Samsung Electronics announced the world's first 3-megapixel CMOS image sensor (CIS) with a 1/4-inch lens aperture that is well suited for ultra slim camera phones.

"The rapidly evolving trend of user created content, blogs, and personal web pages is triggering demand for constant access to high-resolution images, bringing the consumer's attention to high-resolution camera phones," said Yong-Hee Lee, vice president of Samsung Electronics' System LSI Division. "Our 1.75um-pixel, 1/4-inch lens aperture 3-megapixel CIS is a unique combination of Samsung's high resolution sensor technology and high speed serial interface that brings digital still camera-level picture quality to mobile handsets."

Samsung's new 1.75um-size pixel enables the 1/4-inch lens aperture to reduce the camera module size by 30 percent as opposed to a conventional 2.25um pixel 1/3-inch lens aperture 3-megapixel CIS. The small form factor allows the new CMOS image sensor to immediately replace a 1/4-inch lens aperture 2-megapixel CIS module, as they have the same size.

By utilizing 90-nanometer process technology, Samsung expects to mass produce the new 1.75um pixel, 1/4-inch lens aperture 3-megapixel CIS in the first quarter of 2007. The new CIS chip uses Samsung's proprietary 90nm copper technology that reduces the distance between the micro-lens and the photo diode thereby resulting in maximizing the light-gathering efficiency to overcome the potential decline of image quality as the pixel size scales down.