The market for image sensors is expected to grow from $700 million now to $3 billion over the next five years. What are they used for? Digital still and digital or analog video cameras. CCD image sensors are used in most analog video cameras. CMOS image sensors are finding a home in digital cameras. With CMOS image sensors, you can integrate other circuitry on the image sensor chip.................
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Story posted at 1 p.m. EST/10 a.m. PST, 12/10/97
HP and Photobit to develop
test for CMOS sensor chips
PALO ALTO, Calif.--Hewlett-Packard Co. and Photobit Corp. today said
they plan to jointly develop test solutions for Photobit's digital
camera-on-a-chip products, based on CMOS active-pixel sensor
technology.
Under the agreement, HP will apply its mixed-signal chip testing capabilities
while Photobit will offer its expertise in CMOS image sensors. The goal is to
create an optimal production test strategy for CMOS image sensors and
systems-on-a-chip designs, according to the partners.
"The CMOS image-sensor market is an exciting new area for us," said John
Scruggs, vice president and general manager of HP's Automated Test Group
in Palo Alto. "Our HP 94000 and HP 9490 mixed-signal test systems are a
great fit for the needs of this growing market. We expect video conferencing
and digital-photography applications will benefit from this test solution."
Photobit selected HP as a development partner because of its extensive
experience in production-test solutions that closely matched the needs of
image sensors, said Eric R. Fossom, chief scientist and co-founder of
Pasadena, Calif.-based. Photobit was formed in 1995 to commercialize
camera-on-a-chip technology developed by its founders while they worked
at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.
The market for image sensors, served today by charged-coupled devices
(CCDs), is about $700 million, according to Michael Gumport, senior
electronics analyst for Lehman Brothers in New York. That total only
represents about 1% of the chip market, he added.
"The CMOS image sensors will achieve strong penetration in this market,"
said Gumport, adding that he expects this segment to grow to at least $3
billion in the next five years, primarily driven by demand for digital cameras.
HP plans to use its mixed-signal test systems to provide fast throughput and
real-time digital signal processing. The company also plans to use its
applications development environment to ease the task of creating tests for
CMOS sensor ICs. |
