Evolution of Ultra-high-speed Image Sensors

Abstract

The first digital high-speed video camera was developed in 1989. For about thirty years since then, the highest frame rate has exponentially increased from about 10³ fps to 10⁸ fps, and will reach 10⁹ to 10¹⁰ fps in the very near future. The evolution has been supported by successive innovations of the technology, such as: (1) since the middle of 1980s, solid-state image sensors enabling parallel and partial readout, (2) since 1989, digital high-speed video cameras with a separate digital recording box, (3) since 1996, burst image sensors with pixels each equipped with the in-situ memories or the pixel-based memories in the periphery of the sensor chip, and (4) since 2011, backside-illuminated and 3D-stacked high-speed image sensors. The history is reviewed, including on-going works. Ultimately, how fast can silicon image sensors operate? The solution is purely theoretically derived and presented.