King Klon

Globes : Israeli 3D sensing company Mantis Vision completes the acquisition of Jackson Hole, Utah-based Alces Technology. The newspaper's sources suggest the acquisition was for about $10m. Earlier this month Mantis Vision raised $55m bringing its total investment to $84m. Alces is a depth sensing startup developing a high-resolution structured light technology. Mantis Vision CEO Gur Bitan says, " Mantis Vision is leading innovation in 3D acquisition and sharing. Alces is a great match and we look forward to bringing their innovations to market. Alces will be rebranded Mantis Vision, Inc. and operate as an R&D center and serve as a base for commercial expansion in the US. " Alces CEO Rob Christensen says, “ Our combined knowledge in hardware and optics, along with Mantis Vision’s expertise in algorithms and applications, will enable an exciting new class of products employing high-performance depth sensing. ” Here is how Alces used to compare its technology with Micr...

SeekingAlpha : Samsung reports an increase in image sensor sales in Q2 2018 and a strong forecast for both its own image sensor and also the image sensors manufactured at Samsung foundry. Regarding the triple camera trends, Samsung says: " First of all, regarding the triple camera, the triple camera offers various advantages, such as optical zoom or ultra-wide angle, also extreme low-light imaging. And that's why we're expecting more and more handsets to adopt triple cameras not only in 2018 but next year as well. But by next year, about 10% of handsets are expected to have triple cameras. And triple camera adoption will continue to grow even after that point. Given this market outlook, actually, we've already completed quite a wide range of sensor line-up that can support the key features, such as optical zoom, ultra-wide viewing angle, bokeh and video support so that we're able to supply image sensors upon demand by customers. At the same time, we will continue t...

4th International Workshop on Image Sensors and Imaging Systems (IWISS2018) is to be held on November 28-29 at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. The invited and plenary part of the Workshop program has many interesting presentations: [Plenary] Time-of-flight single-photon avalanche diode imagers by Franco Zappa (Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI), Italy) [Invited] Light transport measurement using ToF camera by Yasuhiro Mukaigawa (Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Japan) [Invited] A high-speed, high-sensitivity, large aperture avalanche image intensifier panel by Yasunobu Arikawa, Ryosuke Mizutani, Yuki Abe, Shohei Sakata, Jo. Nishibata, Akifumi Yogo, Mitsuo Nakai, Hiroyuki Shiraga, Hiroaki Nishimura, Shinsuke Fujioka, Ryosuke Kodama (Osaka Univ., Japan) [Invited] A back-illuminated global-shutter CMOS image sensor with pixel-parallel 14b subthreshold ADC by Shin Sakai, Masaki Sakakibara, Tsukasa Miura, Hirotsugu Takahashi, Tadayuki Taura, and Yusuke Oike (Sony Semiconductor ...

ON Semi renames Image Sensor Group to "Intelligent Sensing Group," suggesting that other businesses might be added to it in search for a revenue growth: The company reports : " During the second quarter, we saw strong demand for our image sensors for ADAS applications. Out traction in ADAS image sensors continues to accelerate. With a complete line of image sensors, including 1, 2, and 8 Megapixels, we are the only provider of complete range of pixel densities on a single platform for next generation ADAS and autonomous driving applications. We believe that a complete line of image sensors on a single platform provides us with significant competitive advantage, and we continue working to extend our technology lead over our competitors. As we have indicated earlier, according to independent research firms, ON Semiconductor is the leader in image sensors for industrial applications. We continue to leverage our expertise in automotive market to address most demanding appli...

