New Scale Offers Super-Reliable AF Motor

...
New Scale Technologies has upgraded the lifetime specification and provided new repeatability data for its miniature M3-F focus module, which replaces fixed lens holders in compact board cameras for biometric detection, medical diagnostics, machine vision and other applications. Based on design improvements and testing, the new lifetime specification is >2 million cycles mean time before failure in a fixed orientation or >500,000 cycles in random orientation. The position repeatability is +/- 5 microns uni-directional and +/- 20 microns bi-directional, which is said to be best-in-class performance for high-resolution imaging applications.

The M3-F module incorporates a piezoelectric SQUIGGLE micro motor, drive ASIC, magnetic NSE-5310 position sensor and a microprocessor in a 20 x 22 x 16 mm polymer housing. It accepts standard threaded lens assemblies from M8 to M12 and is compatible with image sensors up to 17x17 mm, including the 1/2" and 1/1.8" formats. This Youtube video shows the module:

12:42 AM

Lens-Less Fourier Domain Camera

...
Nuit Blanche posted an interesting link and comments on the recent OSA Optics Letters paper proposing lens-less image capture in Fourier domain:

A Micro-Scale Camera Using Direct Fourier-Domain Scene Capture
Patrick Gill, Changhyuk Lee, Dhon-Gue Lee, Albert Wang, and Alyosha Molnar
Cornell University

Abstract:
We demonstrate chip-scale (< 1mm2) sensor, the Planar Fourier Capture Array (PFCA), capable of imaging the far field without any off-chip optics. The PFCA consists of an array of angle-sensitive pixels manufactured in a standard semiconductor process, each of which reports one component of a spatial 2D Fourier transform of the local light field. Thus, the sensor directly captures 2D Fourier transforms of scenes. The effective resolution of our prototype is approximately 400 pixels.

Here is the Fourier pixel idea:


Thanks to IC for sending me the link!
1:13 PM

Samsung Reports Sales and Profitability Improvements in BSI Sensors

...
Samsung mentioned image sensor business improvement few times over its Q2 Earnings presentation:

"...sustained solid demand increase for AP and high-pixel image sensors for mobile devices, etc.
...Sales and profitability improved due to sales expansion of dual core AP and high-pixel BSI image sensor, etc.
...Market outlook: Demand for dual core AP, BSI image sensors, etc. to pick up, supported by strong demand for high-end mobile devices."


Not sure why, but the image sensor market given in Q1 Earnings presentation looked quite differently:


In Q1 Earnings release the company said: "Sales for the System LSI Division doubled to 2.32 trillion won on-year, on the back of rising demand for smartphone application processors and image sensors." The official Q2 Earnings PR is not published yet.
10:48 PM

TSMC Reveals its 1.1um and 0.9um Pixel Schedules

...
Seeking Alpha: TSMC CEO Morris Chang said at the Q2 Earnings conference call:

"I want to report the our CMOS image sensors we are ready to introduce, 1.1 micron pixel process early next year for 8 megapixel products. We have also demonstrated a 0.9 micron pixel for 16 Megapixel products to be released a year later. Both processes use our world leading (inaudible) elimination [probably backside illumination] technology and are well-positioned for smartphone and tablet application."
12:45 PM

Omnivision Proposes PR Thinning to Improve Pinned PD Alignment in Small Pixels

...
Omnivision's US20110177650 patent application proposes photoresist thinning to improve alignment between the edge of the photodiode and the pinning layer. The prior art uses photoresist masks 140 and 142 for photodiode 130 and p+ pinning layer 165 implants respectively:


"The alignment of dopant region 165 to dopant region 135 is not only important at the transfer gate edge. In fact, at all other locations around the periphery of the photodiode it is preferable that pinning photodiode dopant region 165 fully enclose photodiode dopant region 135, i.e., that dopant region 165 preferably extends beyond the borders of dopant region 135. Ion implant shadowing on the sides of the pixel opposite to the transfer gate produces offsets opposite to those provided at the transfer gate edge. The layout design and alignment of photoresist masks 140 and 142 preferably anticipate this in order to meet the above stated preference for placement of dopant region 135.

As CIS pixel design and fabrication technologies advance, pixel sizes decrease in order to provide more pixels per unit area. Alignment tolerances often cannot be decreased in proportion to decreases in pixel element dimensions and, in particular for the pinned photodiode pixel elements, the cathode element is made to shrink more than the anode element in order to compensate for retained alignment tolerances. This may result in an accelerated decline of the full well capacity and therefore a decline in performance of the pinned photodiode pixel."

Omnivision proposes that "an isotropic resist etching (resist trim) process is applied to photoresist mask 140 to reduce the thickness and other dimensions of photoresist mask 140 by a designed amount. Thus, trimmed photoresist mask 145 is self aligned to original photoresist mask 140":


"The alignment of dopant regions 535 to 565 is determined by the transfer gate edge in the region adjacent to the transfer gate as in the conventional process. The alignment of dopant regions 535 and 565 in locations other than adjacent to the transfer gate is determined by the self aligned masks as described herein. This results in reduced manufacturing cost due to fewer photoresist masks and in larger full well capacity due to a larger pinned photodiode cathode area compared to the conventionally fabricated CIS pixel."

