News from France: Sofradir Buys Thales and Sagem IR Sensor Facilities

Sofradir acquires Sagem and Thales’ IR detector technology development and manufacturing facilities. Under the agreement, Sagem will transfer to Sofradir the Indium Antimonide (InSb) technology. The Quantum Well-Infrared Photodetector (QWIP) and Indium Gallium Arsenide (InGaAs) technologies will be transferred to Sofradir from the GIE III-V Lab, an economic interest group with partners Alcatel Lucent, Thales and CEA.

By consolidating these IR technologies under one roof, Sofradir joins a small circle of IR detector manufacturers with expertise in all the cooled and uncooled IR technologies. Sofradir is currently ranked number one for volume deliveries of IR detectors based on its Mercury Cadmium Telluride (HgCdTe) technology.

"The technologies from Sagem and the III-V Lab enable Sofradir to have from this point forward the complete portfolio of infrared technologies," said Philippe Bensussan, chairman and CEO of Sofradir. "With the new technologies, Sofradir, along with its subsidiary ULIS, will be able to select the technology best adapted to our clients’ applications."

NXP Annouces H.264 IP Security Camera Processor

Marketwire: NXP announces ASC884xA and ASC885xA series of single-chip video processors for HD IP security cameras. These devices integrate virtually all functions required for an IP camera design -- from raw image sensor data input, ISP, and H.264 compression, to secure encrypted transmission over the network through a Gigabit Ethernet interface.

Capturing 60 frames per second at Full HD resolution (1080p/60), the new series supports H.264 High Profile encoding while consuming less than 1.5 W of power, said to be the best power efficiency and lowest bit rate compared to other solutions on the market today. Further, the ASC884xA and ASC885xA devices incorporate very flexible spatial and temporal (2D/3D) noise reduction for excellent low-light performance.

In addition to ASC8852A flagship product for 1080p/60 performance, NXP is releasing a complete range of pin-compatible Advanced ICs down to 1080p/30 (ASC8850A) and 720p/30 (ASC8848A). The ASC8848A offers an H.264-encoded bit rate of less than 500 kbit/s at a power consumption level close to 0.5 W. Evaluation samples of the ASC8848A, ASC8849A, ASC8850A, ASC8851A and ASC8852A will be available to lead customers starting in Q1 2013, with volume manufacturing starting in Q2 2013.

Sony is the 2nd Best Performing Semiconductor Company in Top 20 List

IHS iSuppli report on top 20 semiconductor companies says about Sony performance:

"After Qualcomm, the next best performance among the Top 20 suppliers is set to be posted by Sony, which will attain 20.1 percent growth in semiconductor revenue. Sony's performance stands in stark contrast to most other major Japanese semiconductor suppliers, whose revenue will collapse by double-digit rates in 2012."

"Sony's strong results are due to its leading position in the image sensor market, which is expected to grow by 19 percent in 2012, with the CMOS image sensor sector of the market seeing its revenue expand by 31.8 percent. Sony's image sensor revenue, which accounts for nearly 60 percent of its semiconductor takings, is expected to expand by 48 percent. Even more amazing, its CMOS image sensor revenues are forecast to more than double," says Dale Ford, iSuppli's analyst.

Invisage Selected as a 2012 Red Herring Top 100 Global Company

Marketwire: InVisage announces that it is a recipient of the Red Herring Top 100 Global award, recognizing the leading private companies from North America, Europe, and Asia.

"This prestigious award reinforces the huge impact our image sensors with QuantumFilm technology will have on the industry at large," said Jess Lee, president and CEO of InVisage. "We appreciate the recognition, and are proud to be part of such an esteemed list of companies."

Update: Invisage web site went through a major redesign and now its technology page shows a small-scale sample image dated by June 28, 2012:

Toshiba Enters Automotive Imaging Market

PR Newswire: Toshiba announces its first image sensor for the automotive and security/surveillance markets, a 1/4-inch TCM5114PL VGA sensor with HDR and fast frame rates.

"Toshiba is leveraging its industry-leading CMOS imaging technology into new markets with stellar results," said Andrew Burt, vice president of the Analog and Imaging Business Unit, System LSI Group at TAEC. "The low-power consumption, and rich imagery enabled by this device in various light conditions will appeal to manufacturers in the automotive industry."

The TCM5114PL sensor delivers DR of 100dB at 60 fps at VGA resolution. The sensor is based on 5.6um pixel with > 6V/lx.s senstivity and has integrated ISP and HDR functions. The TCM5114PL has both a digital and analog (NTSC/PAL) interface so it can connect to currently available display panels. The device supports YUV422/RGB565/ RGB888/ RAW10/RAW12 data formats.

Samples of the TCM5114PL VGA image sensor are currently available. Mass production is scheduled for March 2013. Sample pricing is set at $25.

Raytrix Presentation at VISION 2012 Show

A 15 min long Vimeo Raytrix presentation at VISION 2012 shows the new effects and once again explains the principle of lightfield camera:



A pdf version of the presentation is here. Youtube version of the video is here.

Sony Production Capacity

The latest Sony semiconductor business summary sheet dated by Nov. 27, 2012 says that the company's production capacity is 40M units per month for CMOS sensors and 12M units a month for CCDs. The main image sensor fabs are:

• Nagasaki TEC (CMOS Sensors)
• Kagoshima TEC (CCDs)
• Kumamoto TEC (CCD&CMOS Sensors)
• Sony Device Technology (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (CCD&CMOS Sensor assembly)