Compact, high resolution, high NIR sensitivity 1/3.1″ 3.2MP global shutter IMX900

The IMX900 is an image sensor that uses 2.25 µm miniature pixels and achieves a high resolution of approximately 3.2 effective megapixels despite its small size – a 1/3.1-type sensor with a diagonal of 5.81 mm.
Using a compact, high-resolution image sensor enables wide-range shooting with a compact camera, helping to resolve the issues of camera cost and limited system installation space. The IMX900 also features greatly improved incident light angle dependency and better near-infrared (NIR) sensitivity. This enables greater freedom in lens design and can improve recognition precision in applications that use NIR lighting, such as inspections.
The IMX900 has many other features, such as Fast AE (Auto Exposure), Quad HDR (High Dynamic Range), and Quad Shutter Control (four individual shutter controls), making it a great choice to support optimal photography while also reducing the burden of post-processing.
With these capabilities, the IMX900 demonstrates excellence in a variety of applications where there are high expectations for compact and high-performance mounted products, including compact barcode-reading cameras for the logistics market and robot-picking cameras for production lines. It can also be used in automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), supporting and even replacing the human workforce.

Compact, with pixel miniaturization

The IMX900 is a 1/3.1-type global shutter image sensor that uses 2.25 µm miniature pixels to achieve a high resolution of approximately 3.2 effective megapixels and supports the S-mount (M12), which is widely used in industrial cameras. This compact package enables great freedom in lens choice, meeting a variety of photographic needs and providing high-quality images.

Greatly improved incident light angle dependency

Incident light angle dependency is the light-condensing characteristic for light incidence on the pixels of an image sensor at an angle. The pixel aperture ratio is increased by using an original pixel structure developed on Pregius S™ technology, successfully achieving a great improvement of incident light angle dependency. This enables much more freedom in lens choice and design, contributing to expanding the scope of applications.

Enhanced NIR region sensitivity

Thanks to the newly developed pixel structure, the IMX900 achieves nearly double sensitivity in the NIR region (850 nm) compared to a conventional product.^* It can be applied to use cases that utilize NIR lighting, such as product inspection and AGV/AMR applications. It also features improved sensitivity on the red wavelength, making it optimal for barcode reading using red lighting.

With functions that reduce the burden of post-processing

The IMX900 is equipped with convenient on-chip functions to reduce the burden of subsequent image processing and to improve recognition precision. It therefore contributes to better design efficiency for installed cameras as well as lower costs and improved recognition precision.

Fast AE (Auto Exposure) function

Fast AE enables rapid calculation of the optimal exposure time by capturing an image with thinned-out resolution an instant before shooting. This function makes it possible to always shoot at the optimal exposure time, even amid changes in the lighting environment or distance from the subject.

Quad HDR (High Dynamic Range) function

Setting the exposure time separately for each of the four 2-by-2 pixel units makes it possible to shoot under a variety of exposure conditions simultaneously, including short and long exposure, enabling a wider dynamic range. This is extremely effective when photographing materials with different reflectivities, such as metal parts and rubber materials.

Quad Shutter Control function

Users can set the shutter timing and exposure time separately for each of the four 2-by-2 pixel units. Each individually set pixel is treated as a group of four and shot at staggered times, enabling ultra-high-speed photography of these four images.

High-speed imaging

With a maximum framerate of 113 frame/s (10-bit output), this sensor can capture fast-moving subjects without misses. This is ideal for improving takt time through production line acceleration and for 3D applications requiring high-speed imaging.

Technology

The IMX900 uses a new and originally developed pixel structure based on Pregius S technology that gives it an even more advanced stacked structure. As the figure shows, the memory parts have been transferred from their conventional position on the same substrate as the photodiode to a separate signal processing circuit area. This allows the photodiode area to be expanded, making it possible to maintain high saturation signal despite the small size. The aperture has also been enlarged, allowing for a broader angle of incidence to take in light, which dramatically improves the incident light angle dependency. It also has thicker layers in the photodiode area, which contributes to greatly improving sensitivity in the NIR region as well.