Semi-OT:National Semiconductor and Foveon Inc. Collaborate On Breakthrough in Digital Photography
Business Editors/High-Tech Writers
SANTA CLARA, Calif.-(BW)-Sept. 12-Foveon, Inc., Santa Clara, CA, today introduced the world's highest resolution image sensor based on advanced semiconductor technology developed by National Semiconductor Corporation. The new 16.8-million-pixel sensor provides resolution and quality advances that were previously regarded as unobtainable for complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) sensors, which offer cost and performance advantages over other types of semiconductor imaging devices.
Foveon credited National Semiconductor's early implementation of its advanced CMOS process technology with making the new sensor possible.
"We are changing digital photography forever," said Brian L. Halla, president and CEO of National Semiconductor, who also serves on Foveon's Board of Directors. "This is one of the most innovative projects I have been involved with since joining National four years ago. Eventually, this technology will replace film and change the way we use cameras for both professional and amateur photographers."
The new sensor is the industry's largest mixed-signal chip -- including both analog and digital circuit elements in one piece of silicon. It contains nearly 70 million transistors -- about 2-1/2 times more than a Pentium(TM) III processor. The sensor is approximately 2.2 centimeters on each side, nearly an inch square.
Foveon said the key to manufacturing the new sensor was National's early implementation of its advanced 0.18-micron CMOS process technology. The size of circuit elements on silicon chips is measured in microns or millionths of an inch. Smaller sizes allow more functions to be incorporated in a single chip and also improve performance. National, a world leader in analog circuit design and manufacturing, was one of the first companies to incorporate 0.18-micron processing. The Foveon sensor is being produced at National's state-of-the-art facility in South Portland, Maine, which achieved working sensors in the first manufacturing run of the new design.
"Our close working relationship with National Semiconductor has been a key to our success. National Semiconductor has a state-of-the-art 0.18 micron fabrication facility, is a world leader in low defect manufacturing and has the analog fabrication process expertise that is essential to manufacturing a sensor with this level of complexity," said Dick Merrill, Foveon's Chief Sensor Design Engineer.
In addition to collaborating with Foveon on engineering and fabrication issues, National is Foveon's principal investor. Both companies are committed to developing revolutionary image sensors with higher resolution, quality and reliability than previously available.
Most image sensors used today by camera companies are made using Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) technology and are often the most expensive component of a typical digital camera. Production of CCD sensors requires specialized fabrication facilities which are only used for CCD manufacturing. This specialization has limited the amount of money reinvested to CCD fabrication facilities to meet the industry demands of lowered costs, higher resolution and improved image quality. As a result, high-resolution film-quality CCD sensors are expensive, which in turn contributes to the high price of film-equivalent quality digital cameras.
CMOS-based image sensors have been anticipated to significantly improve the price/performance of digital cameras by leveraging the approximately $50 billion annually invested into CMOS production facilities, which are used to manufacture a wide variety of computer chips including microprocessors. Until now, however, CMOS image sensors have not replaced CCDs due to their relatively lower image quality and lower resolution. Foveon's 16.8-megapixel image sensor represents a quantum leap ahead of the entire CCD and CMOS image sensor industry in both resolution and quality.
The Foveon sensor's resolution is three times sharper than the best of previously announced photographic CMOS image sensors and more than 50 times sharper than the resolution of the most commonly manufactured CMOS image sensors found in consumer digital cameras. In comparison to CCD sensor, Foveon's 16.8-megapixel sensor also captures nearly three times the data of the 6-megapixel CCDs found in the highest resolution, commercially available professional digital cameras.
"We are tremendously excited about this achievement. Without question, high-resolution image sensors are what will accelerate the adoption rate of digital cameras and digital photography. Our sensor is the first viable 16.8 megapixel image sensor of any kind (CCD or CMOS) that can be produced in commercial volumes. Foveon has shattered the quality and resolution ceiling that CCDs have held since their inception over 30 years ago," said Dr. Carver Mead, the company's founder.
Why process technology counts
Current CMOS image sensors are made with 0.35- or 0.50-micron process technology. Until now, scientists generally accepted the idea that 0.25 represented the next round of product offerings for image sensors. Foveon's 16.8-megapixel sensor is the first image sensor of any size to be manufactured with 0.18-micron CMOS process technology, representing a two generation leap ahead of the CMOS imager industry.
The use of 0.18-micron process manufacturing enables more pixels to be packed into a given physical area, resulting in a higher resolution sensor. Transistors made with the 0.18-micron process are smaller and therefore do not take up as much of the sensor space, which can be used instead for light detection. This enables sensor designs that have smarter pixels that can provide new capabilities during the exposure, without sacrificing light sensitivity. |
