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Technology Stocks : Atmel - the trend is about to change -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: William Grady who wrote (8779)	8/21/1998 2:39:00 PM
From: kinkblot	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13565

A New Microchip Ushers In Cheaper Digital Cameras: Article on page B1 of today's Wall Street Journal about CMOS image sensors. A $49.95 add-on camera for Nintendo's GameBoy has already sold 800,000 units since April; it uses a CMOS chip. The article goes on to discuss developments at Motorola, Kodak, Intel and others. An Atmel project is also mentioned: [excerpt]...... So far, CMOS sensors have appeared mainly in low-end items, such as the Game Boy accessory and a filmless Barbie camera, due this fall from Mattel Inc. for about $69. But high-end cameras are also converting to CMOS. Last year, Sound Vision Inc. brought out the first super-high-resolution digital camera priced under $400. Like the Barbie camera, it contains CMOS sensors made by early market leader Vision PLC, a Scottish company started with technology from the University of Edinburgh. Other companies are placing big bets on CMOS. Motorola hopes to put CMOS chips in cellular phones that could transmit graphics or a caller's image. Several companies are looking at automotive applications, including tiny cameras that recognize -- and sound an alarm -- when a car veers over the median line. Polaroid Corp. and Atmel Corp., its San Jose, Calif., partner, are in early talks about selling a CMOS chip for use in automatic-teller machines to verify identity by examining images of a user's face or fingerprints. .................... 7/97 ATML-PRD release - atmel.com According to the Journal, one huge advantage of CMOS over CCD sensors is that "they can be manufactured on the same assembly lines that stamp out ordinary PC chips" instead of in specialized factories, which also allows the inclusion of other camera functions on the same CMOS chip. The main drawback at this stage is lower resolution. WT