The market for automotive-grade CMOS image sensors is huge. Can domestic forces break through?
Automotive-grade CMOS image sensor
Autonomous driving has become the trend of intelligent development in the auto industry, and autopilot technology has accelerated its penetration in the field of auto manufacturing. Sensors are the cornerstone of automatic driving. Sensors are particularly important for automatic driving technology. Sensors help improve the cognitive ability of the car during driving, facilitate the vehicle control system to judge road condition information, and make timely braking, acceleration, steering and other operations to improve The safety of the vehicle.

Source: Smartway

At present, automobile manufacturers mainly use cameras, radars, and lidars as solutions for cars to recognize the surrounding environment. With the maturity of autonomous driving technology, the market for automotive cameras has huge potential. Among them, CMOS image sensors dominate in automotive camera applications, giving cars more excellent perception performance. According to the forecast of IHS, autonomous vehicles will start an explosive growth around 2025. Self-driving cars are high expectations, and the demand for CMOS image sensors is strong. According to Yole Development, the global market for CMOS sensors will expand to 31.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2026, an increase of 50% from the market in 2020.

With the rapid development of autonomous driving technology, the CMOS image sensor market has huge potential and a bright future. At present, foreign companies such as Sony, Samsung, ON Semiconductor, Howe, SK Hynix, ST and other foreign companies occupy the main market share of automotive-grade CMOS sensors. In China, Siteway has entered into the deployment of automotive-grade CMOS sensors.

The domestically produced new force of automotive-grade CMOS sensors-Siteway

Siteway is a domestic company that focuses on the design and development of CMOS image sensors. At present, the market for automotive-grade CMOS image sensors has broad development prospects and has a large room for growth. For this reason, Siteway has successively released a number of automotive-grade CMOS sensors to share market. It also launched AI high-end imaging series, SL super starlight series, GS global shutter series, IoT series, CS consumer series and other series of products to match more application scenarios. With independent innovation of CMOS image sensor technology to help the rapid development of domestic substitution.

Source: Siteway's official website

SC120AT is a car-grade CMOS image sensor. SC120AT is equipped with an ISP image signal processor, which combines ISP and CMOS image sensors into one. This internal integrated ISP method helps to reduce the amount of calculation of the main controller, shorten the image data processing time, output high-quality images, improve the system's computing power, response speed and improve security. SC120AT has an effective pixel size of 1.3MP, a photosensitive element size of 1/3.7", a pixel size of 3.0µm*3.0µm, and supports 30fps 1288*968 resolution high-definition image shooting. At the same time, it has an ultra-high dynamic range of 120dB. Meet the general automotive application scenarios, reduce the impact of light on the imaging effect, and output a clearer and more delicate image effect. The SC120AT power supply voltage is 1.8V, and it can work at a wide temperature range of -40 to 105 degrees Celsius. It is suitable for automotive rear-view images, 360 Applications such as high-degree surround view and vehicle blind spot monitoring.

Siteway’s CMOS image sensor has always been the main focus of the security market, and has achieved outstanding results in the security field. This time it enters the automotive electronics market, the actual performance of the product remains to be verified.

CMOS image sensor market leader-Sony

Sony has always been in a dominant position in the field of CMOS image sensors. According to statistics from Yole Development, Sony ranks first in the global CMOS image sensor market in 2020, occupying 40% of the market, leading Samsung by 18%, and sales of I&SS image sensor business. The amount reached 59.388 billion yuan. The market demand for CMOS image sensors has exploded. Sony built a new wafer fab in 2019 and expanded its foundry cooperation with TSMC in 2020 to increase the production capacity of CMOS image sensors to meet market demand.

Source: Sony's official website

IMX290NQV is a car-grade CMOS sensor with an effective pixel of 2.13MP and a photosensitive element size of 1/2.8". Sony has made a lot of improvements on the photosensitive element of this CMOS sensor, increasing the size and improving the image The vividness of colors and the level of imaging. The pixel size is 2.9µm*2.9µm, and it supports 10bit 120fps, 12bit 60fps high frame rate and full HD 1080P, HD 720P video format recording. It has high dynamic range function and fast shutter speed. The function supports SDR output, 2/4/8 channel DDR output, CSI-2 serial data output and RAW10/RAW12 video format output. IMX290NQV working input voltage is 1.8V, using 78Pin 9.6mm*7.0mm BGA package.