BusinessWire : Cepton, a developer 3D LiDAR based on stereo scanner, announces it will provide Koito with its miniaturized LiDAR solution for autonomous driving. The compact design of Cepton’s LiDAR sensors enables direct integration into a vehicle’s lighting system. Its Micro-Motion Technology (MMT) platform is said to be free of mechanical rotation and frictional wear, producing high-resolution imaging of a vehicle’s surroundings to detect objects at a distance of up to 300 meters away. “ We are excited to bring advanced LiDAR technology to vehicles to improve safety and reliability, ” said Jun Pei, CEO and co-founder of Cepton. “ With the verification of our LiDAR technology, we hope to advance the goals of Koito, a global leader within the automotive lighting industry producing over 20 percent of headlights globally and 60 percent of Japanese OEM vehicles. ” Before Cepton, Koito used to cooperate with Quanergy with the similar claims a year ago . Cepton technology is based on mecha...

BusinessWire : SensibleVision, a developer of 3D face authentication solutions, criticized Microsoft President Brad Smith's call for government regulation of facial recognition technology: “ Why would Smith single out this one technology for external oversight and not all biometrics methods? ” asks George Brostoff, CEO and Co-Founder of SensibleVision. “ In fact, unlike fingerprints or iris scans, a person's face is always in view and public. I would suggest it’s the use cases, ownership and storage of biometric data (in industry parlance “templates”) that are critical and should be considered for regulation. Partnerships between private companies and the public sector have always been key to the successful adoption of innovative technologies. We look forward to contributing to this broader discussion. ”

Japanese IEICE Transactions on Electronics publishes Shoji Kawahito paper " Column-Parallel ADCs for CMOS Image Sensors and Their FoM-Based Evaluations. " " The defined FoM are applied to surveyed data on CISs reported and the following conclusions are obtained: - The performance of CISs should be evaluated with different metrics to high pixel-rate regions (∼> 1000MHz) from those to low or middle pixel-rate regions. - The conventional FoM (commonly-used FoM) calculated by (noise) x (power) /(pixel-rate) is useful for observing entirely the trend of performance frontline of CISs. - The FoM calculated by (noise)2 x (power) /(pixel-rate) which considers a model on thermal noise and digital system noise well explain the frontline technologies separately in low/middle and high pixel-rate regions. - The FoM calculated by (noise) x (power)/ (intrascene dynamic range)/ (pixel-rate) well explains the effectiveness of the recently-reported techniques for extending dynamic range...

SeekingAlpha publishes TowerJazz Q2 2018 earnings call transcript with an update on its CIS technology progress: " We had announced the new 25 megapixel sensor using our state-of-the-art and record smallest 2.5 micron global shutter pixels with Gpixel, a leading industrial sensor provider in China. The product is achieving very high traction in the market with samples having been delivered to major and to customers. Another leading provider in this market, who has worked with us for many years will soon release a new global shutter sensor based on the same platform. Both of the above mentioned sensors are the first for families of sensors with different pixel count resolutions for each of those customers next generation industrial sensor offering ranging from 1 megapixel to above 100-megapixel. We expect this global shutter with this outstanding performance based on our 65-nanometer 300- millimeter wafers to drive high volumes in 2019 and the years following. We see this as a key...

Loup Ventures publishes its analysis of LiDAR technologies and how they compete with each other on the market: There is also a comparison of camera, LiDAR and Radar technologies of autonomous vehicles: Another Loup Ventures article tries to answer on question "If a human can drive a car based on vision alone, why can’t a computer?" " While we believe Tesla can develop autonomous cars that “resemble human driving” primarily driven by cameras, the goal is to create a system that far exceeds human capability. For that reason, we believe more data is better, and cars will need advanced computer perception technologies such as RADAR and LiDAR to achieve a level of driving far superior than humans. However, since cameras are the only sensor technology that can capture texture, color and contrast information, they will play a key role in reaching level 4 and 5 autonomy and in-turn represent a large market opportunity. "

SystemPlus Consulting publishes a reverse engineering report of Synaptics’ under-display fingerprint scanner found inside the VIVO X21 UD Smartphone: " This scanner uses optical fingerprint technology that allows integration under the display. With a stainless steel support and two flexible printed circuit layers, the Synaptics fingerprint sensor’s dimensions are 6.46 mm x 9.09 mm, with an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) driver in the flex module. This image sensor is also assembled with a glass substrate where filters are deposited. The sensor has a resolution of 30,625 pixels, with a pixel density of 777ppi. The module’s light source is providing by the OLED display glasses. The fingerprint module uses a collimator layer corresponding to the layers directly deposited on the die sensor and composed of organic, metallic and silicon layers. This only allows light rays reflected at normal incidence to the collimator filter layer to pass through and reach the optical ...

