Sony has released details of a new CMOS sensor with angled photosites, which claims to provide increased resolution and high-sensitivity performance in small-sized digital cameras.
 January 25, 2006: Sony has released details of a new CMOS sensor with angled photosites, which claims to provide increased resolution and high-sensitivity performance in small-sized digital cameras. Branded “clear bit CMOS sensor” the new chip has a similar photosite structure to Fujifilm’s Super CCD chips, with photosites angled at 45 degrees. An on-chip microlens is superimposed on each “pixel”. Sony claims the new chip will offer a 1.4x increase image resolution for sensors with a small pixel pitch (2.9 µm is quoted as an example) plus a doubling of the sensitivity and signal strength from each photosite because each output pixel is a result of data from two photosites.  The new chip will make its first appearance in Sony’s DCR-DVD505 digital camcorder, which is due for worldwide release in March. As far as we can gather from the information on Sony’s website, the clear bit CMOS sensors in this model will measure 4.8 x 3.6 mm and offer 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio recording for both video and stills. Still picture resolution will be 3.98 megapixels at top resolution. |
