Photobit Unveils Image-Sensing Chips

Pasadena-based Photobit unveiled two new image-sensing chips designed to enable videoconferencing on personal computers and add video screens to cellular phones. Using the company’s complementary metal-oxide semiconductor--or CMOS--technology, the chips would be smaller and cheaper and require less power than traditional image-sensing chips that use charged-couple devices, Photobit said. The new chips can process 30 frames of video per second and could also be used in laptop and palmtop computers, he said. Drew Osterman, Photobit’s vice president of marketing, said the company expects to sell about 150,000 of the chips monthly, driving the unit cost down to less than $10. The company also said its “camera on a chip” technology has received a U.S. patent. Privately held Photobit recorded more than $4 million in sales last year and is expecting revenue in excess of $10 million this year.