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To: Cameron Lang who wrote (37669)	12/7/1998 9:10:00 AM
From: BillyG	Respond to of 50808

IBM enters CCD arena for digital still cameras (almost on-topic) semibiznews.com A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story posted 7:30 a.m. EST/4:30 a.m. PST, 12/7/98 EAST FISHKILL, N.Y.--IBM Corp.'s Microelectronics Division here today announced plans to serve digital still camera applications with charge-coupled devices (CCDs). Earlier today in Taiwan, IBM managers held a symposium on the use of its technology in low-cost consumer cameras with representatives from nearly 30 Asian companies. "Today's announcement expands the reach of IBM's technology into rapidly growing consumer opportunities," said Kenneth Kin, vice president of IBM Microelectronics Asia Pacific/Japan Sales. "Digital cameras offer an exciting new alternative to conventional photography. Advances in chip technology are lowering the cost of digital cameras, placing them within reach of more consumers." IBM said it is producing the CCD imaging devices on a 200-mm wafers using 0.5- to 0.35-micron process technologies. Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) technology is playing a key role in helping IBM boost manufacturing yields by planarizing the surface of wafers flat for color filter applications, reducing light scatter, according to the company. To speed the use of its CCDs, IBM has begun working with camera and lens design companies to incorporate 1.3 and 2.0 million pixel array CCD imagers into platforms that provide complete solutions for products, including software operating systems, analog-to-digital converts, and ASICs to process images. IBM is aiming its CCD technology at cameras that will be priced at $100 to $400. It expects to see these consumer systems available by the middle of 1999. IBM believes that CCD imagers current represent the highest quality imaging solutions for low-cost digital cameras over CMOS sensors, according to a company spokesman. However, the company is also producing CMOS imaging devices for chip customers as part of its wafer-processing foundry business.