OmniVision Rolls Out First OmniBSI Sensor for 720P HD Video in Portable Devices

“TV and Internet broadcast have already begun to transition to HD. Webcams, cell phones and other portable recording devices are now quickly following suit,” said Nick Nam, senior product marketing manager at OmniVision. “With our OV9726 native 720p HD sensor that operates at 30 frames per second, we open up a new category of image sensors that address the need for small, high-performance HD video recording without any tradeoffs in performance.”

Implementing OmniVison’s 1.75-micron OmniBSI backside illumination pixel architecture, the OV9726 achieves excellent low-light sensitivity of 1,480 mV/lux-sec in the smallest available form factor (1/6.5-inch). With OmniBSI architecture, the image sensor receives light through the back side of the chip. As a result, there is no metal wiring to block the image light, and the entire backside of the image sensor can be photo-sensitive. Not only does this enable a superior image, it also permits the front of the chip surface area to be devoted entirely to processing, and permits an increase in the number of metal layers, both of which result in greater functionality. Capturing light on the back side of the image sensor also reduces the distance the light has to travel to the pixels, and thus provide a wider angle of light acceptance. Widening the angle of acceptance in turn makes it possible to reduce the height of the camera module, and thus the height of the device which incorporates the camera. This design achieves a very low stack height (3.5 mm) in the OV9726 enabling ultra-compact camera modules for mobile devices.

OmniVision’s native HD sensors do not suffer from degradation or image artifacts due to scaling or cropping, which is typically used to achieve HD resolution from larger array sensors. The OV9726 CMOS image sensor supports multiple platform architectures and controllers with both parallel and MIPI interfaces. These support features significantly reduce product development time by allowing system designers to leverage the same opto-electrical design across various products and multiple market segments.

The OV9726 is currently available for sampling, and is expected to enter mass production in the first quarter of 2010.