Sony Prefers Backsides

OmniVision made the first announcement of a backside illuminated CMOS image sensor intended for the mass market two weeks ago. It seems their lead (at least in the PR world) did not last long as Sony made a similar claim this week. Gizmodo has front-side versus backside captured images along with a neat animated graphic comparing the two sensor structures.

As one news site pointed out, Sony is the “800 pound gorilla” in the image sensor business, so their announcement adds credence to the BSI concept. So there are now two manufacturers claiming to have developed a backside technology. And these are not just middling players. OmniVision and Sony are both “number ones.” OmniVision took over the lead in CMOS image sensors from Micron (now Aptina) last year while Sony is the world’s largest supplier of image sensors when you factor in both CIS and CCD.

Another news article from the past week reminds us that backside illumination is not a new concept in imagers built for scientific applications. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is presently capturing digital images with an e2V CCD system. The probe’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument employs image sensors from the British company.

But the OmniVision and Sony sensors will be built for consumer applications. I’m guessing we might not see too many of these on the market for at least a year. Beyond that, though, it might be only a matter of another couple of years before the majority of imagers shipped “swap ends” for getting the light into the photodiodes.

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