This article needs to be updated. (October 2023) |
InVisage Technologies is a fabless semiconductor company known for producing a technology called QuantumFilm, an image sensor technology that improves the quality of digital photographs taken with a cell phone camera. The company is based in Menlo Park, CA.
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Semiconductors |
| Founded | October 2006 |
| Founder | Ted Sargent |
| Headquarters | Menlo Park, California |
Key people | Jess Lee, CEO |
| Parent | Apple Inc. |
| Website | invisage |
History
editInVisage Technologies was founded by the company's current CTO Ted Sargent, a professor from the University of Toronto.[1] While developing transmitters and receivers in his lab at U of T, he discovered an especially sensitive receiver, which formed the basis of InVisage's QuantumFilm technology.[2] Sargent then secured the rights to the technology and founded InVisage in October 2006.[3] The company applied this technology toward mobile phone cameras.[4] In 2007, Jess Lee, a former vice president from OmniVision Technologies, joined InVisage as the company's CEO.[5] Syrus Madavi serves as the company's chairman of the board of directors, having joined InVisage in 2012.[6]
In February 2013, it was announced that the company had received $20 million in a Series D funding round led by GGV Capital that included Nokia Growth Partners as a new investor, with the company expecting to begin shipping devices with their sensors in the second quarter of 2014.[7]
On November 9, 2017, Apple, Inc. acquired InVisage Technologies.[8]
QuantumFilm Technology
editQuantumFilm Technology involves the creation of a film to coat the image sensors used in a cellphone camera, allowing it to capture more light, improving the quality of the images taken.[9][10] A typical camera phone pixel sensor is made up of several layers, with a layer of colored plastic or glass acting as a color filter sitting on top of several layers of metal connecting silicon electronic transistors together, which is itself on top of a base layer of silicon used by the sensor's electronic transistors and photodetectors. The light coming to the sensor has to pass through the layers of metal before reaching the silicon, a weak light absorber, so the sensor detects only about 25 percent of the light that makes up the image.[11] QuantumFilm places a layer of semiconducting crystals - called quantum dots - on top of the chip, which allows the chip to absorb more light, place more pixels in a smaller space, and create sharper images.[12]
Using quantum dots is more efficient at capturing light than traditional silicon-based image sensor chips (capturing 90-95% of the light that hits it), giving the sensors higher sensitivity in low light as well as higher resolution.[3][13] And while traditional image sensors read an image from top to bottom (which can create a blurred image when the subject is moving), quantum dots detect the entire image at the same moment, reducing the chance for distortion.[14]
Invisage holds patents related to the development of QuantumFilm technology, as well as its applications toward optoelectronic devices.[15]
Awards
editIn 2010, InVisage's QuantumFilm technology was awarded The Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award.[16] In 2011, the company received a gold award from the International Imaging Industry Association's (I3A) VISION 2020 Imaging Innovation for its QuantumFilm technology.[17]
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ "Prof. Ted Sargent | Sargent Group". Light.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-18.
- ^ "EEWeb Pulse - Issue 71 by EEWeb". ISSUU. 5 November 2012. Retrieved 2013-11-18.
- ^ a b "DEMO: InVisage's QuantumFilm enables gorgeous camera phone pictures". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2013-11-18.
- ^ SPIE Europe Ltd. "Timer set for silicon sensor switchover". Optics.org. Retrieved 2013-11-18.
- ^ Jess Lee. "Jess Lee: Executive Profile & Biography - Businessweek". Investing.businessweek.com. Retrieved 2013-11-26.[dead link]
- ^ Syrus P. Madavi. "Syrus Madavi: Executive Profile & Biography - Businessweek". Investing.businessweek.com. Archived from the original on March 14, 2014. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
- ^ "Smartphone imaging startup InVisage gets over $20M - Silicon Valley Business Journal". Bizjournals.com. 2013-02-14. Retrieved 2013-11-18.
- ^ "TechCrunch". 9 November 2017.
- ^ Vance, Ashlee (March 22, 2010). "Company Sees Leap for Cellphone Cameras". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-11-18.
- ^ "Demo tech conference: What to watch for". Content.usatoday.com. 2010-03-22. Retrieved 2013-11-18.
- ^ Greenemeier, Larry (2013-11-14). "Light Improvement: Could Quantum Dots Boost the Quality of Cell Phone Pix?". Scientific American. Retrieved 2013-11-18.
- ^ "Camera-phones: Dotty but dashing". The Economist. 2010-04-08. Retrieved 2013-11-18.
- ^ Shankland, Stephen (2010-03-21). "InVisage aims to remake camera sensor market | Deep Tech - CNET News". News.cnet.com. Retrieved 2013-11-18.
- ^ "InVisage's Revolutionary QuantumShutter Image Sensor". Azosensors.com. 2010-09-30. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-11-18.
- ^ "InVisage Technologies, Inc. - Patent applications". Faqs.org. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
- ^ "InVisage's QuantumFilm Image Sensor Wins Prestigious Wall Street Journal Award". Azosensors.com. 2010-10-01. Archived from the original on 2018-08-23. Retrieved 2013-11-18.
- ^ "InVisage Receives Gold Award for QuantumFilm Technology". Azonano.com. 2011-06-24. Retrieved 2013-11-18.