Microsoft President Brad Smith writes in the company blog : " Advanced technology no longer stands apart from society; it is becoming deeply infused in our personal and professional lives. This means the potential uses of facial recognition are myriad. Some emerging uses are both positive and potentially even profound. But other potential applications are more sobering. Imagine a government tracking everywhere you walked over the past month without your permission or knowledge. Imagine a database of everyone who attended a political rally that constitutes the very essence of free speech. Imagine the stores of a shopping mall using facial recognition to share information with each other about each shelf that you browse and product you buy, without asking you first. Perhaps as much as any advance, facial recognition raises a critical question: what role do we want this type of technology to play in everyday society? This in fact is what we believe is needed today – a government init...

Nikkei : Kyocera presents "Camera-LiDAR Fusion Sensor" to be to commercialize in 2022 or 2023. The sensor uses two kinds of data collected by the camera and LiDAR sensor, respectively, to improve the recognition rate of objects around the sensor. The LiDAR uses MEMS for beam scanning. The resolution of the LiDAR is 0.05°. " When only LiDAR is used, it is difficult to detect the locations of objects, " Kyocera said. " When only the camera is used, there is a possibility that shadows on the ground are mistakenly recognized as three-dimensional objects. " Kyocera Camera-LiDAR Nikkei : Asahi Kasei develops a technology to measure the pulse of a driver based on video shot by a NIR camera. The camera uses the fact that hemoglobin in the blood absorbs a large amount of green light. So, the brightness of the face in video changes and a pulse rate can be calculated. It takes about 8s to measure the pulse rate of a driver, including the face authentication. It helps...

BusinessWire : SiOnyx announces the official launch for the SiOnyx Aurora action video camera with true day and night color imaging. Aurora is based on the SiOnyx Ultra Low Light technology that is protected by more than 40 patents and until now was only available in the highest-end night vision optics costing tens of thousands of dollars. This identical technology has now been cost-reduced for use in Aurora and other upcoming devices from SiOnyx and its partners. SiOnyx backgrounder says: " SiOnyx XQE CMOS image sensors provide superior night vision, biometrics, eye tracking, and a natural human interface through our proprietary Black Silicon semiconductor technology. XQE image sensors deliver unprecedented performance advantages in infrared imaging, including sensitivity enhancements as high as 10x today’s sensor solutions. XQE enhanced IR sensitivity takes advantage of the naturally occurring IR ‘nightglow’ to enable imaging under extreme (0.001 lux) conditions. XQE sensors pr...

MDPI Sensors publishes a paper " Toward the Ultimate-High-Speed Image Sensor: From 10 ns to 50 ps " by Anh Quang Nguyen, Vu Truong Son Dao, Kazuhiro Shimonomura, Kohsei Takehara, and Takeharu Goji Etoh from Hanoi University of Science and Technology (Vietnam), Vietnam National University HCMC, Ritsumeikan University (Japan), and Kindai University (Japan). " The paper summarizes the evolution of the Backside-Illuminated Multi-Collection-Gate (BSI MCG) image sensors from the proposed fundamental structure to the development of a practical ultimate-high-speed silicon image sensor. A test chip of the BSI MCG image sensor achieves the temporal resolution of 10 ns. The authors have derived the expression of the temporal resolution limit of photoelectron conversion layers. For silicon image sensors, the limit is 11.1 ps. By considering the theoretical derivation, a high-speed image sensor designed can achieve the frame rate close to the theoretical limit. However, some of the c...

