Panasonic Develops Electric Control of Light Sensitivity

Electronics developer Panasonic Corp. has developed electrical control of NIR light sensitivity of the same pixel in an organic CMOS image sensor.

The sensitivity of all the pixels in the image sensor, which has directly stacked organic films, is simultaneously controlled by changing the applied voltage to the organic films. The technology enables users to switch between modes of color imaging and NIR imaging frame by frame without a mechanical IR cut filter required for conventional image sensors. This contributes to miniaturizing a camera system and improving the robustness.

The technology also enables global shutter operation. Therefore, it can be suitable for applications in various fields of industry such as machine vision or intelligent transportation systems where fast and accurate inspection or recognition are necessary.

Panasonic is a developer of diverse electronics technologies and solutions for customers in the consumer electronics, housing, automotive, enterprise solutions and device industries.