"Image Sensors Also Achieve Super-Gap"... Samsung Electronics Opens Era of 200 Million Pixels

Industry's First Mobile Device 'ISOCELL HP1' with 200 Million 0.64㎛ Pixels Released
First Application of New 'ChameleonCell' Technology Combining 16 Adjacent Pixels
Industry's Smallest Dual Pixel Image Sensor 'ISOCELL GN5' Also Unveiled

Samsung Electronics Mobile Image Sensor 'ISOCELL HP1'
Photo by Samsung Electronics

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] Samsung Electronics has secured a technological "super-gap" by becoming the first in the industry to open the era of 200-megapixel image sensors, which serve as the eyes of smartphone cameras.

On the 2nd, Samsung Electronics announced the launch of a new mobile image sensor, the 'ISOCELL HP1,' equipped with 200 million 0.64μm (micrometer) pixels. This is the first 200-megapixel product released just two years after the company launched the industry's first 108-megapixel image sensor in 2019.

An image sensor is a semiconductor that converts light entering through a camera lens into digital signals. Equipping a high-megapixel image sensor allows for clear and sharp photo shooting, and the image quality does not degrade even when zoomed in. Additionally, photo corrections do not cause quality loss. Samsung Electronics explained that the 200-megapixel product reflects the demands of smartphone users who want to capture bright and clear photos anytime and anywhere and accurately capture subjects.

Samsung Electronics applied ultra-fine process technology secured through its memory and foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) businesses to the image sensor. Simply combining more than 200 million pixels into one would make the image sensor large and thick, making it difficult to install in smartphones with limited size specifications. Therefore, Samsung applied its 'ChameleonCell' technology for the first time, which can overcome the problem of image quality degradation while incorporating many small pixels.

This technology, independently developed by Samsung Electronics, features combining four or sixteen pixels of the same color depending on the shooting environment to capture more light with small pixels. Using sixteen pixels as one can deliver performance equivalent to using a 2.56μm pixel. When there is sufficient light, the 0.64μm fine pixels are used, and in dark environments such as nighttime or indoors, the light-receiving area is expanded like 1.28μm or 2.56μm pixels, enabling bright and clear photo shooting.

Samsung Electronics mobile image sensors 'ISOCELL HP1' (right) and 'ISOCELL GN5'
[Photo by Samsung Electronics]

According to market research firm TSR, the global market for ultra-high-megapixel image sensors with over 100 million pixels is expected to grow from 52 million units this year at an average annual rate of 32.4%, reaching 160 million units by 2025. During the same period, sales are projected to increase from $717.5 million (approximately 830 billion KRW) to $1.6 billion (approximately 1.85 trillion KRW). Currently, Samsung Electronics is the only company possessing technology for image sensors with over 100 million pixels, and it is known to supply related products to Samsung Electronics' wireless business division as well as smartphone manufacturers such as Xiaomi and Lenovo-Motorola.

On the same day, Samsung Electronics also launched the industry's smallest 'dual pixel' image sensor 'ISOCELL GN5,' equipped with 50 million 1.0μm pixels. Dual pixels are useful for implementing autofocus that accurately captures fast-moving people or objects. This method enhances focusing accuracy by equipping two photodiodes that gather light in one pixel.

Samsung Electronics enhanced autofocus performance by applying 'Dual Pixel Pro' technology to this product, which measures phase differences not only left and right (the gap when two eyes look at one object separately) as in existing dual pixel technology but also up, down, left, and right phase differences.

Jang Deok-hyun, Vice President of the Sensor Business Team at Samsung Electronics' System LSI Business Division, emphasized, "We are securing unique technology to overcome technical challenges for high-sensitivity shooting in ultra-small image sensors. The high-megapixel ISOCELL HP1, which surpasses limits, and the ISOCELL GN5 equipped with a higher-level autofocus function are products that will lead the camera trends of next-generation mobile devices."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.