We have been developing a three-dimensionally (3D) structured complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor (CIS), which has individual signal processing circuits in each pixel under the photoelectronic conversion area for high-performance and multi-functional operation. In this paper, we report on our experimental 3D integrated circuits developed using multi-stack technology, which enables us to fabricate 3D-CISs with small pixels. The results showed the fundamental operation of the prototype circuit, which indicates the feasibility of highly integrated 3D-CIS of More-than-Moore type applications.

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We successfully developed a novel methodology for the electrical design of the embedded-large scale integrated circuit (LSI) package used as the bottom package of Package-on-Package (PoP) structures. The developed methodology enables an existing chip with a peripheral pad layout for wire-bonding to be embedded into the organic interposer substrate. The key concepts of the methodology are a "grid-type" via layout surrounding the embedded LSI and the "signal-center" pad re-arrangement by using redistribution layer (RDL) on the embedded LSI. These concepts help reduce the bottom package thickness by 60%, as compared to a conventional non-embedded-type package. We also demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed methodology by fabricating PoP structures designed with these concepts. As well as complete device operations, the signal and power integrity of the developed PoP demonstrated better properties than those of the conventional PoP structure. This approach would essentially be cost-effective and useful, especially for set vendors, because expensive chip redesign is eliminated.

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The International Telecommunication Union has standardized many subjective assessment methods for stereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) and 2D video quality. The same methods are used for 3D and 2D videos. The assessment time, stability, and discrimination ability, which means the ability to identify differences in video quality, are important factors in subjective assessment methods. Many studies on these factors have been done for 2D video quality. However, these factors for 3D video quality have not been sufficiently studied. To address this, we conduct subjective quality assessments for 3D and 2D videos using the absolute category rating (ACR), degradation category rating (DCR), and double stimulus continuous quality-scale (DSCQS) methods that are defined in ITU Recommendations. We first investigate the Pearson's correlation coefficients and Spearman's rank correlation coefficients between different pairings of the three methods to clarify which method is most efficient in terms of assessment time. The different pairings of the three methods exhibit high coefficients. These results indicate that the order relation of the mean opinion score (MOS) and the distance between the MOSs for these methods are almost the same. Therefore, for generally investigating the quality characteristics, the ACR method is most efficient because it has the shortest assessment time. Next, we analyze the stability of these subjective assessment methods. We clarify that the confidence intervals (CIs) of the MOSs for 3D video are almost the same as those for 2D video and that the stability of the DCR method is higher than that of the other methods. The DSCQS method has the smallest CIs for high-quality video. Finally, we investigate the discrimination ability of these subjective assessment methods. The results show that the DCR method performs better than the others in terms of the number of paired MOSs with a significant difference for low-quality video. However, we confirm that the DSCQS method performs better than the others for high-quality video.

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有機EL素子はキャリア注入型の素子であり,用いられる有機化合物により低分子系と高分子系に大別される.有機ELディスプレイを実現するためのキーテクノロジーは,素子そのものの発光特性の向上に加え, EL素子をパネル化するためのパターニング技術としての陰極隔壁の導入,封止技術にある.世界で最初に実用化された256×64ドットの緑色モノクロディスプレイに加え,現在はカーオーディオ用に4色工リアカラーディスプレイが採用され,フルカラーディスプレイも試作されている.

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本稿では，無線LANとBluetoothに着目し，狭帯域下でのホログラフィ立体動画像の無線伝送の可能性について検討する．エンコード条件を適切に設定すれば，立体動画像をBluetooth（無線）で十分に伝送可能であり，受信した動画ホログラムから高いコントラスト，かつ，滑らかな動画像が再生可能となることがわかった．

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紙，ディスプレイに続く第三のメディアとして電子ペーパーが近年，大きな注目を集めている．書き換え可能なデジタル情報を紙媒体のように見やすく持ち運べる電子ペーパーは，われわれの生活を一変するような可能性をもっている．筆者らは，最近見いだされた透明アモルファス酸化物半導体の「高移動度」，「低プロセス温度」，「透明性」という従来の半導体にない特色に着目し，電子ペーパーの画素駆動用TFTとして開発に取り組んでいる．ここでは，低プロセス温度の応用例として「フレキシブル電子ペーパー」を，また透明性の応用例として，新規ディスプレイ構造「フロント・ドライブ型カラー電子ペーパー」を紹介する．

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Videophone services over IP (Internet protocol) will become key services in the next-generation network (NGN). To provide a high-quality service for users, designing and managing the quality of experience (QoE) appropriately is extremely important. To do this, developing an objective quality assessment method that estimates subjective quality by using quality parameters of the videophone system is desirable. We propose a parametric-planning model for assessing video quality affected by coding and packet loss. The results indicated quality estimation accuracy was sufficient for practical use because the estimation errors of our model were equivalent to the statistical reliability of subjective assessment. Therefore, our model could be applied to effective design of video quality for videophone applications and networks. As an example of using our model, we show video-quality planning of videophone services.

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超高精細と高フレームレートを両立する次世代のイメージセンサを目指して、画素並列信号処理３次元構造イメージセンサの研究を進めている。今回、微細なAu電極を埋め込んだSOI基板の直接接合を用いて、フォトダイオード、パルス出力回路、カウンタを画素単位で３次元集積化し、入射光量に対応したパルスを発生してA/D変換を行うイメージセンサの試作に取り組んだ。その結果、QVGAフォーマット（320 × 240画素）の動画像センサとしての動作を確認するとともに、入射光量に対応した優れた線形性や96 dBの広いダイナミックレンジを得ることができ、将来の高性能なイメージセンサへの適用可能性を示した。

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Many subjective quality assessment methods have been standardized. Experimenters can select a method from these methods in accordance with the aim of the planned subjective assessment experiment. It is often argued that the results of subjective quality assessment are affected by range effects that are caused by the quality distribution of the assessment videos. However, there are no studies on the double stimulus continuous quality-scale (DSCQS) and absolute category rating with hidden reference (ACR-HR) methods that investigate range effects in the high-quality range. Therefore, we conduct experiments using high-quality assessment videos (high-quality experiment) and low-to-high-quality assessment videos (low-to-high-quality experiment) and compare the DSCQS and ACR-HR methods in terms of accuracy, stability, and discrimination ability. Regarding accuracy, we find that the mean opinion scores of the DSCQS and ACR-HR methods were marginally affected by range effects, although almost all common processed video sequences showed no significant difference for the high- and low-to-high-quality experiments. Second, the DSCQS and ACR-HR methods were equally stable in the low-to-high-quality experiment, whereas the DSCQS method was more stable than the ACR-HR method in the high-quality experiment. Finally, the DSCQS method had higher discrimination ability than the ACR-HR method in the low-to-high-quality experiment, whereas both methods had almost the same discrimination ability for the high-quality experiment. We thus determined that the DSCQS method is better at minimizing the range effects than the ACR-HR method in the high-quality range.

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暗視と非接触画像温度計測に用いられる非冷却赤外線イメージセンサ（IRFPA）は，熱型検出器を集積したMEMSデバイスである．MEMS技術により実現される高断熱画素構造は，感度向上に大きく寄与してきた．これまでいろいろな方式のMEMS非冷却IRFPAが考案されたが，ハイエンド領域では抵抗ボロメータ方式とSOIダイオード方式が進化を続けている．すでに，非冷却IRFPAの画素ピッチは12µmまで縮小されており，ハイビジョンに対応した解像度の素子も開発されている．本稿では，非冷却IRFPAの実用化までの道のりと，進歩の中でMEMS技術が果たした役割を紹介し，今後の展開を議論する．

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