Detectors & Imaging

60 fps 4K x 2K CMOS image sensor developed by Panasonic and imec

June 20, 2013

Leuven, Belgium--A 4K2K CMOS image sensor developed by imec and Panasonic is capable of capturing 12-bit 4000 x 2000 (4K x 2K) pixel progressive images at 60 frames per second.

Gail Overton

A 4K2K CMOS image sensor chip from imec and Panasonic targets high-speed, high-resolution imaging applications such as next-generation HDTV.

Leuven, Belgium--A 4K2K CMOS image sensor developed by imec and Panasonic (Osaka, Japan) is capable of capturing 12-bit 4000 x 2000 (4K x 2K) pixel progressive images at 60 frames per second (fps). Based on a stagger-laced dual exposure, the image sensor was processed using imec's 130nm CMOS process on 200 mm silicon wafers to deliver high-speed and high-quality imaging, at reduced output bit rate. The number of pixels on image sensors in video and still cameras keeps increasing, along with the frame rate and bit resolution requirements of the images. 4K2K will be the next-generation broadcasting format, offering an increase by a factor of two in both horizontal and vertical resolution compared to current state-of-the-art High Definition TV.

The image sensor chip is a floating diffusion shared 4T pixel imager, with a pitch of 2.5 micron and a conversion gain of 70 μV/e-, which allows for both a classical rolling shutter or stagger-laced scanning mode. The 4K2K 60-fps imaging performance is realized by 12-bit column-based delta-sigma A/D converters. The stagger-laced scanning method improves imaging sensitivity and realizes a 50% reduction in output data rate by alternating the readout of two sets of horizontal pixel pairs arranged in two complementary checkerboard patterns. Additionally, the overall power consumption of the imager is less than two Watts.

"This is an important milestone for imec to demonstrate our capability to co-design, prototype and manufacture high performance CMOS image sensors in our 200 mm CMOS fab," said Rudi Cartuyvels, Sr. VP Smart Systems & Energy Technologies at imec.

Panasonic Corporation develops and engineers electronic technologies and solutions for customers in residential, non-residential, mobility and personal applications. Since its founding in 1918, the company has expanded globally and now operates over 500 consolidated companies worldwide, recording consolidated net sales of around $74 billion dollars (7.30 trillion yen) for the year ended March 31, 2013.

SOURCE: imec; http://www2.imec.be/be_en/press/imec-news/imecpanasonic4k2kimager.html

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.