According to MEMS Consulting, since 2018, major smartphone manufacturers have been configuring ToF cameras on their high-end flagship phones: OPPO released RX17 Pro with an integrated Sony 3D ToF camera (see "Sony 3D Time of Flight (ToF) Camera Module"); Vivo released NEX Dual Screen Edition with a second screen on the back -star ring overflow screen and embedded 3D ToF camera from Panasonic (see "Panasonic 3D time-of-flight camera module"); LG released a new smartphone LG G8 ThinQ, using the iToF image sensor chip in cooperation with pmd and Infineon (see "pmd and Infineon 3D iToF camera Module"); and Huawei's recently released "royal machine" Mate 30 Pro, its front and rear ToF camera core chip - ToF sensor, both from Sony. From the current point of view, the ToF sensor by foreign manufacturers monopoly situation is still serious, domestic ToF sensor has not yet entered the smartphone supply chain. What are the main technical barriers to this? How do domestic ToF sensor manufacturers understand the current situation? And in what way should they break through?

At the recently held "The 26th "Micro Voice" Series: 3D Vision Technology and Applications (Consumer Sector)", Mr. Kexue Li, Partner and Vice President of Marketing of Epticore Microelectronics (Jiangsu) Co. (hereinafter referred to as "Epticore"), deeply analyzed the difference in the demand for ToF sensors from different consumer applications for the audience, and thought about the market as a domestic ToF technology innovator!

Mr. Kexue Li, Partner and Vice President of Marketing of Epticore, talks about the breakthrough ideas of domestic ToF sensors

First of all, Mr. Kexue Li briefly introduced the company to the audience "Epticore was founded in October 2011, which is a high-tech enterprise focusing on providing optoelectronic solutions for various markets. Its main products include ambient light sensor (ALS), proximity sensor (PS), heart rate (HRS) sensor, and TOF sensor array. Its application areas focus on smartphones, tablets and wearable devices." Epticore entered a rapid development stage in 2017, the company started doing ambient light sensors and distance sensors in 2011. In 2014, it started to make heart rate sensors, and in 2016, it broke through the annual sales of 5 million heart rate sensors. In 2017, it achieved the first domestic single market share of heart rate sensors, with annual shipments of more than 10 million pieces. Since 2015, Epticore began to develop ToF sensor technology, and released a 32 x 32 pixel ToF sensor in 2017. In 2019, it officially released QVGA ToF sensor 83206 (320 x 240 pixels)."

Epco's development history

Next, Mr. Kexue Li gave an in-depth analysis of the specific applications of ToF sensors and their requirements.

Smartphones: Domestic ToF sensors are difficult to achieve a breakthrough.Smartphones are the main application market for ToF sensors in the future. With the acceleration of internet speed and more and more multimedia applications being used in mobile phones, mobile phones have attracted more and more attention from the single camera concept in 2007, the dual camera concept introduced by Huawei P series in 2016, the three cameras concept in 2018 and multiple cameras concept in 2019. ToF sensors are widely used in face recognition, 3D modelling, portrait background virtualization, and AR (augmented reality) games. However, "at present, major mobile phone manufacturers only use ToF sensors on high-end flagship phones. The demand is not large and the price is not very sensitive, so it is difficult for domestic ToF Sensor to achieve breakthroughs in the mobile phone market.

Drones: ToF sensors are used for obstacle avoidance and gesture recognition. Mr. Li introduced that "There are two main roles for ToF sensors in drones, one is for obstacle avoidance and the other is for gesture control. The former requires a ToF module with a field of view (FOV) of 30° to 50°, while the latter requires pixels of more than 100 x 100 and a ranging range of 5 meters (5 meters @ 7% reflectivity for black objects)."

Sweeping robots: a segment with considerable shipments.The main requirements of floor-sweeping robots are to be able to identify pets, wires and furniture, effectively sweep fine particles, actively dock for charging, be programmable, interact with people, and be able to work in dark environments. The ToF sensor is the best choice for the above needs: "For floor sweeper applications, the unique 120° (horizontal) × 5° (vertical) field of view, low starting point, the small blind spot and accurate recognition of faeces, slippers; The ToF sensor is placed on the side of the floor sweeper with no bulge and no increase in the overall height of the machine; The pixel is 320 x 240 @ 60 fps. And the legs and thin lines of tables and chairs can be recognized accuracy. In addition, the ToF sensor system uses an active light source, which is independent of ambient light, making it ideal for floor sweepers."

EPCO EM83208 Face

Other applications:Smart door locks, face payment, home entertainment and other applications require a field of view of around 30° and a pixel of more than 100 ×100 to effectively recognize facial information. ToF sensors with a resolution of QVGA can meet the demand. The application of single-point ToF sensors is relatively narrow. It is mainly used for advertising machines in elevators, peripheral detection in industry, and service robots to achieve automatic movement and obstacle avoidance and fall prevention, etc. The current demand is at the level of thousands (k) per year.

Finally, Mr. Li introduced the Epticore roadmap of ToF sensor technology to the audience. Based on the experience accumulated in the miniaturization and packaging of ToF modules, as well as the consistent and steady pragmatic style, Epticore is creating its own unique new mode of combination of production and research in the field of ToF sensors!

Epticore ToF sensor Roadmap