Future prospects for CMOS image sensors and image pickup systems

摘要

As a result of the dramatic progress made in semiconductor technologies in recent years, low-cost digitization of image signals and digital signal processing have been achieved. In the near future, image pickup and preprocessing of personal imagesignals will be performed outdoors using personal digital assistants(PDAs). This is because much more information is available outdoors than indoors.Low power consumption is required as the first condition as image pickup devices are set up in the mobile environment. In this regard, the appearance of the CMOS image sensor, which is constructed with low-power CMOS technology is a natural trend. TheCMOS image sensor can integrate a system-on-silicon with peripheral circuits. In addition, the system will be very small in size and will dramatically reduce costs. Consequently, the CMOS image sensor is expected to be used in most mobile personalequipment.