Sony Further Explains the Tech Behind its Groundbreaking New Sensor
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New Full-Frame 49MP Sensor Can Shoot 8K at 120FPS, 4K at 240FPS
Sensors are the main battleground in the camera industry, and Gpixel's latest appears to be well aware of that fact. The company has created a 49-megapixel, HDR, backside-illuminated, stacked sensor capable of up to 8K at 120 frames per second.
Gpixel has been producing sensors for the security and industrial applications space since 2012, but in the last year it has produced at least three sensors that look extremely promising for the consumer imaging space. In August, the company said it had developed a new global shutter 4/3-inch 10-megapixel sensor that it claims will be capable of shooting 4K video at up to 2,000 frames per second. In September, it launched what it billed as the world's highest-resolution global shutter sensor: 152-megapixels.
More recently, Gpixel announced what it calls a next-generation sensor: a full-frame, backside-illuminated (BSI), stacked sensor designed specifically for photography and cinematography. While not a global shutter design, that's still an impressive-looking sensor.
The GCINE4349 is the first in what Gpixel says will be a flagship family of sensors and features a 49-megapixel (35.2 x 25.8 mm) full-frame image sensor with 4.3 μm2 BSI pixels. It has a maximum resolution of 8,192 by 6,000 pixels and several readout modes that can support 8K or binned 4K with maximum frame rates of up to 120 frames per second at 8K resolution and up to 240 frames per second at binned 4K resolutions, all with a pixel bit depth of up to 16 bit/pixel interfaced over 64 sub LVDS channels at 1.2 Gbps/channel.
In full-frame, Gpixel says the sensor provides full 8K DCI widescreen (8,192 pixels), but also supports 2.4:1 8K wide or scope format, 8K open gate, and various other creative imaging formats. The native 8K resolution at its 3:2 aspect ratio allows filmmakers to shoot oversampled in a way that ideally fits a finished 6K or 4K film.
"GCINE4349 is developed using a two-wafer level stacked BSI architecture. The top layer consists of a BSI pixel array with 49M 4.3 um pixels achieving a maximum QE of up to 75% at 525 nm. The bottom digital CMOS layer consists of an array of core cells each including 16-bit ADC blocks and SRAM memory blocks which are used to sum and store up to 4 subsequent sub-frames with seamless exposure, enabling an in-pixel full well charge of up to 160k e- for a dynamic range of 80 dB," Gpixel explains.
The architecture allows for two HDR modes that Gpixel says allows it to achieve excellent image quality in a variety of lighting conditions. The first is a proprietary "Variable Slope High Dynamic Range" method that the company says lets the sensor achieve 110 dB of dynamic range (what it says is "exceptionally high"). The second is a classic dual gain read out that achieves up to 87 dB of dynamic range. Gpixel also has a dedicated still camera mode with low noise readout and a dedicated shutter controller.
Gpixel's GCINE4349 looks, on paper, to be one of the more impressive high-resolution, low noise sensors to be developed, but it's unclear who the company intends to sell its product to. Sony and Canon make their own sensors, and Nikon generally works with Sony to produce the sensors in its cameras. Still, hopefully, Gpixel's continued investment in the space will result in continued gains in performance, and perhaps even more impressive capabilities are to come to the next generation of cameras.
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Sony Unveils Groundbreaking CMOS Sensor That Gathers Twice the Light
Sony's Semiconductor division has announced that it successfully developed the world's first stacked CMOS image sensor technology with two-layer transistor pixels that grants double the light gathering capability.
Sony explains that typical image sensors place photodiodes and pixel transistors on the same substrate, but in this new design, it was able to separate them onto different substrate layers. The result is a sensor that approximately doubles the saturation signal level -- basically its light gathering capability -- which dramatically improves the dynamic range and reduces the noise
Saturation signal level isn't directly a sensor's light-gathering capability but is a major gating factor that influences how accurately a sensor is able to interpret light information in dim environments. For the sake of basic explanation, double the light gathering ability is the end result of this advancement.
Typical stacked CMOS sensors use a structure of a pixel chip made up of back-illuminated pixels stacked on top of a logic chip where signal processing circuits are formed. Within each chip, photodiodes that convert the light to electrical signals and pixel transistors that control the signals are situated next to each other on the same layer.
Stacked CMOS image sensor architectures.
Sony’s new architecture is an advancement in stacked CMOS image sensor technology that separates the photodiodes and pixel transistors onto separate substrates that are stacked on top of each other, rather than side-by-side. Sony says that the new stacking technology enables the adoption of architectures that allow the photodiode and pixel transistor layers to each be optimized, thereby approximately doubling saturation signal level relative to conventional image sensors and, in turn, widening dynamic range.
"Additionally, because pixel transistors other than transfer gates (TRG), including reset transistors (RST), select transistors (SEL) and amp transistors (AMP), occupy a photodiode-free layer, the amp transistors can be increased in size," Sony says. "By increasing amp transistor size, Sony succeeded in substantially reducing the noise to which nighttime and other dark-location images are prone."
The result for photography means wider dynamic range (better exposure in photos with harsh backlighting or in dim settings) and lower noise in photos that are taken in dark environments. Sony specifically notes that this technology is going to make for increasingly high-quality imaging in the case of smartphone photography. The new technology’s pixel structure will enable pixels to maintain or improve their existing properties at not only current but also smaller pixel sizes.
