Kodak, IBM See Eye to Eye on New Image Sensors

Eastman Kodak Company and IBM will work together to develop and manufacture image sensors used in such consumer products as digital still cameras and camera phones. The collaboration will mate Kodak's image sensor technology with IBM's complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processing. The result will be image sensors with higher performance, improved image quality and more innovative features than current CMOS image sensor (CIS) devices.

A critical component in any digital imaging device, image sensors act as the "eye" of a digital camera by converting light into electric charges. The explosion of consumer digital camera and camera phones has ripened the market for CIS devices, which offer simpler design and use less power. So far, however, CIS devices haven't matched the image quality of charge coupled devices, or CCDs, the sensors found in most camera models. The new collaboration aims to beef up CIS devices' image quality.

"By combining our chip technology capability with Kodak's sensor expertise, we are able to tailor our semiconductor manufacturing processes to produce industry-leading image sensors for Kodak," said Tom Reeves, vice president of semiconductor products and solutions, IBM Systems & Technology Group.