Kodak has introduced a chip that can boost the picture-taking power in mobile phones. The “KAC-05020 Image Sensor” maintains the same level of quality while reducing size, costs and uses a 1.4 micron 5-Megapixel and allows this to be used for a camera phone. Manufacturers will have access to the KAC-05020 later this year and will be available to the public 2009.
“Camera phones and other small-pixel consumer imaging devices often suffer from poor performance, especially under low light conditions. To manufacture sensors that utilize these very small pixels – only two to three times the wavelength of visible light – we needed to challenge everything we knew about pixel and sensor design,” said Chris McNiffe, General Manager of Kodak’s Image Sensor Solutions business. “By completely rethinking the design of the CMOS pixel and leveraging our work with high sensitivity color filter patterns and algorithms, Kodak was able to develop this remarkable new sensor that will enable a level of imaging performance previously unavailable from CMOS devices.”
This is one of latest strategies Kodak has come up with during their transition period into the digital mainstream. Kodak expects to earn up to $350 million a year from royalties and related revenue through 2011.