That last note is particularly important, as it signals that Sony believes it has found a way to markedly improve the photo quality of smartphone sensors. In short, the quality of mobile photography could very well see a huge leap in performance thanks to this breakthrough.
Sony doesn't specify when it plans to manufacture sensors at scale using this technology but does say it will continue to iterate on the design to further increase image quality in sensors large and small.
#equipment #news #technology #camerasensor #dynamicrange #groundbreaking #improvedphotos #lowlight #mobile #mobilephotography #newtech #sensortech #smallpixels #smartphone #smartphonecamera #smartphonesensor #stackedcmos
Fujifilm’s First Stacked, Back-Illuminated, X-Trans Sensor Coming in 2022
Fujifilm has announced that it is currently developing a new flagship camera that will feature the company's first back-illuminated, stacked layer X-trans CMOS sensor.
The company has said that to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the X-system, it plans to bring out not only new lenses (which were announced as part of a lens roadmap) but will also launch a new flagship camera that features the company's first combination stacked layer and backside-illuminated X-trans CMOS sensor.
While Fujifilm's current fourth-generation 26.1-megapixel image sensor that is featured in the X-T30, for example, is already backside-illuminated, the company has never used a stacked structure before.
Back-illuminated, also referred interchangeably as backside-illuminated or BSI, sensors are a type of image sensor that uses an arrangement of imaging elements that increase the amount of light captured and therefore improve low light performance. Typical front-side illuminated sensors are constructed similarly to how a human eye works with a lens in front and the photodetectors in the back. While easier and simpler to manufacture, the way the parts that make up the sensor are arranged will actually cause some of the light that hits it to reflect back outwards and reduce the amount of light signal that it is capable of actually recording to make an image.
Image by Cmglee, CC BY-SA 4.0
In contrast, back illumination rearranges the same elements behind the photocathode layer so that the wiring no longer is in front, which improves the light-gathering capabilities from about 60% efficiency to over 90%.
A stacked CMOS is considered a next-generation backside-illuminated sensor and was first developed by Sony in 2012. In this design, the supporting circuitry that was moved behind the photodiodes in a standard backside-illuminated sensor are further moved below the active pixel section and adds an additional 30% improvement to light gathering capability. Because parts have been rearranged on a stacked CMOS sensor, designers can do more with the space. Sony, for example, has built RAM directly into the sensor which has resulted in dramatically improved readout speeds, a system that has allowed the Alpha 7R IV, Alpha 9 II, and Alpha 1 cameras to perform extremely fast frames per second bursts at ever-increasing resolutions.
Generally speaking, this sensor design doesn't improve image quality but instead focuses the benefits at pure speed of data transfer.
In the case of Fujifilm, the company hasn't indicated how much resolution should be expected out of what is likely to be the fifth-generation X-trans sensor, but even if the company chooses to stick around the mid-20-megapixel range, the performance gains from adding that stacked design will very likely be considerable when compared to the fourth-generation sensor currently available.
#equipment #news #backsideilluminated #bsi #cameradevelopment #developmentannouncement #fifthgeneration #flagship #fujifilm #newflagship #stackedcmos #xtrans
Sony Reveals New Micro Four Thirds Stacked Sensor Capable of 120FPS
Sony has published a new product information sheet that shows specifications for a new stacked-CMOS 21.46-megapixel Micro Four Thirds sensor that is capable of reading at 120 frames per second across its full width.
As reported by DPReview, this IMX472-AAJK is the first known instance of a new Micro Four Thirds sensor that features a stacked CMOS design capable of 120 frames per second full-width readout speeds. In late 2019, Sony released a specification for a 47-megapixel sensor that was capable of shooting 8K at up to 30 frames per second, but it was not a stacked CMOS design and did not have the ability to capture framerates that fast -- at least nothing was mentioned in the specification.
As explained by DPReview , the IMX472-AAJK has the ability to record 12-bit images at up to 20.89-megapixels at just over 120 frames per second, and 10-bit images at just over 158 frames per second. That means it has the ability to record 4K oversampled full-width 120 frames per second video with full dynamic range.
When Sony publishes this kind of information, it usually means the sensor is already available to be ordered by manufacturers for immediate use, so it's possible that this particular sensor will find its way into new cameras coming as soon as this year or next. That said, while the specifications are impressive, they don't match up with what is expected out of the Panasonic GH6.
Panasonic has also not specifically said if its GH6 sensor will be a backside-illuminated or stacked design, and only that it will be able to capture 4:2:2 10-bit DCI 4K footage at up to 60 frames per second and do so for an unlimited amount of time when used under “certified operating temperatures.” It will also be able to shoot 10-bit 4K 120 frames per second High Frame Rate (HFR) and Variable Frame Rate (VFR) video and record 10-bit 5.7K 60p video.
Both this new 21.46-megapixel sensor and that 47-megapixel sensor each have pieces of what Panasonic has publicly said will be part of its upcoming Micro Four Thirds flagship. But the resolution of this new IMX472-AAJK is too low to deliver the 5.7K video resolution promised by Panasonic in the forthcoming GH6. Likewise, the 47-megapixel sensor doesn't seem to be able to output the 4K at 120 frames per second which is another promised specification of the new camera.
#equipment #news #120fps #development #hfr #highframerate #m43 #microfourthirds #microfourthirdssensor #panasonic #sensor #sony #sonysensor #stackedcmos #vfr
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