The new Toshiba CMOS image sensor with a 0.25-inch optical format has been released. This image sensor supposedly offers the smallest pixel size of 1.12 micrometers and delivers cutting edge performance via the back-side illumination technology which it comes with.
The sensor can apparently accommodate tight form factors and yet take high-definition pictures. Owing to this conforming feature of the sensor, the company says that in the near future they could become mainstream and be embedded in various digital devices. Tablets, mobile phones, cameras and smartphones can be integrated with these sensors.
Andrew Burt, vice president, Analog and Imaging Business Unit, System LSI Group, TAEC explained, “As smartphones and other portable digital devices move to smaller form factors, image sensors must also shrink in size. This presents imaging subsystem designers with a challenge: how do you get smaller and smaller image sensors to support higher image resolutions when miniaturization can cause a fall off in performance?”
He further added, “Our BSI technology overcomes this problem by deploying the lens on the rear of the sensor, on its silicon substrate, not on the front, where wiring limits light absorption. This positioning boosts light sensitivity and absorption, and allows Toshiba to make finer quality image pixels in smaller-sized CMOS image sensors. This increased sensitivity also makes our BSI CMOS image sensors more suitable for video applications, such as video capture or video chat.”
The 8.08mp sensor can seemingly capture videos at up to sixty frames-per-second in both 1080p and 720p high-definition.
While these new CMOS image sensors will start being commercially manufactured at a large scale by the end of this year, its sampling is scheduled to start by the end of this month. Each sample has a price tag of $15.