14 DAY TRIAL // Global camera phone sales are skyrocketing and are projected to be the most common image capture device in the world within a few years. Gartner Group estimates that nearly 300 million camera phones were shipped in 2005, while Infotrends/CAP Ventures projects that number to reach one billion units by 2010.
However, the market has a major hurdle to overcome. Consumers accustomed to digital still cameras (DSCs) are dissatisfied with camera phone image quality, which suffers from blurring caused by natural hand jitter, especially in low-light conditions, and is magnified by zoom features. Up until now there have been no image stabilization systems small enough or cost effective enough to deploy in handsets.
InvenSense has created the world's smallest dual-axis gyroscope, which answers the camera phone industry need to accurately sense natural hand jitter. As a single-chip silicon device based on MEMS technology,
InvenSense's solution is over 5 times smaller than the smallest competing devices that typically use older piezo-type technology, enabling InvenSense's gyroscope to fit into any camera phone. Proprietary wafer-level integration allows the gyroscope to meet the high-performance requirements for image stabilization applications, while meeting the strict size and cost requirements of mobile handset manufacturers.
The company is ramping production of its dual-axis gyro products for the digital still camera market with volume shipments for autumn 2006 models, and is sampling image stabilization devices for camera module makers.