Aptina
Encyclopedia
Aptina Imaging Corporation ("Aptina") provides CMOS
imaging technologies and solutions that enable high-quality imaging. Aptina's products can be found in mobile phones, digital, and video cameras, notebook computers, surveillance cameras, and medical, automotive and industrial applications, as well as videoconferencing
, barcode scanners, toys and gaming products.
high-technology companies, both the history of imaging technology and that of Aptina can be traced back to several industry giants. In 1969, Dr s. Willard Boyle and George Smith developed the charge-coupled-device (CCD) while they were both researchers in the Semiconductor Components Division at Bell Laboratories
. Boyle and Smith's invention sparked a digital imaging revolution.
In the 1990s, Dr. Eric Fossum conducted research at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL) that made CMOS image sensors practical for space applications due to their advantages over CCDs including lower power consumption and less susceptibility to radiation damage in space. This research led to the development of CMOS active pixel sensors
that included many on-chip functions, allowing for more portability, lower power consumption, and complete miniature imaging systems. Dr. Fossum and several of his JPL co-workers took this technology from the research lab and formed Photobit Corporation.
Photobit was the first company to commercialize CMOS image sensors and it found design wins with manufacturers like Logitech
for its QuickCam Express
, Basler AG for high-speed machine vision solutions, Shick Technologies for dental radiography and Gentex
, providing CMOS imagers for their automatic-dimming mirrors. In 2001, Micron Technology
acquired Photobit and combined the technology with its own semiconductor process to deliver CMOS imaging to the industry on a broader level.
In December 2006, the Micron Imaging Group acquired Avago Technologies
' image-sensor business. The acquisition provided Micron with an experienced imaging team, select imaging products and intellectual property relating to Avago's image sensor business.
At its inception in 2008, Aptina was a division of Micron Technologies responsible for creating image sensor technologies. In 2009, Micron partially sold the newly formed Aptina to TPG and Riverwood Capital . Aptina Imaging Corporation officially became a separate legal company in July 2009. Micron remains a partial owner of the company.
Other key milestones:
Aptina A-Pix is a series of advanced pixel technologies, featuring lightguide and deep photodiode
, and 65 nanometer
pixel design rules that cost-effectively advance pixel performance. A-Pix technology enhances quantum efficiency
and minimizes crosstalk
to capture sharp images with vibrant colors even in the low-light conditions that challenge traditional sensors. Aptina A-Pix technology provides mobile phone camera users with picture quality and an overall imaging experience, as close as possible, to what they would get with a digital still camera. It also enables a new class of hybrid camera that combines digital still image capture with advanced high-performance HD video
. Aptina has already shipped millions of imaging products containing A-Pix technology. Continuing with this success, Aptina offers a wide range of 1.4-micrometre products to leverage the latest advances in Aptina A-Pix technology. This technology is also contributing to Aptina's 1.1-micrometre backside illumination
(BSI) solutions.
Aptina™ DR-Pix™ Technology,
Aptina DR-Pix technology combines two modes of operation in one pixel design – a low conversion gain mode for large charge handling capacity in bright scenes and a high conversion gain mode with increased sensitivity and low read noise for low-light scenes. The result is a sensor that offers maximum signal-to-noise ratio
(SNR) across all scene lighting and ISO
speed conditions.
Aptina HiSPi Interface Technology
The HiSPi (High-Speed Serial Pixel) interface was developed and is owned by Aptina . The open-access, scalable technology enables 1080p/60 frame/s performance and has been adopted by many of Aptina's business partners. The technology offers advantages for high-speed, low power consumption data transfer.
CMOS sensors use multiple in-pixel transistors to amplify and move the charge generated by incoming photons of light, enabling the pixels to be read individually. The CMOS manufacturing process uses standard semiconductor
technology, which lowers the production cost significantly, and can make integration simpler. Other widely accepted advantages of CMOS image sensors include lower power requirements, increased portability, and the ability to create miniaturized imaging systems.
