Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation ("SMIC") (NYSE: SMI; SEHK: 981) the largest and most advanced pure-play foundry provider in China, and Cista System Corp. a fabless semiconductor company that specializes in CMOS Image Sensors (CIS) and System on Chip (SoC) designs, have jointly announced the achievement of mass production for two CIS-BSI products, of 1.3MP resolution with 1.75-micron pixel and 8MP resolution with 1.4-micron pixel, respectively. Both sensors are based on SMIC's independently developed 0.13-micron BSI technology platform.
Back-Side Illumination (BSI) CMOS Image Sensor technology increases the amount of light captured by the sensor, and thus enables image sensors with improved low-light performance. SMIC's 0.13-micron CIS-BSI technology is independently developed and offers competitive performance. Based on a low leakage process, it only uses three aluminum metal layers for reduced cost and supports pixel sizes down to 1.4-micron for 8MP resolution CIS. SMIC also provides full in-house turn-key service which includes CIS wafer fabrication, color filter & micro-lens processing, TSV-CSP and testing to help customers shorten the supply chain with fast cycle time and low cost.
"Through working with our partner, Cista System Corp., we are very pleased with the achievement of the production phase for BSI technology," said Dr. Shiuh-Wuu Lee, Executive Vice President of Technology Development of SMIC. "Tests on the two sensors have shown great performance which demonstrates our readiness in 0.13-micron BSI technology platform. SMIC is also developing 1.1-micron pixel BSI for 13MP resolution and above, and 3D stacked BSI for high-end applications. With these new sets of products, we hope to provide high-quality CMOS Image Sensors to our customers at a competitive price."
"We are excited to partner with SMIC on launching the CIS-BSI sensors," said Wilson Du, CEO and President of Cista System Corp. "This partnership draws us one step closer to our goal of becoming more integrated with domestic industry resources in developing the image sensor sector. As we move forward, we hope to see more of our designs used in wider applications such as consumer electronics, telecommunications, medical equipment, automotive industry, automation and other applications."
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