, IMEC

STMicroelectronics Imaging premium foundry offering for a strong European Imaging industry
C. Gachon, T. Lachaud, STMicroelectronics

SESSION 6 CMOS for INFRA-RED DETECTION:

Digital Focal Plane arrays for Enhanced Cooled Infrared Detectors Performances
G.Decaens, V. Badet, L. Baud, F. Advent, P. Mejean, A. Maltere, S. Aufranc, G. Chalet, R. Cotte, S. Parola, N. Ricard, SOFRADIR

Continuous improvements of ROIC design for space infrared applications
N.Ricard, P. Maillart, G. Decaens, L. Baud, F. Advent, F. Salvetti, A. Maltere, S. Aufranc, SOFRADIR

NIRCA cryogenic test results for focal plane array detectors
P.Påhlsson, D. Meier, H. K. Otnes Berge, P. Øya, D. Steenari, A. Olsen, A. Hasanbegovic, M. A. Altan, B. Najafiuchevler, J. Talebi, S. Azman, C. Gheorghe, T. M. Johansen, J. Ackermann, G. Mæhlum, Integrated Detector Electronics AS

Image Signal Processor for bolometers IR detectors
F. Bonnaire, P. Robert, T.Rahaga, ULIS

TUTORIAL:

The Pinned Photodiode
by Nobukazu Teranishi (University of Hyogo / Shizuoka University)
Winner of the 2013 J.J. Ebers Award, and 2013 Yamazaki-Teiichi Prize in the field of semiconductors and semiconductor devices for the Development of Image Sensors with Pinned Photodiode

SESSION 7 PIXEL ARCHITECTURES & PERFORMANCE:

Creapyx: An innovative pixel evaluation platform
J. Michelot, PYXALIS

Dark Current Blooming in Pinned Photodiode CMOS Image Sensors
J.-M. Belloir, ISAE, CNES, CEA, J.-B. Lincelles, ISAE, ADS, A. Pelamatti, CNES, ADS
V. Goiffon, P. Magnan, ISAE, C. Virmontois, O. Gilard, CNES, P. Paillet, CEA DAM

On the CMOS Pixel Based on the Deep Trapping Gate Principle: Prospects and Challenges
N.T. Fourches, CEA

SESSION 8 PROCESS:

UV-White-Yellow Bayer-like pattern imager
B.Dierickx, Q.Yao, J.Zhu, P.Coppejans, R.Zhang, G.Cai, P.Gao, B.Luyssaert, B.Spinnewyn, Caeleste

Design and integration of planar lenses dedicated to Near Infrared detection (1,064 µm) for CMOS image sensors
T.Lopez, S. Massenot, M. Estribeau, P. Magnan, Institut Superieur de l'Aeronautique et de l'Espace (ISAE-SUPAERO) JL. Pelouard, Laboratoire de Photonique et de Nanostructures (LPN-CNRS)

Integrated diffractive optics for pixel performance enhancement
V. Rochus, S. Guerrieri, J. Van Olmen, V. Paraschiv, I. De Wolf, P. De Moor and X. Rottenberg, IMEC

Low dark current backside illuminated CMOS image sensors for high performance applications
S.Lavizzari, S. Guerrieri, C. Kerner and L. Haspeslagh, IMEC

Exploration of high density interconnect 3D stacking for SPAD arrays
V. Lalucaa, P. Martin-Gonthier, S. Rolando, F. Raymundo, P. Magnan, Institut Superieur de l'Aeronautique et de l'Espace (ISAE-SUPAERO)

Invisage to Unveil QuantumCinema

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InVisage announces an advance screening of its new short film, “Prix,” at the Mill Valley Film Festival. “Prix” was produced on a smartphone image sensor with InVisage’s QuantumFilm technology, and demonstrates for the first time an expanded dynamic range mode called QuantumCinema.

QuantumCinema is a capability specific to InVisage’s QuantumFilm camera sensor that allows for more details to be captured simultaneously in both low and bright light. Conventional digital image sensors rely on silicon to sense light linearly and therefore saturate when too much light enters the sensor. In contrast, photochemical film has a non-linear response that can preserve details in more extreme light conditions. With the greater shift from film to digital cameras, digital camera users have had to compromise on dynamic range in exchange for convenience. QuantumFilm sensors, however, behave more like film in that they also have a non-linear response to light, which allows for the expanded dynamic range of QuantumCinema. The screening of “Prix” will mark the first time footage taken in QuantumCinema mode is shown to the public.

InVisage is bringing amazing cinema-quality images to smartphones and mobile devices,” said InVisage President and CEO Jess Lee. “With this panel and the worldwide release of ‘Prix,’ we’re kicking off a broader conversation on the huge impact camera technologies have had on film and will continue to have in future.

The company publishes its Prix cinema trailer on Youtube:



Invision's Facebook page has a nice collection behind the scene pictures:

Qualcomm Sells Vuforia to PTC

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PTC has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Vuforia business from Qualcomm for $65M. Vuforia is the widely adopted AR platform supported by a global ecosystem of developers in 130 countries, and has powered more than 20,000 apps with more than 200 million app installs worldwide. Under terms of the agreement, PTC will acquire the award-winning Vuforia business, including the developer ecosystem. PTC is committed to continued investment in the Vuforia platform and to the ongoing support and growth of the Vuforia ecosystem.

