French lab rolls out curved 20 MP FF sensor

[ahsanford]

The future called -- it said it's looking pretty good:

https://www.dpreview.com/news/1869782227/cea-leti-has-developed-a-fully-functional-curved-full-frame-image-sensor

- A

 

[Khalai]

The future called -- it said it's looking pretty good:

https://www.dpreview.com/news/1869782227/cea-leti-has-developed-a-fully-functional-curved-full-frame-image-sensor

- A

But such design will require completely new lenses, right?

 

[foo]

You have to wonder how they do it... conventional fabs will be producing flat wafers. So do you produce a flat sensor and then somehow bend it to a perfect curve without breaking it? Or are we talking about a completely new setup to produce curved wafers? I'd think that mapping mostly rectangular sensors onto the surface of a sphere is going to result in some wasted area too, increasing the cost.

Still some years away from commercial applications in a DSLR I'd expect due to probably requiring new camera body, lenses etc

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Sony was playing with curved sensors some years ago, and Canon has patents as well. The potential as I understand it is to make cheaper lenses possible, but you would have to buy all new ones, so its more for fixed lens applications like cell phones.

 

[kaihp]

You have to wonder how they do it... conventional fabs will be producing flat wafers. So do you produce a flat sensor and then somehow bend it to a perfect curve without breaking it? Or are we talking about a completely new setup to produce curved wafers? I'd think that mapping mostly rectangular sensors onto the surface of a sphere is going to result in some wasted area too, increasing the cost.

You can't bend a silicon wafer - it a crystalline material and crystalline materials tend to be pretty brittle. Besides, even introducing a minor mechanical stress will change the electrical parameters.

So without know anything about non-planar wafer technology, I can only surmise that they have come up with either a flexible material or polishing the wafer into a curve.

The more I think about a curved piece of silicon and all the steps to manufacture it, the less likely this seems to me.

 

[BeenThere]

The referenced article does not say the sensor uses a silicon wafer. Perhaps it's some other technology? Also, the prototype is full frame size with primary application mentioned is for astronomy telescopes.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

You have to wonder how they do it... conventional fabs will be producing flat wafers. So do you produce a flat sensor and then somehow bend it to a perfect curve without breaking it? Or are we talking about a completely new setup to produce curved wafers? I'd think that mapping mostly rectangular sensors onto the surface of a sphere is going to result in some wasted area too, increasing the cost.

Still some years away from commercial applications in a DSLR I'd expect due to probably requiring new camera body, lenses etc

Here some methods that have been or are in development. Multiple companies have developed curved sensors, so its possible.

https://www.slashgear.com/curved-smartphone-camera-sensors-could-out-snap-your-dslr-30486935/

https://www.phonearena.com/news/Apple-patents-new-manufacturing-technique-for-a-curved-touch-sensor_id50208

https://www.phonearena.com/news/Sony-breaks-new-ground-with-camera-sensors-curved-like-the-human-eye_id57124