Panasonic APD-CMOS Sensor Sees Colors under 0.01 lux Illumination

BusinessWire: Panasonic developed APD CMOS sensor with avalanche photodiodes (APDs) in each pixel. The in-pixel APDs multiply the photoelectrons by 10,000 times. This is said to allow getting sharp color images even under starlight (illuminance of 0.01 lux) or in other similarly dark places. Variable sensitivity technology in which multiplication is controlled in a thousandth of a second by controlling the voltage applied to the APDs, realizing 30-fps video imaging that can follow the changes in illuminance.

The new sensor has been presented on the 2016 ISSCC on February 1, 2016.

This development brings the following advantages:

• Highly sensitive color imaging:
  40 million/lux・sec・μm2 (10,000 times sensitive in comparison to conventional devices)
• Wide dynamic range:
  100 dB (+ 40 dB in comparison to conventional CMOS image sensors)