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Riding on the successful trend of unlocking smartphones with 3D face recognition, Infineon has introduced a new 3D image sensor chip which makes the unlock-with-your-face feature smarter, faster and reliable.

Together with its innovation partner pmd Technologies, Infineon has developed a new 3D image sensor in its REAL3 chip family, based on Time-of-flight (ToF) technology. It enables the world’s smallest camera module for integration in smartphones with a footprint of less than 12 mm x 8 mm, including the receiving optics and VCSEL (Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser) illumination. Infineon and pmd Technologies presented their product innovation at CES 2018 from 9-12 January 2018, Las Vegas. Produced in Dresden and developed in Munich and Graz, the chip comes with expertise from Germany and Austria.

Market forecasts expect smartphones with 3D sensing functionality to increase from about 50 million units in the year 2017 to roughly 290 million units in 2019. Compared to other 3D sensor principles, such as stereoscopic light or structured light approaches, Time-of-flight offers advantages in performance, size and power consumption of battery-operated mobile devices.

Two factors provide the camera’s range and measurement accuracy: the intensity of the emitted and reflected infrared light, and the pixel sensitivity of the 3D image sensor chip. The REAL3 chip has 38,000 pixels with each pixel featuring the unique Suppression of Background Illumination (SBI) circuitry. It is tuned to work at 940 nm infrared light sources making the projected light invisible and improving the outdoor performance even further. Furthermore, the IRS238xC integrates a dedicated function to support Laser-Class-1 safety level of the complete solution.

Cameras of Infineon and pmd Technologies are the only ToF-based depth cameras integrated in commercially available smartphones. They have convinced leading camera module makers for mobile phones and are proven for efficient volume production with high yield. In addition, they do not have to be re-calibrated during use.

Samples of the new Infineon 3D image sensor chip are already available. Volume production is scheduled to start in Q4 2018. Software partners like Sensible Vision and IDEMIA offer application software for user face detection and authentication.