Huawei dares to develop its own CMOS image sensor. The move comes amid sanctions that have caused friction between Huawei and lens supplier Sony. According to a source on Weibo, the development process extends from wafer to chip and includes many innovative changes, including the thinning of stop layers associated with epitaxial layers. These innovations ensure compatibility with common Back Illumination (BSI) technology.

Why did Huawei create a new CMOS sensor?

When sanctions hit Huawei, Sony, the original supplier of image sensors, stopped supply, affecting both companies. Sony requested permission to restart supplies, but its relations with Huawei were already strained. As a result, Sony’s annual revenue dropped by billions of dollars due to the suspension of CMOS sales to Huawei.

This initiative is not exclusive to Huawei; Many domestic manufacturers in China are exploring the development of their own CMOS sensors. In January last year, at CES 2022, another Chinese brand, OMNIVISION, introduced its 200-megapixel CMOS sensor called OVB0B. It has a resolution of 16384 × 12288 pixels, holds the record for the world’s smallest pixel size (0.61 µm), and has a large 1/1.28 inch sensor. It can also output 12.5 million pixels equivalent to 2.44 µm at a 16:1 ratio.

The recently launched Huawei Mate60 series could potentially be one of the last series to use Sony sensors as the upcoming P70 series or Mate70 series is expected to introduce a new CMOS image sensor with Huawei’s own design. Huawei’s venture into proprietary CMOS technology, along with innovations such as the Kirin 9000S, is a significant step forward for the company and brings promising advancements to its product line.