Sony’s newest smartphone digicam sensor gathers twice as a lot mild | Engadget

Sony has unveiled a brand new sort of stacked CMOS sensor that makes use of “two-layer transistor pixels” to double the sunshine gathering functionality. Typical picture sensors have the light-sensitive photodiodes and pixel transistors that management and amplify the sign on the identical layer. However, the brand new design places the photodiodes on prime and the pixel transistors beneath, “approximately doubling saturation signal levels,” Sony mentioned. 

Sony pioneered stacked sensors that put quick reminiscence and different electronics instantly beneath the sensor, permitting for sooner readout speeds and thus speedy burst capturing and diminished rolling shutter (jello impact) on cameras and smartphones. This newest sensor makes use of the same concept, however packs the pixel transistors onto a separate substrate beneath the photodiode layer.

That means every layer may very well be optimized, permitting Sony to double the sensor’s mild saturation (well depth), or the quantity of cost every pixel can maintain. That in flip permits for round double the light-capturing functionality.

Sony notes that as a result of the transistor pixels sit on a separate layer, it was capable of increase the amplifier transistors in dimension. That permits for a much bigger sign increase, decreasing noise when capturing nighttime or different photographs in darkish areas. The elevated dynamic vary will permit for “high-quality, low-noise images even in low-light,” in accordance with Sony. 

Sony particularly said that the tech will permit for higher-quality smartphone images. With double the sunshine gathering functionality, it can permit for a lot improved mild sensitivity even in comparatively small, high-megapixel sensors. Sony has but to say when this tech will make it to smartphone or cameras, however it plans to additional enhance the design for each giant and small sensors.