Resolutions are now high enough and run at fast enough frame rates to enable advanced-camera features like electronic pan, tilt, and zoom or image stabilization. CMOS architecture allows for random pixel access and window-of-interest readout for applications requiring image compression, motion detection, or target tracking.
In a teardown conducted in 2010, TechInsights discovered that the CMOS image sensors used in the Microsoft
Xbox 360
Kinect are provided by Aptina (the die markings on the sensors still refer to Micron Imaging, which was spun off into Aptina in 2008). The infrared camera uses the MT9M001 sensor and RGB input from the color camera features the MT9M112 sensor.
Image Processors/SOCs,
Digital image signal processors (ISPs) and SOCs use algorithms, or well-defined step-by-step instructions, to adjust the raw data an image sensor collects so that the processed image or video is more visually pleasing than the original. In other words, SOCs and ISPs make the image look more like what the mind's eye sees, eliminating image blemishes, compensating for poor lighting conditions, or even correcting for a shaky hand or for bad focus.
High-performance imaging is the result of years of experience and innovation. It requires a precise understanding of how light energy is converted into digital signals. A leader in this space, Aptina offered one of the industry's first imaging SOCs and offers a portfolio of companion chip digital ISPs.
SOCs, which are built right on to the image sensor at the silicon level, are designed to work with the sensor they are attached to. As a result, signal processing is optimized when the sensor is most utilized. They're a compact, one-chip solution, making them easy to integrate, which can potentially lower overall system cost.
Wafer-level Cameras (WLCs),
Wafer-level camera
modules provide functionality similar to today's camera modules, but, as the name implies, they are manufactured at the wafer level. The entire camera system – lens elements, filter, sensor and processor — are included in a minuscule, integrated package, enabling ultra-slim handsets. The reflowable module simplifies the handset manufacturing process, providing increased efficiency and potentially significant cost advantages.
CMOS
Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
imaging technologies and solutions that enable high-quality imaging. Aptina's products can be found in mobile phones, digital, and video cameras, notebook computers, surveillance cameras, and medical, automotive and industrial applications, as well as videoconferencing
Videoconferencing
Videoconferencing is the conduct of a videoconference by a set of telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously...
, barcode scanners, toys and gaming products.
History
Like many Silicon ValleySilicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
high-technology companies, both the history of imaging technology and that of Aptina can be traced back to several industry giants. In 1969, Dr s. Willard Boyle and George Smith developed the charge-coupled-device (CCD) while they were both researchers in the Semiconductor Components Division at Bell Laboratories
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
. Boyle and Smith's invention sparked a digital imaging revolution.
In the 1990s, Dr. Eric Fossum conducted research at NASA's
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center located in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The facility is headquartered in the city of Pasadena on the border of La Cañada Flintridge and Pasadena...
(JPL) that made CMOS image sensors practical for space applications due to their advantages over CCDs including lower power consumption and less susceptibility to radiation damage in space. This research led to the development of CMOS active pixel sensors
Active pixel sensor
An active-pixel sensor is an image sensor consisting of an integrated circuit containing an array of pixel sensors, each pixel containing a photodetector and an active amplifier. There are many types of active pixel sensors including the CMOS APS used most commonly in cell phone cameras, web...
that included many on-chip functions, allowing for more portability, lower power consumption, and complete miniature imaging systems. Dr. Fossum and several of his JPL co-workers took this technology from the research lab and formed Photobit Corporation.
Photobit was the first company to commercialize CMOS image sensors and it found design wins with manufacturers like Logitech
Logitech
Logitech International S.A. is a global provider of personal peripherals for computers and other digital platforms headquartered in Romanel-sur-Morges, Switzerland. The company develops and markets products like peripheral devices for PCs, including keyboards, mice, microphones, game controllers...
for its QuickCam Express
Quickcam
QuickCam is a line of webcam video camera products by Logitech.The original QuickCam was developed by Connectix in 1994 for nationwide commercial sale and was the first widely marketed webcam-like device, although its original advertising did not use the term "webcam" or refer to the World Wide...
