A back-illuminated sensor, also known as backside illumination (BI) sensor, is a type of digital image sensor that uses a novel arrangement of the imaging elements to increase the amount of light captured and thereby improve low-light performance.
The technique was used for some time in specialized roles like low-light security cameras and astronomy sensors, but was complex to build and required further refinement to become widely used. Sony was the first to reduce these problems and their costs sufficiently to introduce a 5-megapixel 1.75 μm BI CMOS sensor at general consumer prices in 2009.[1][2] BI sensors from OmniVision Technologies have since been used in consumer electronics from other manufacturers as in the HTC EVO 4G[3][4] Android smartphone, and as a major selling point for the camera in Apple's iPhone 4.[5][6]
- ^ Sony, 2009
- ^ US patent 7521335, Yamanaka, Hideo, "Method and apparatus for producing ultra-thin semiconductor chip and method and apparatus for producing ultra-thin back-illuminated solid-state image pickup device", issued 2009-04-21, assigned to Sony Corporation
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
IMX378-XDAwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Inside the HTC EVO 4G Smart Phone with a Teardown to the Silicon". chipworks. 4 June 2010. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
- ^ Tufegdzic, Pamela (3 September 2010). "iPhone 4 Drives Adoption of BSI Image Sensors in Smart Phones". iSuppli. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
- ^ Apple, 2010