Secured Global Shutter and SPAD Process Technology
Collaborating with US, Japanese, and Chinese Companies on Product Development... Aiming for Mass Production Within the Year
[Asia Economy Reporter Han Yeju] DB HiTek is expanding its high value-added specialized image sensor business.
DB HiTek announced on the 31st that it has secured foundry process technology specialized for global shutter and SPAD (Single Photon Avalanche Diode), which are gaining attention in automobiles, robots, and various industrial fields.
Based on the newly acquired process technology, the company plans to expand into new high-growth fields such as industrial machine vision, autonomous vehicles, and AR (augmented reality) to improve profitability.
The global shutter is a sensor that captures images of fast-moving subjects without distortion and is actively applied in machine vision, which has recently attracted attention as the "eyes of smart factories." Its application range is rapidly expanding to robots, drones, and automobiles.
DB HiTek's global shutter applies light shield and light guide technologies to prevent distortion of optical signals, achieving advanced technology with a GSE (Global Shutter Efficiency) of 99.997%. It can implement pixels as small as 2.8㎛.
Along with this, DB HiTek has secured performance in SPAD processes detecting photons (particles of light) with a probability of 3.2% in FSI (Front Side Illumination) structure and 7% in BSI (Back Side Illumination) structure at a wavelength of 940nm.
SPAD is an ultra-high sensitivity 3D image sensor that detects extremely weak light signals at the photon level. Based on its advantages of high precision and long-distance measurement, it is a key component mounted on LiDAR for autonomous vehicles. Recently, it has been rapidly applied in AR functions in devices such as Apple iPhones, and its role is expected to expand in next-generation applications such as robots and drones.
In the future, by applying processes such as BDTI (which forms isolation between pixels to minimize light loss and improve optical performance), DB HiTek plans to increase photon detection probability up to 15%, securing industry-leading competitiveness.
A DB HiTek official said, "Based on the newly secured global shutter and SPAD processes, we are focusing on product development with leading companies in the US, Japan, China, and other regions," adding, "We aim for mass production within this year."
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