Andor publishes a video with some details of its new BSI sCMOS Sona sensor: 4.2MP, 32mm diagonal, up to 95% QE (was 82% in non-BSI version), vacuum sealed and cooled to -45deg: There is also a recording of webinar explaining the new camera features here . Update: Andor publishes an official PR on its Sona camera:

PRNewswire : AIRY3D, a Montreal-based 3D vision start-up, raises $10m in an oversubscribed Series A funding round led by Intel Capital, including all Seed round investors CRCM Ventures, Nautilus Venture Partners, R7 Partners, Robert Bosch Venture Capital (RBVC), and WI Harper Group along with several angel investors. This financing will allow AIRY3D to advance its licensing roadmap for the first commercial adoptions of its DepthIQ 3D sensor platform with top-tier mobile OEMs in 2019. " The simplicity and cost-efficiency of AIRY3D's 3D sensor technology, which does not require multiple components, helps position AIRY3D's technology as a potential enabler for many target markets ", said Dave Flanagan, VP and group managing director at Intel Capital. " AIRY3D's DepthIQ platform is a cost-effective technology that can accelerate the adoption of several new applications such as facial, gesture and object recognition, portrait modes, professional 'Bokeh' ef...

Sony announces 1/2-inch IMX586 stacked CMOS sensor for smartphones featuring 48MP, the industry’s highest pixel count. The new product uses the world-first pixel size of 0.8 μm. The new sensor uses the Quad Bayer color filter array, where adjacent 2x2 pixels come in the same color. During low light shooting, the signals from the four adjacent pixels are added, raising the sensitivity to a level equivalent to that of 1.6 μm pixels (12MP). 12MP sensor (left) vs IMX586 (right)

MDPI Sensor publishes " A Review of Ion Implantation Technology for Image Sensors " by Nobukazu Teranishi, Genshu Fuse, and Michiro Sugitani from Shizuoka and Hyogo Universities and Sumitomo. " Image sensors are so sensitive to metal contamination that they can detect even one metal atom per pixel. To reduce the metal contamination, the plasma shower using RF (radio frequency) plasma generation is a representative example. The electrostatic angular energy filter after the mass analyzing magnet is a highly effective method to remove energetic metal contamination. The protection layer on the silicon is needed to protect the silicon wafer against the physisorbed metals. The thickness of the protection layer should be determined by considering the knock-on depth. The damage by ion implantation also causes blemishes. It becomes larger in the following conditions if the other conditions are the same; a. higher energy; b. larger dose; c. smaller beam size (higher beam current d...

AZO Materials publishes Teledyne e2v article " The Development of CMOS Image Sensors " with a table comparing CCD and CMOS sensors. Although I do not agree with some of the statements in the table, here it is: Characteristic CCD CMOS Signal from pixel Electron packet Voltage Signal from chip Analog Voltage Bits (digital) Readout noise low Lower at equivalent frame rate Fill factor High Moderate or low Photo-Response Moderate to high Moderate to high Sensitivity High Higher Dynamic Range High Moderate to high Uniformity High Slightly Lower Power consumption Moderate to high Low to moderate Shuttering Fast, efficient Fast, efficient Speed Moderate to High Higher Windowing Limited Multiple Anti-blooming High to none High, always Image Artefact Smearing, charge transfer inefficiency FPN, Motion (ERS), PLS Biasing and Clocking Multiple, higher voltage Single, low-voltage System Complexity High Low Sensor Complexity Low High Relative R&D cost Lower Lower or Higher depending on ...

Valeo publishes video showing use cases for its XtraVue system based on a camera, laser scanner, and vehicle-to-vehicle networking: And another somewhat dated video has been re-posted on Valeo channel:

Andor publishes a teaser for its oncoming Sona BSI sCMOS sensor-based cameras calling them "the world's most sensitive," to be officially unveiled on July 24, 2018: