An interview with the creator of stacked CMOS image sensor—logical thinking behind the epochal innovation
Impressive story of purpose and persistence that led to today’s digital camera marke.
An interview with the creator of stacked CMOS image sensor—logical thinking behind the epochal innovation
2022-09-21
Smartphones, digital interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras, security cameras, automotive cameras... Today, stacked CMOS image sensors have expanded their applications to so many items that make up our everyday environments...
Its creator Taku Umebayashi took a unique approach to its development that was totally different from its predecessors...
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Despite numerous difficulties, the project survived to reach the mass production stage. “I believe that everyone wanted this technology to succeed. When the initial PoC failed, normally the choice would be either to end the project or replace me with someone else, but both the project and I were allowed to continue. The process team also kept trying again and again. I also learned it afterwards that my bosses were helping us behind the scenes, too, with securing the budget and making necessary arrangements for the launch of mass-production lines,” said Umebayashi, describing the strong backing the project had. “We were at our lowest toward the end of 2009. Then came 2010, the sample finally produced some image. Boy, I was so happy to see it,” he smiled. This breakthrough led to a successful sample test at the Kumamoto TEC, and the tide was turned. What started as a discrete team effort was transformed into a research work that garnered the ‘internal attention.
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DIGLLOYD: had the creator and his team given up, would we still be using CCDs and no camera phones?