By delivering powerful computer vision functionality through a simple API, the Vuforia platform has enabled developers and leading brands to deliver award-winning experiences to consumers around the globe,” said Jay Wright, VP of Vuforia, Qualcomm Connected Experiences, Inc. “Vuforia has also captured the attention of industry leaders who envision the potential for augmented reality to transform work. As part of PTC, Vuforia will allow developers to realize this potential through integration with PTC’s industry leading applications and ThingWorx IoT platform.

Vuforia has wide adoption from leading companies including 37 of the Interbrand 100 and has consistently been awarded for its performance, robustness, and ease of use, including “Best Tool” at Augmented World Expo in each of the last three years. Vuforia supports multiple developer tools, including Eclipse, xCode, and Unity and runs on multiple operating systems and devices, including iOS and Android phones, tablets, and selected mobile eyewear.

Vuforia annual revenue is currently not material to PTC financial results. The transaction is expected to close by the end of calendar year 2015.

A Youtube Qualcomm Vuforia overview:


Nemotek Quits Camera Module Business

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EETimes: Morocco-based camera module maker and Tessera WLP and WLC licensee Nemotek ceased its operations. The comapny was founded in 2008 and funded by Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion (CDG), one of the largest investment funds in Morocco. In 2009 the company opened a 12,000 square meter facility including clean room. Production capacity at the facility was around 3,000 wafers per month for WLP and around one million cameras per month for WLC, according to Nemotek's website.

Sony Compact FF Camera Features Switchable OLPF

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PRNewswire: Sony compact FF camera RX1 RII features a switchable OLPF to implement resolution-priority and moire reduction-priority modes:


The company's Youtube video explains how it works:



The camera FF BSI sensor features copper wiring to improve speed 3.5x over the previous generation sensor:

3rd Session of ToF Imaging Forum is Almost Full

iPhone 6s Teardown Report

Axcelis Announces High Energy Implanter for Deep Photodiodes

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PRNewswire: Axcelis has released an extended energy range option for its Purion XE high energy implanter. This new option was developed specifically to address the emerging needs of the image sensor and specialty device manufacturers. The extended energy range option is scheduled to be available on new systems in the second quarter of 2016.

Bill Bintz, EVP, marketing and engineering, said, "We're excited to be able to offer our customers the ability to perform ultra-high energy implants for next generation image sensor and power device manufacturing. These implants enable extremely precise and very deep doping profiles, for applications that include deep wells. In the case of image sensors, this allows for more effective separation of photodiodes, reduced noise and dark current, and higher quality color."

John Aldeborgh, EVP, customer operations, commented, "Image sensors and specialty devices are two of the fastest growing market segments in IC manufacturing, due to the proliferation of smartphones, tablets and digital cameras. We see significant opportunity for the Purion XE in these very active markets."

The company's Youtube video talks about the implanters for image sensors:

ON Semi Opens Detroit Imaging Technology Center to Support Automotive Customers

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ON Semi opens a new Imaging Technology Center (ITC) in Detroit. The center, co-located with the company’s Detroit Sales Office, will help customers select and implement imaging solutions for automotive and other applications. An ITC lab facilitates the development and tuning of new camera designs. A new ITC Demo Room will also provide an ongoing showcase of the company latest imaging solutions.

ON Semi Announces 26MP, 80fps GS APS-H Sensor, More

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BusinessWire: ON Semi has added four new high resolution devices to its PYTHON family of CMOS image sensors. The new imagers are based on 4.5um pixel with in-pixel CDS (ipCDS) to enable global shutter imaging with CDS in a compact pixel size. The new sensors are aimed to general purpose industrial imaging applications such as machine vision, inspection and motion monitoring, security, surveillance, and intelligent transportation systems (ITS).


Samsung Proposes Bayer-Free Color Sensor

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Samsung patent application US20150286059 "Image sensor having improved light utilization efficiency" by Seokho Yun, Sunghyun Nam, Sookyoung Roh, Changgyun Shin, and Hyungue Hong proposes a color-splitting optics integrated into each pixel:


Another Samsung patent application US20150286060 "Color separation device and image sensor including the color separation device" by Sookyoung Roh, Sunghyun Nam, and Changgyun Shin proposes to use refraction factor gradients to split the light into colors:

Omnivision Proposes PSRR Improvement

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Omnivision patent application US20150288902 "Feed-forward technique for power supply rejection ratio improvement of bit line" by Tianjia Sun, Rui Wang, Liping Deng, and Tiejun Dai proposes an approach that reduces the structured row noise in image sensors:

"Limited by the design and layout constraints of pixel cells, the source follower circuits can suffer from an unsatisfactory power supply rejection ratio, such as −20 dB. An unsatisfactory power supply rejection ratio can present many challenges, including noise from power supplies that can enter into the output signal path. Furthermore, the ripple of power supplies can cause unwanted horizontal ripple in the captured image."

Samsung CIS Promotional Video

Ambarella Announces 64MP ISP for Drones

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Ambarella announces A12S and A9SE processors to its range of camera solutions for drones, or flying cameras. The 28nm A12S SoC family provides 1080p video at 60fps and up to 64MP photography. It supports advanced image stabilization with rolling shutter correction, HDR, as well as low delay, live video streaming to the flying camera controller. A 1-GHz ARM Cortex A9 CPU provides the required performance for advanced camera, flight control and streaming applications. With the option of an 11x11mm package and power consumption of under 1 Watt, A12S is ideal for miniature camera designs.

A12S block diagram

The A9SE SoC family is a new, enhanced, higher performance 28nm version of the 32nm A9 SoC.

Heptagon Shows Some of its Products

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Heptagon has updated its web site and now shows some of its products:

Heptagon ToF modules
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