Electronics Production |
STMicro - top supplier of<br>mobile camera modules
STMicroelectronics has been recognized as the world's number one supplier of camera modules by the independent industry analyst Prismark Partners LLC.
According to the Prismark report highlighting the 2005 Camera Module Market, ST captured 16% market share and moved into first place among manufacturers of CMOS image-sensor modules for wireless phones.
Mobile-phone camera modules are a fast-growing industry segment that Prismark predicts will double by 2009 to 700 million units a year, representing a 73% penetration of camera phones worldwide.
ST has been extremely successful in this market due to best-in-class pixel performance, sensor and module development capabilities, and full ownership of the manufacturing flow. Moreover the wide portfolio of products, from SMIA (Standard Mobile Imaging Architecture)-compliant camera modules, with a resolution of CIF (Common Intermediate Format) up to 2-Megapixel, to System-On-Chip products that integrate ST's imaging digital signal processing technology on a single chip, allows customers to easily upgrade their systems while preserving physical and logical interfaces.
Using its vertically integrated supply chain, ST is able to design and manufacture camera modules that are optimized for the ST sensor silicon. This leads to the best possible quality due to mastery of each step in the complete imaging chain. With control of sensor, lens, module and processor, ST achieves excellent final-image quality.
“ST has made a major commitment to manufacture optical modules and has built up a significant production capacity thanks to its highly experienced teams,” said Jean-Yves Gomez, Group Vice President and General Manager of ST's Imaging Division. “ST's strategy has been to bring semiconductor principles to optical modules in order to offer highly repeatable manufacturing based on the latest semiconductor assembly equipment. ST has also used its extensive knowledge of wafer fab cleanroom technology to construct super-clean environments for optical module assembly, hence delivering best-in-class quality levels.”
STMicroelectronics has recently satisfied the growing demand for high image quality and higher resolution with a SMIA-compliant 2-Megapixel camera module targeted at mobile applications (VS6750) and has been developing an extensive family of sensors using its latest 2.2µ imaging technology.
In addition to mobile phones, camera modules can be used in a wide range of portable devices such as PDAs, webcams, Digital Still Cameras (DSCs), and wireless security cameras.
