Sony Semiconductor Solutions Unveils LYTIA L910 Stacked CMOS Mobile Image Sensor with LOFIC Architecture 50 Megapixel Resolution and 100 dB High Dynamic Range
Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation has recently revealed its LYTIA L910 stacked CMOS image sensor built for the mobile market. The hardware has an effective resolution of around 50 megapixels and produces a 100 dB high dynamic range in a single exposure. This represents the first of its kind in the mobile oriented LYTIA family to utilize a Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor structure, more commonly known as LOFIC. Along with the hardware configuration, enhanced circuit paths help the developer provide high quality image results with significantly lower power draw.
The main advantage provided by using the LOFIC architecture is that it collects overflowing electrical charge from the photodiode which allows the sensor to saturate significantly more than a traditional one. The LYTIA L910 then exploits this capability by employing Triple Conversion Gain HDR which reads the electrical output from one exposure at 3 separate conversion gains. This provides the effect of less blown out highlights and more detail within the shadows. The chip also uses Ultra High Conversion Gain circuits, that help to increase the voltage gained from charge in order to reduce random noise in low light environments by as much as 30% compared to previous models like the LYTIA 828.
Single exposure 100 dB dynamic range imaging also reduces some of the common imaging pitfalls seen in traditional multi exposure systems. Because the sensor is only capturing a single exposure at a time, motion blur and ghosting is eliminated when subjects are moving quickly and high exposure also boosts the signal to noise ratio while helping to reduce flicking often produced by artificial LED lighting in urban settings.
Beyond just high quality image, the LYTIA L910 implements a new circuit layout that significantly speeds up analog to digital signal processing and results in an overall lower power draw, allowing mobile phones to shoot 4K, 60fps, high dynamic range video for an extended duration without a noticeable drop in battery life. This also helps enable real time, high dynamic range preview directly on the display of the smartphone, which means you know exactly what the final image is going to look like.
Physical specs of the sensor include a 1/1.28 type optical format with a diagonal measurement of 12.49 mm, each unit cell has a measurement of 1.22 micrometers, and the device utilizes a Quad Bayer Coding color filter array. It is capable of 30 fps when shot at 50 megapixels and 120 fps, or 60 fps when taking HDR images at 12.5 megapixels respectively. The interface used is MIPI C PHY at up to 6.0 Gsps per trio or MIPI D PHY up to 2.5 Gbps per lane. Mass production shipments are expected to begin in mid year.