, Basler AG for high-speed machine vision solutions, Shick Technologies for dental radiography and Gentex
Gentex
Gentex Corporation manufactures automatic-dimming rear-view mirrors and camera-based driver assistance systems to the global automotive industry. The company also provides commercial smoke alarms and signaling devices to the North American fire protection market, as well as dimmable aircraft...
, providing CMOS imagers for their automatic-dimming mirrors. In 2001, Micron Technology
Micron Technology
Micron Technology, Inc. is an American multinational corporation based in Boise, Idaho, USA, best known for producing many forms of semiconductor devices. This includes DRAM, SDRAM, flash memory, SSD and CMOS image sensing chips. Consumers may be more familiar with its consumer brand Crucial...
acquired Photobit and combined the technology with its own semiconductor process to deliver CMOS imaging to the industry on a broader level.
In December 2006, the Micron Imaging Group acquired Avago Technologies
Avago Technologies
Avago Technologies is an American company which was earlier the semiconductor products division of HP and later Agilent Technologies, before being spun off into a distinct legal entity. It holds more than 5,000 patents.- Products:...
' image-sensor business. The acquisition provided Micron with an experienced imaging team, select imaging products and intellectual property relating to Avago's image sensor business.
At its inception in 2008, Aptina was a division of Micron Technologies responsible for creating image sensor technologies. In 2009, Micron partially sold the newly formed Aptina to TPG and Riverwood Capital . Aptina Imaging Corporation officially became a separate legal company in July 2009. Micron remains a partial owner of the company.
Other key milestones:
- 2011 – Aptina APS-C format 16MP MT9H004 image sensor named “Innovation of the Year” finalist in the 2010 EDN Innovation awards
- 2010 – Aptina MT9M033 HD image sensor named Design News Golden Mousetrap finalist
- 2010 – Aptina MT9M033 HD image sensor named “Innovation of the Year” finalist in the 2009 EDN Innovation awards
- 2009 - Aptina spins out as an independent privately held company
- 2008 - Micron launches Aptina: a CMOS image sensor division
- 2008 - 1 billionth sensor shipped
- 2006 - Micron creates world's first 1.4 μm CMOS pixel
- 2005 - Micron creates world's first 1.75 μm CMOS pixel
- 2002 - First Micron image sensor products launched
- 2001 - Micron acquires Photobit
- 1995 - Photobit established to commercialize CMOS active pixel sensor technology
- 1992-1995 - JPL team invented CMOS active pixel sensor technology
Technology innovations
Aptina™ A-Pix™ Technology,Aptina A-Pix is a series of advanced pixel technologies, featuring lightguide and deep photodiode
Photodiode
A photodiode is a type of photodetector capable of converting light into either current or voltage, depending upon the mode of operation.The common, traditional solar cell used to generateelectric solar power is a large area photodiode....
, and 65 nanometer
Nanometre
A nanometre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one billionth of a metre. The name combines the SI prefix nano- with the parent unit name metre .The nanometre is often used to express dimensions on the atomic scale: the diameter...
pixel design rules that cost-effectively advance pixel performance. A-Pix technology enhances quantum efficiency
Quantum efficiency
Quantum efficiency is a quantity defined for a photosensitive device such as photographic film or a charge-coupled device as the percentage of photons hitting the photoreactive surface that will produce an electron–hole pair. It is an accurate measurement of the device's electrical sensitivity to...
and minimizes crosstalk
Crosstalk (electronics)
In electronics, crosstalk is any phenomenon by which a signal transmitted on one circuit or channel of a transmission system creates an undesired effect in another circuit or channel...
to capture sharp images with vibrant colors even in the low-light conditions that challenge traditional sensors. Aptina A-Pix technology provides mobile phone camera users with picture quality and an overall imaging experience, as close as possible, to what they would get with a digital still camera. It also enables a new class of hybrid camera that combines digital still image capture with advanced high-performance HD video
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
. Aptina has already shipped millions of imaging products containing A-Pix technology. Continuing with this success, Aptina offers a wide range of 1.4-micrometre products to leverage the latest advances in Aptina A-Pix technology. This technology is also contributing to Aptina's 1.1-micrometre backside illumination
Back-illuminated sensor
A back-illuminated sensor, also known as backside illumination sensor, is a type of digital image sensor that uses a novel arrangement of the imaging elements to increase the amount of light captured and thereby improve low-light performance...
