New Samsung Camera Sensor Makes iPhone X Look Like Old Technology
Just as Apple thought they were catching up, Samsung has revealed that they have developed a super-fast image sensor that can take up to 1,000 pictures in a second.
The development that could affect several phone brands who don’t buy Samsung components.
Samsung Android base smartphones that have the sensor will be able to deliver ‘Slow Motion’ images. For example, a user of a device with the sensor will be able to identify whether a referee has got a decision right at a football game.
The new Apple iPhones only has a ‘2 layered’ sensor that is composed of a sensor and a logic chip and the recently launched iPhone X is only able to take 240 pictures in a second based on full HD resolution.
It’s also expected that Smartphone camera equipped with this sensor will be useful in capturing an object’s movement in detail such as fixing posture of a person who is swinging a golf club.
The sensors go into production in November with the market set to see the first devices with the sensor at CES 2018.
Currently Sony has a patent for a three layered image sensing structure, so Samsung will need to find a way of creating the high-level image sensor without infringing Sony’s patent.
One option according to ETNews is that the sensors is likely to comprise of two layers with a DRAM chip fitted into the layers rather than on its separate layer.
The new development could mean that Samsung’s Galaxy S9 could come sporting a camera sensor capable of shooting at 1,000fps, ideal for capturing super slow-motion pictures and video.
The sensor in the as-yet-unannounced Galaxy S9, the logical follow up to this year’s Galaxy S8, will be made in-house by Samsung’s Electronic Division.
What Samsung has been able to do is develop a ‘3-layered image sensor’ this is a layered structure that is manufactured by connecting a system semiconductor (logic chip) that is in charge of calculations and a DRAM chip that can temporarily store data through TSV (Through Silicon Via) technology.
If a DRAM chip is added to this composition, the sensor can then take up to 1,000 pictures in a second.
3-layered structure was first commercialized by Sony, and it was used for their Xperia XZ and XZ1 that were released this year.
Micron’s 1Gb DRAM was added to Sony’s 3-layered structure who were forced to established a batch process system that attaches a sensor, a DRAM chip, and a logic chip in a unit of a wafer.
Samsung Electronics on the other hand has automated the process and is using a method that makes 2-layered structure with a sensor and a logic chip faster by attaching a DRAM through TC (Thermal Compression) bonding method after flipping over a wafer.
It is predicted that supply and demand of parts will be faster and more convenient for Samsung Electronics and that several manufacturers could switch to Samsung over Sony for their sensor supply.
