Many Industries Covet Smaller, Faster Imaging

Following the trend of squeezing more power and function into a smaller package, chip makers are rolling out a new line of imaging technology that will make it cheap enough to put cameras everywhere--from inside your car to inside your body.

“We’re building cameras on a single chip,” said David Escobar, director of digital imaging at Rockwell Semiconductor Systems Inc. in Newport Beach. “It’s the Holy Grail of the digital imaging industry, and we’re just starting to see the technology emerging.”

Traditional digital cameras use a charge-coupled device, or a CCD, which can detect light. But here’s the downside: The mechanism needs between three and eight chips to work, and must rely on additional devices to process an image.

Enter the CMOS, or complementary metal-oxide semiconductor, which uses the same technology for making regular computer chips. Cheaper to make than a CCD, these devices can combine both the imaging and processing on a single chip.

Manufacturers like Rockwell, Photobit and VLSI Vision are rolling out products that will initially be put inside toys and digital cameras, Escobar said. But other markets are eager to embrace the technology.

Auto makers could build them to recognize whether the front-seat passenger is an adult or a child--and trigger the appropriate air bag during a collision. Airline engineers could install a slew of cameras inside the body of a plane, and use the devices to track structural problems. And biomedical firms see the possibility of creating mini-cameras that could be implanted inside a person after a surgery, so doctors could monitor the healing process.

P.J. Huffstutter covers high technology for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7830 and at p.j.huffstutter@latimes.com