CMOS Image Sensors Dominate CCD Sensors: Marketplace Study

Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensors led the image sensor market during 2011 – outdistancing charge coupled device (CCD) sensors, according to a new study.

CMOS are used in mobile handsets and several emerging product areas. Their popularity led to shipments of CMOS sensors to represent some 92 percent of all area image sensors during 2011. That represents 2.1 billion units, which is a 31 percent jump from the 1.6 billion units in 2010, according to an IHS (News - Alert) iSuppli Consumer Platforms report from IHS. In addition, CCD sensor shipments last year dropped to 180.3 million units, edging down two percent from the 184.5 million seen in 2010.

“The pattern of CMOS’ dominance will continue through the years in the face of CCD’s irreversible decline,” IHS predicts in its study. “By 2015, CMOS shipments will amount to 3.6 billion units or 97 percent market share, compared to CCD shipments of just 95.2 million, or 3 percent.”

Pamela Tufegdzic, analyst for consumer electronics at IHS, said in a company statement, “CMOS sensors long have been associated with cheaper manufacturing costs, greater efficiency and faster data-throughput speeds. For those reasons, CMOS’ sensor use has kept expanding in an ever-growing number of devices and applications, while the use of higher-cost CCDs has shrunk steadily.”

It was also reported that mobile handsets are the dominant application for CMOS sensors. They represented 79 percent of total CMOS shipments seen last year, with videoconferencing as the second-biggest application. Two growing markets for CMOS were network video surveillance systems and auto systems.  In autos, they are used for back-up cameras, as well as lane-departure warning, blind-spot detection and infrared night vision offerings.

Also, backside illumination (BSI) technology sensors are predicted to be in 56 percent of smartphones and higher-end, feature handset camera phones during 2012 and to be present in 92 percent of the similar group of handsets by 2015.  But in its review of the market, IHS said the price of BSI technology needs to get lower.

In other industry news, BAE Systems (News - Alert) Imaging Solutions has introduced its first high-definition scientific complementary metal oxide semiconductor (sCMOS) image sensor, the Fairchild Imaging CIS1021.