In an interview with Samsung Newsroom, Myoungoh Ki and Sungsoo Choi, developers from the System LSI business and the Semiconductor R&D Center respectively, spoke about the leading role they played in the development of Samsung’s new ISOCELL HP3 image sensor.
Image sensors are system semiconductors that convert light that enters the device through the camera lens into digital signals and are built into all electronic products that come with a camera.
Containing 200 million 0.56-micrometer (μm)-pixels, the ISOCELL HP3 has the smallest pixels in the industry, allowing for ever-smaller smartphone and laptop sizes.
“With a smaller unit pixel size, the physical size of the sensor and module can be reduced, allowing the size and width of the lens to be reduced as well,” said Ki. “This can eliminate elements that interfere with the design of the device, such as a camera that protrudes, and can also reduce power consumption.”
While smaller pixel size helps create smaller, slimmer devices, it can also result in less light entering the device or interference between adjacent pixels.
To prevent this Samsung created physical walls between pixels that are thinner and deeper by using a proprietary technology called Full Depth deep trench isolation (DTI).
“In layman’s terms, it is the same as trying to create a thinner wall between your room and the room next door without affecting the soundproofing level,” said Choi.
To counter the problem of poor image quality in low-light environments, Samsung used “an upgraded version of Samsung’s proprietary Tetra2pixel technology which combines four or sixteen adjacent pixels to operate as one large pixel in low-light environments,” said Choi.
The upgraded pixel technology enables high-resolution filming in 8K at 30 frames-per-second (fps) and in 4K at 120fps with no loss in the field of view, he said.
To counter the problem of too much sunlight, the developers used another proprietary technology known as Smart-ISO Pro.
“When there is too much or too little light, it is important to increase the dynamic range3 in order to take a natural photo that looks similar to what we see with our eyes,” said Ki.
“By using the Smart-ISO Pro technology, which uses two conversion gains, and the Staggered High Dynamic Range (HDR)4 feature, which morphs three frames with different exposures (short exposure, medium exposure and long exposure) into one, it supports HDR photography that creates natural images even when shooting in imperfect lighting conditions, providing an optimal result.”
The full interview can be read here.