Toshiba preps super-sensitive CMOS smartphone camera sensor
updated 06:25 am EDT, Thu July 7, 2011
New Toshiba CMOS sensor packs 8.08 million pixels
Toshiba has announced the launch of a new 1.12-micrometer pixel CMOS image sensor. It claims that the new sensor, designed for smartphones, offers the industry’s smallest level pixel size. The new sensor is also said to feature enhanced sensitivity and improved imaging performance, the result of back-side illumination technology (BSI).
With cameras in mobile phones commonly ranging from 5-megapixels to 8-megapixels has resulted in the need to develop censors with smaller pixels. However, this can result in a loss of sensitivity and light absorption. With Toshiba's implementation of BSI illumination, it has been able to deliver image pixels with a pitch of just 1.12 micrometers, fitting 8.08 million of them onto the new 1/4 –inch sensor. At the same time it has made the sensors more sensitive to light and capable of delivering higher quality images.
Toshiba expects CMOS image sensors with BSI to become the mainstream standard in portable digital technology. The company says that OEMs will be able to sample the new sensor by the end of July with mass production ramping from the end of 2011.