(BSI) solutions.
Aptina™ DR-Pix™ Technology,
Aptina DR-Pix technology combines two modes of operation in one pixel design – a low conversion gain mode for large charge handling capacity in bright scenes and a high conversion gain mode with increased sensitivity and low read noise for low-light scenes. The result is a sensor that offers maximum signal-to-noise ratio
Signal-to-noise ratio
Signal-to-noise ratio is a measure used in science and engineering that compares the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise. It is defined as the ratio of signal power to the noise power. A ratio higher than 1:1 indicates more signal than noise...
(SNR) across all scene lighting and ISO
Film speed
Film speed is the measure of a photographic film's sensitivity to light, determined by sensitometry and measured on various numerical scales, the most recent being the ISO system....
speed conditions.
Aptina HiSPi Interface Technology
The HiSPi (High-Speed Serial Pixel) interface was developed and is owned by Aptina . The open-access, scalable technology enables 1080p/60 frame/s performance and has been adopted by many of Aptina's business partners. The technology offers advantages for high-speed, low power consumption data transfer.
Products
Image sensors,CMOS sensors use multiple in-pixel transistors to amplify and move the charge generated by incoming photons of light, enabling the pixels to be read individually. The CMOS manufacturing process uses standard semiconductor
Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
technology, which lowers the production cost significantly, and can make integration simpler. Other widely accepted advantages of CMOS image sensors include lower power requirements, increased portability, and the ability to create miniaturized imaging systems.
Resolutions are now high enough and run at fast enough frame rates to enable advanced-camera features like electronic pan, tilt, and zoom or image stabilization. CMOS architecture allows for random pixel access and window-of-interest readout for applications requiring image compression, motion detection, or target tracking.
In a teardown conducted in 2010, TechInsights discovered that the CMOS image sensors used in the Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
Kinect are provided by Aptina (the die markings on the sensors still refer to Micron Imaging, which was spun off into Aptina in 2008). The infrared camera uses the MT9M001 sensor and RGB input from the color camera features the MT9M112 sensor.
Image Processors/SOCs,
Digital image signal processors (ISPs) and SOCs use algorithms, or well-defined step-by-step instructions, to adjust the raw data an image sensor collects so that the processed image or video is more visually pleasing than the original. In other words, SOCs and ISPs make the image look more like what the mind's eye sees, eliminating image blemishes, compensating for poor lighting conditions, or even correcting for a shaky hand or for bad focus.
High-performance imaging is the result of years of experience and innovation. It requires a precise understanding of how light energy is converted into digital signals. A leader in this space, Aptina offered one of the industry's first imaging SOCs and offers a portfolio of companion chip digital ISPs.
SOCs, which are built right on to the image sensor at the silicon level, are designed to work with the sensor they are attached to. As a result, signal processing is optimized when the sensor is most utilized. They're a compact, one-chip solution, making them easy to integrate, which can potentially lower overall system cost.
Wafer-level Cameras (WLCs),
Wafer-level camera
Wafer-level optics
Wafer-level optics enables the design and manufacture of miniaturized optics at the wafer level using advanced semiconductor-like techniques...
modules provide functionality similar to today's camera modules, but, as the name implies, they are manufactured at the wafer level. The entire camera system – lens elements, filter, sensor and processor — are included in a minuscule, integrated package, enabling ultra-slim handsets. The reflowable module simplifies the handset manufacturing process, providing increased efficiency and potentially significant cost advantages.