The image sensor converts the light waves into signals which reflect from the objects and help the sensor to identify and pass the information of the image. It is one of the important components of portable devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and digital cameras to capture the image to serve the specific purpose as per the application.
The image sensor has applications in the aerospace, automotive, consumer electronics, healthcare, industrial, entertainment, and security & surveillance sectors. The automotive and consumer electronics application offer a huge growth potential for image sensor, especially given the advanced and suitable features it offers over other processes. These two applications collectively accounted for a market share of ~75% in 2014, and the automotive sector is expected to grow at a high CAGR of 15.91% between 2015 and 2020.
Image Sensor Market
The image sensor market for the automotive application is growing owing to the rising demand for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) which deliver features such as blind-spot viewing, automatic headlight dimming, lane-departure warning systems, rearview, 360-degree surround view, parking assistance, and autonomous driving. 3D image sensors have also been developed for automotive systems to serve human machine interface (HMI) concepts which enhance the user experience and performance and functionality of the system implemented in the car. Major companies such as Google Inc. (U.S.) and Sony Corporation (Japan) are working for the development of self-driving cars that would incorporate image sensors.
Consumer electronics is one of the major applications of image sensors driving the market. The rising trend of dual camera in mobile devices and the growing usage of webcams in tables and laptops are driving the market. Consumer electronics is further segmented into smartphones, tablet PC, camera, wearable electronics, and others. The smartphone market held the largest share of the market in 2014, whereas the market for tablet PC is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Companies such as Sony Corporation (Japan) and OmniVision Technologies Inc. (U.S.) are working for the development of high-performance and high-resolution images sensors for smartphones and mobile applications. In November 2014, Sony Corporation launched new stacked CMOS image sensor IMX230 for smartphones which delivers features such as 21 MP, on-chip phase detection AF, 4K video recording, and video with HDR function.
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The companies involved in the development of image sensor include CMOSIS nv (Belgium), e2v technologies plc (U.K.), GalaxyCore Inc. (China), OmniVision Technologies Inc. (U.S.), ON Semiconductor Corporation (U.S.), Panasonic Corporation (Japan), Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (South Korea), Sharp Corporation (Japan), SK Hynix Inc. (South Korea), Sony Corporation (Japan), Teledyne Technologies, Inc. (U.S.), and Toshiba Corporation (Japan).
