Sony Semi launches 5.3MP SWIR image sensor for industry…

29 Nov 2023

…and ams Osram launches RGB versions of high-power Ostar compact LEDs.

Sony Semiconductor Solutions [Sony] has announced the launch of the IMX992 short-wavelength, infrared image sensor for industrial applications, offering what the company describes as “the industry's highest pixel count, at 5.32 effective megapixels”.

The new sensor uses Sony’s proprietary Cu-Cu connection (see technical specification below) to achieve the “industry's smallest” pixel size of 3.45 μm among SWIR image sensors.

It features an optimized pixel structure for efficiently capturing light, enabling high-definition imaging across visible to SWIR regions (0.4 to 1.7 μm). New shooting modes deliver high-quality images with significantly reduced noise in dark environments compared to conventional products, says the developer.

Sony is also launching the IMX993 with a pixel size of 3.45 μm and an effective pixel count of 3.21 eMP to further expand its SWIR image sensor range. These SWIR image sensors with high pixel counts and high sensitivity are targeting the industrial equipment market.

Sony’s launch statement notes, “In the industrial equipment domain in recent years, there has been increasing demand for improving productivity and preventing defective products from leaving the plant. In this context, the capacity to sense not only visible light but also light in the invisible band is in demand.”

The new sensors enable imaging with higher resolution using pixel miniaturization, while enhancing imaging performance in low-light environments to provide higher quality imaging in inspection and monitoring applications conducted in darker conditions. Typical applications, where Sony has already reported successful installations, include semiconductor wafer bonding and defect inspection, as well as ingredient and contaminant inspections in the food production sector.

Key features

• High pixel count: A Cu-Cu connection is used between the InGaAs layer that forms the photodiode of the light receiving unit and the silicon layer that forms the readout circuit. This design allows for a smaller pixel pitch, resulting in the pixel size of 3.45 μm. This helps achieve a compact form factor that delivers a pixel count of approximately 5.32 eMP on the IMX992, and approximately 3.21 eMP on the IMX993.
• Low-noise imaging in the dark: Inclusion of new shooting modes enables low-noise imaging. High Conversion Gain mode amplifies the signal with minimal noise after being converted to an electrical signal from light, thereby relatively reducing the amount of noise downstream. In bright environments, Low Conversion Gain mode enables imaging prioritizing the dynamic range.
• Optimized pixel structure for high-sensitivity imaging: SWIR image sensors employ a thinner InP layer on top, which would otherwise inevitably absorb visible light, thereby allowing visible light to reach the InGaAs layer underneath, delivering high quantum efficiency even in the visible wavelength.

ams Osram launches RGB Ostar compact LEDs

ams Osram, a developer of “intelligent” sensors and emitters, has added red, “true green”, and blue colors to its Ostar® Projection Compact range of low-profile, high brightness LEDs. The Austria-based supplier of diverse light sources, says this addition “will enable manufacturers of machine vision systems or stage lighting fixtures to create more powerful and slimmer products”.

ams Osram already offered a white version in this package specification, known as Oslon Boost.

The new LEDs are suited to high-power lighting products because of their high current density and brightness. Featuring a new rectangular 2 mm² chip, these LEDs produce a high luminous output; the True Green version is the brightest 520 nm product in its class (1000 lm at 6 A).

The new compact LEDs can be packed closely together in high-power luminaire designs because of their high thermal dissipation and small, flat package. Thermal resistance is 1.4 K/W, while the 4040 package measures 4.0 mm x 4.0 mm x 0.75 mm.

Winfried Schwedler, Marketing Manage, commented, “The excellent current-carrying capability, low thermal resistance and profile of these LEDs means that machine vision products and stage lighting equipment can produce an impressively powerful output in any color. These LEDs can also offer high value in projectors and in architectural lighting units such as wall washers.”