International CMOS image sensor giant-Samsung

The strength of Samsung's CMOS image sensor cannot be underestimated. Last year, Japanese manufacturers Samsung and Sony accounted for half of the global CMOS market. Samsung's CMOS image sensor accounted for 22% of the global market, ranking second. Samsung has long focused on the design and production of mobile phone CMOS image sensors. Nowadays, the development of automobiles is strong. Samsung has entered the field of automotive CMOS. In July this year, it launched the first integrated automotive-grade CMOS image sensor, which has now been put into mass production.

Source: Samsung's official website
S5K4AC is Samsung's first integrated automotive-grade CMOS image sensor for automotive customers. The effective image number of S5K4AC is 1.2MP, the pixel point is 3.0µm, and the optical sensor is 1/3.7". Compared with the optical sensor of Sony IMX290NQV, the size is small, and the color and layering effect of the image is not as good as IMX290NQV. S5K4AC is imaging It supports up to 60fps 1280x960 image output. At the same time, this sensor, like the domestic Siteway, integrates ISP image processing function, which helps speed up image processing and increase the computing power of the main control chip. It outputs YUV422, RGB888, RGB565. Image data. S5K4AC supports 120dB high dynamic range images, providing more dynamic range and image details, reducing the blur of object motion and the impact of light problems on image quality. S5K4AC operating temperature covers -40ºC ~ 125ºC, even in extreme environments It can also provide high-quality images.

International CMOS image sensor market accounted for third-Howe

Howe, Sony, and Samsung have long dominated the top three in the international CMOS image sensor market. Howe adopts the business model of independent research and development and the foundry of third-party companies, and is committed to the research and development of CMOS image sensors, ASICs, and micro image modules. Among them, the sales of CMOS image sensors will reach 170 million units by 2020, enabling autonomous vehicles. .

Source: Howe

OV10626 is a single-chip high-performance camera solution for automotive vision systems for rear and surround views. OV10626 provides excellent high dynamic range and maintains excellent low light sensitivity. OV10626 supports 1/3.7" NTSC analog signal (648x488 resolution) and 1/3.2" WVGA digital (752x548 resolution) output. The high dynamic range of the sensor is up to 120 dB, and the low light sensitivity is 16 V/lux second, ensuring clear, high-quality images even under challenging lighting conditions. OV10626 also has a double overlay function. This function can be used for the reference frame and guidance system of the backup and parking assistance system. OV10626 adopts Howe's proprietary compact automotive sensor a-CSP™ packaging process. The temperature resistance of OV10626 is -40°C to 105°C.

The "ceiling" of the market share of automotive-grade CMOS image sensors-ON Semiconductor

As mentioned earlier, Sony’s CMOS image sensor has the largest market share, but ON Semiconductor is the real "ceiling" in the field of automotive electronics. ON Semiconductor has maintained a market share of 80% for a long time, leading Sony and Samsung. . ON Semiconductor CEO Hassane El-Khoury said in a media interview that the company will focus on the automotive and industrial markets in the future. Sammy will analyze more than 4,000 failure modes to ensure the reliability of automotive camera intelligent sensing technology.

Source: ON Semiconductor official website

AR0132AT is a car-grade CMOS image sensor with 1.2MP effective pixels. The optical sensor size is 1/3" with a pixel point of 3.75μm. In terms of image output, this image sensor can output a 60FPS 1280H x 960V effective pixel array. It has an effective pixel array of 60FPS 1280H x 960V. The global shutter function can capture images in linear or high dynamic mode. AR0132AT has a high dynamic range, and the image quality output is less affected when driving at night. AR0132AT can be used with ON Semiconductor's own car image signal processor to enhance the image Processing performance. This sensor uses an IBGA-63 package.

Summarize

According to the product analysis of the above 5 manufacturers, Siteway is the first entry into the automotive electronics market. The theoretical performance parameters of its car-grade CMOS image sensor are still good. Siteway, like Samsung sensors, is integrated internally. The ISP image processor shortens the time for image processing and output, improves the response speed of the car's main controller, and reserves sufficient time for the behavior judgment of autonomous vehicles. It remains to be verified whether or not the actual application effect of the CMOS image sensor of Siteway's car-level CMOS image sensor can join the first echelon to share the market.