Sony has today announced that it plans to invest more and to increase the production capacity for stacked CMOS image sensors. According to the press release the company is planning to invest 80 billion yen which is close to a billion dollars.
The investment is basically for new a wafer processing equipment for stacked CMOS image sensors, and to increase and transform wafer lines capable of manufacturing CMOS image sensors.
Now what is this new stacked CMOS image sensor? Well the whole camera assembly including the circuits and the sensor are stacked on top of one another rather than side by side. This saves a lot of precious space inside the smartphone.
The sensor also enables you to shoot HDR videos and will probably debut on the Sony Xperia GX which will be hitting the Japanese market by next month.