Toshiba Launched 20-MP CMOS Image Sensor for Smart Phones and Mobile Handset

Toshiba has launched its newest 1.12-micron CMOS Image sensor (CIS) in San Jose on September 15. It is targeted for high-end mobile handsets and smart phones with at least 20-MP resolution. Furthermore, the optical size of 1/2.4 inch, the T4KA7 sensor is suitable for smart camera phone of the height of 6mm or less. It will produce thinner and lighter mobile devices which are of consumer demands nowadays.

The T4KA7 employs high speed circuit technology with frame rate of 22 frames per second (fps) and it is at full-resolution of image capture. It comes with 8MP and 13MP and which will enable low-power-high performance image capture and video recording for mobile devices.

Based on the data from Yole Development, the CMOS image sensor will experience a compound annual growth (CAGR) of 10 percent between 2013 and 2018.  The industry will replace charge-coupled device (CCD) with CMOS for image sensors. This will happen not only for mobile technology but also for automotive, industrial and medical imaging applications as well as wearable electronics.

T4KA7 has the capability of zooming in without causing image deterioration even when the object is very close to the lens. Another feature is the mapped couplet correction by 16Kbit one-time programmable (OTP) memory, enabling strict integration of high-density permanent memory without increasing the real estate on the sensor chip.

Toshiba Launched 20-MP CMOS Image Sensor for Smart Phones and Mobile Handset

See the 1st photo clicked using Sony’s curved CMOS sensor

Typical CMOS image sensors available today for cameras are flat and produce flat and somewhat distorted images. Human eye has a curvature which Sony is trying to replicate. Sony’s Device Manager Yarn Soichiro said, “The first idea was to mimic the eyes of the organism”. Sony has been successful in making a curved CMOS sensor that gets rid of vignetting and aberrations and gives a much superior image quality.

Displayed above is the historical first photograph taken with Sony’s curved sensor.

The curved CMOS sensor mimics the structure and working of a human eye (biomimicry) resulting in more sensitivity and less distortion of the image. The lens system here is also much simpler and according to Sony’s engineers it is 1.4 times more sensitive at the center and twice as more sensitive at the periphery.

Sony used a special machine to bend the CMOS sensor and give it the necessary curvature as in the human eye. Then the curved sensor was reinforced with ceramic to stabilize its shape.

Sony has developed two sizes of the curved CMOS sensor – one is a full size chip measuring 43 mm diagonally for the bigger digital cameras and the other is a smaller one measuring 11 mm diagonally for smaller mobile phones. According to the source, Sony is ready for mass production of the curved sensors.

 

See the 1st photo clicked using Sony’s curved CMOS sensor