Samsung, Challenge 600 Mp Image Sensor

 Increasing the number of applications... "The trend of increasing the number of pixels and decreasing pixels will continue."

Samsung Electronics will challenge the development of an image sensor of "600 million pixels," which is superior to human eyes.

Park Yong-in, vice president of the LSI Business Department of Samsung Electronics System, said in an article posted on the Samsung Electronics Newsroom on Monday that the company will continue to challenge innovation, including 600 million pixel image sensors that surpass people's eyes.

Vice President Park said that smartphone cameras have developed around mobile image sensor semiconductors, adding that "cameras still have a long way to go if they are to follow people's eyes."

Human eyes have a resolution of more than 500 million pixels, with the current DSLR camera at about 40 million pixels and the flagship smartphone at 12 million pixels.

"You may think simply, 'If we want to make 500 million pixels, we just need to increase the number of pixels on the image sensor, but that will make the image sensor too big and thick," Vice President Park said. "In order to increase camera resolution while maintaining the appearance of a slim smartphone, the pixel of the image sensor must be much smaller."

"However, the smaller the pixel, the lower the area that accepts light, the lower the performance," he said. "The key to image sensor technology is to reduce the size of the pixel and maintain its performance."

Samsung Electronics has been developing 'smaller yet better image sensor'. In May last year, it developed the world's first 64 million pixels, and six months later, it released an image sensor of 18 million pixels.Samsung Electronics also launched its first image sensor with a pixel size of 0.7 μm (micrometers).

Currently, most cameras can only shoot images that reach the visible light wavelength band (450 nm to 750 nm). Sensors that can shoot areas where wavelength bands reach other than invisible light are rare, and the price is very expensive.

Samsung Electronics is also studying image sensors that can utilize ultraviolet (waveband below 450nm) and infrared (waveband above 750nm) beyond visible light areas.

If the image sensor is able to take pictures of ultraviolet areas, skin cancer can be diagnosed by capturing different colors of cancer tissues. In addition, if infrared areas can be filmed, defective products can be easily identified in agricultural and industrial areas, which can be used to improve productivity.

"We are dreaming of sensors that can even see germs that are invisible to people's eyes," Vice President Park said. "We are also preparing to develop various sensors, including not only camera sensors but also smell and taste buds that taste."

"Sensors that are used in invisible areas instead of human five senses will permeate deeply into our daily lives in the near future," he said. "The sensor market is an infinite world that can be expanded as much as we dream."

On the other hand, image sensors are expected to be used in self-driving cars, IoT (Internet of Things), and drones. Samsung Electronics is planning to prepare a product lineup to cope with growing customer demand in various applications.

"The trend of reducing pixels by small amounts while increasing the number of pixels in image sensors will continue in 2020," Vice President Park said. "Samsung Electronics will continue to challenge for infinite innovation, including 600 million pixel image sensors that surpass people's eyes."