IC Insights reports that CMOS imagers are regaining their lost momentum in a new report. Most of the cameras and camcorders in use today are done with CMOS imagers. CMOS offers lower static power dissipation making it possible for the battery to last longer. It is also efficiently mass produced in the foundry and that is necessary for the mass market.
Less than five years ago, CMOS image sensors were one of the fastest growing segments in semiconductors, but since the middle of the last decade, this optoelectronics category has struggled with price erosion resulting from increasing competition by suppliers, slowing growth rates in camera-phone applications, and the last recession. After dropping 16% in 2009, CMOS image sensor sales rebounded by just 17% in 2010 to $4.5 billion compared to the semiconductor industry’s much stronger growth of 32% last year. Beginning in 2011, however, CMOS image sensor sales are expected to gain new momentum and consistency in growth from new systems applications beyond camera phones and stand-alone digital still cameras, concludes IC Insights’ new 2011
An image sensor is a device that converts an optical image into an electronic signal. It is used mostly in digital cameras and other imaging devices. Early sensors were video camera tubes but a modern one is typically a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) active pixel sensor.(wikipedia)