Another version of Omnivision's application talks about transfer gate formation after all photodiode and pinning layers implants are complete. In that case the gate is not self-aligned with the photodiode.
6:15 AM

Vision Award Candidates

...
IMV Europe: The Vision Award is presented each year at the Vision trade fair in Stuttgart, Germany (held this year from 8-10 November). The innovations presented by the candidates will be judged by a panel of vision experts comprised of Jens Michael Carstensen of Videometer, Hermann Tropf of Vision Tools, Martin Wäny of Awaiba, Dieter-Josef Walter of Daimler, and Michael Engel of Vision Components.

The list candidates for this year's Award has two image sensor companies:
  • New Imaging Technologies (NIT), Color Native WDR: High colour fidelity over more than 140dB dynamic range, Christian Bouvier, Yang Ni, Nicolas Baroan
  • Heliotis, High-speed/high-precision 3D sensor with pixel-level signal processing and camera-level surface extraction, Andreas Corliano, Yves Delley, Joël Forchelet, Christian Lotto, Patrick Lambelet, Rudolf Moosburger, Stephan Beer, Peter Seitz, Dino Zardet, Christa Zimmerli
Via electronsholes
11:58 PM

SeeBetter Supports Asynchronous Silicon Retina Development

...
SPIE: European SeeBetter program is aimed to design of an integrated vision sensor adding asynchronous retinal functionality to artificial vision sensors. Recent silicon retinas include event-based readouts to mimic the asynchronous spikes on the eye optic nerve and reduce the output data amount or increase the effective frame rate:


SeeBetter intends to build a hybrid vision sensor where pixel electronics die is bump-bonded to BSI photodiode array. This approach allows to implement a complex retina cell models while maintaining large fill factor of the photodiode array.

The article is written by the program participants:

Konstantin Nikolic
Imperial College
London, UK

David San Segundo Bello
Imec
Leuven, Belgium

Tobi Delbruck, Shih-Chii Liu
Institute for Neuroinformatics
Zurich, Switzerland

Botond Roska
Friedrich Miescher Institute
Basel, Switzerland
6:04 AM

Aphesa Offers EMVA1288 Tester

...
As stated in comments, Belgium-based Aphesa offers automatic and semi-automatic camera characterization according to EMVA1288 standard. The LED-based light sources cover 395nm-940nm spectral range in up to 12 points. The camera under test should have CameraLink, USB, FireWire or GigE interface.


Update March 12, 2012: As discussed in comments, the updated picture is below:

5:53 AM

Qualcomm Buys Part of Gesturetek

...
EETimes, PR Newswire: Qualcomm acquired a part of assets of GestureTek, a developer of gesture recognition middleware. The chip maker said it plans to put the gesture recognition technology into its "current and next-generation Snapdragon processors" for smartphones, tablets and other consumer devices.

Qualcomm bought unspecified intellectual property assets related to gesture recognition, as well as some engineering resources from Gesturetek. GestureTek retains some of its assets and will continue its business in gesture-enabled digital signs. The companies did not disclose financial details of the transaction.

Prior to the deal, GestureTek said it owned eight broad patents on camera- and video-tracking that issued starting in 1996 and said it had applied for 37 others. The company first got its software into handsets in 2007 in a deal with Japan's DoCoMo. It also is used in handsets from HTC, Motorola, Nokia, NEC, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and LG. Licensees for other products include Panasonic, Microsoft (Xbox 360), Sanyo, Sony, IBM, and Intel. Last year the company demonstrated its software running on Android and Symbian environments. It also supports Linux, Nucleus, Windows Mobile and Qualcomm's Brew for feature phones.
10:42 AM

Omnivision Proposes Concave PD to Increase Full Well

...
Omnivision patent application US20110169991 proposes concave photodiode to increase area where the photogenerated charge can be hold. Also, the new PD shape is said to reduce pixel alignment variability:

6:25 AM

Himax Imaging Works on Small Pixel BSI Designs

...
According to the patent application US20110169055, Himax Imaging works on BSI pixel design. The company proposes non-self-aligned transfer gate on top of pinning layer to achieve low image lag and dark current. Also, the application says that "BSI red response may be boosted by forming reflection layers by the extended transfer gate poly on top of PD".

6:15 AM

Marine Books Free Download

...
Books Online :: Falling Star The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Extended Edition + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] Einstein's Refrigerator: And Other Stories from the Flip Side of HistoryDream With Me


Marine Engineer Books and Notes :



Telugu Songs Online .::MK::.

Marine Engineer Books

...
Books Online :: Falling Star The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Extended Edition + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] Einstein's Refrigerator: And Other Stories from the Flip Side of HistoryDream With Me


Marine Engineer Books and Notes :


Telugu Songs Online .::MK::.