Sony's New Sensor Design Cuts Costs and Boosts Performance

Summary

Sony has introduced the IMX820, a 24.5MP partially-stacked back-illuminated CMOS sensor featuring a novel chip on wafer (COW) architecture. This design involves cutting individual pixel chips and circuitry chips before bonding them, which mitigates the risk of entire wafer defects common in older wafer on wafer (WOF) methods. The COW architecture also enhances camera performance by enabling precise chip stacking for faster data transfer, reduced energy consumption, and the integration of AI-driven image analysis layers.

Key points

• Sony's IMX820 sensor uses a chip on wafer (COW) architecture.
• COW design reduces production costs and improves performance.
• It enables faster data transfer and lower energy consumption.
• This architecture may be used in upcoming cameras like the Nikon Z6 III and Lumix S1II.