Samsung launches new image sensors with ultra-fine pixel technologies

Samsung Electronics' new image sensors, unveiled on Thursday, mark two firsts in the chip industry. Its ISOCELL HP1 is the first mobile image sensor to support 200 megapixels, and its ISOCELL GN5 is the first to adopt all-directional focusing Dual Pixel Prop technologies.

Based on Samsung's most advanced 0.64 micrometer-sized pixels, it brings ultra-high resolution in a small package that fits in portable devices.

Samsung released its first 200-megapixel product two years after launching a 180-megapixel image sensor in August 2019. The company previously launched the industry's first 64-megapixel product in May 2019. Technological development has resulted in pixel size being reduced continuously. Samsung introduced the industry's first 1 micrometer-sized pixel in July 2015 and the first 0.9 micrometer-sized pixel in October 2017, then the first 0.7 micrometer-sized pixel in the industry in September 2019.

For low-light photography, the ISOCELL HP1 features a new pixel-binning ChameleonCell technology that uses a two-by-two, four-by-four or full pixel layout depending on the environment. In a low-lit environment, the HP1 transforms into a 12.5-megapixel image sensor with large 2.56 micrometer pixels by merging 16 neighboring pixels. The newly formed 2.56 micrometer pixel is capable of increased light absorption and sensitivity, producing brighter and clearer photos in indoor settings or in the evening. In bright outdoor environments, the sensor's 200 million pixels can capture ultra-high-definition images on mobile devices.

The ISOCELL HP1 can record 8K videos at 30 frames per second with minimum loss in the field of view by merging four neighboring pixels.

The ISOCELL GN5 is the industry's first image sensor with 1 micrometer pixels to integrate Dual Pixel Pro, an all-directional autofocusing technology. This technology places two photodiodes, the smallest in the industry, within each 1.0 micrometer pixel of the sensor either horizontally or vertically to recognize pattern changes in all directions. With 1 million phase-detecting multi-directional photodiodes covering all areas of the sensor, the ISOCELL GN5's autofocusing because instantaneous, enabling sharper images in both bright and low-lit environments.

The image sensor also makes use of Samsung's proprietary pixel technology, which applies Front Deep Trench Isolation (FDTI) on a Duel Pixel product for the first time in the industry. Despite the microscopic photodiode size, FDTI enables each photodiode to absorb and hold more light information, improving the photodiodes' full well capacity and decreasing crosstalk within pixels.

Chang Duck-hyun, executive vice president at the company's sensor business, said,

"With the ISOCELL HP1 that is breaking barriers and ISOCELL GN5 bringing ultrafast autofocus, Samsung will continue leading the trends for next-generation mobile imaging technologies,"

News Source: Korea Times Co.