The Big Picture: CMOS Image Sensors From Zero to Billions and Beyond 
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Wednesday, September 9, 2015 Eric Fossum
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ABSTRACT:
This talk will discuss the technology story behind CMOS image sensors, from invention to state of the art ubiquitous imaging. We will also discuss some of the fundamental scientific principles behind image sensor operation and limits. The Quanta Image Sensor, a new paradigm in image acquisition will also be introduced. The QIS moves the process of image formation from the physical pixel to a computational environment through the use of spatial and temporal oversampling, and the elimination of read noise.
BIOGRAPHY:
Dr. Eric Fossum is a Professor at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth and Director of the School’s Ph.D. Innovation Program. He is a semiconductor device physicist and engineer specializing in image sensor technology. He is best known for the invention of the CMOS image sensor now used in billions of cameras. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2011.
He received his B.S. in Physics and Engineering from Trinity College in 1979, his Ph.D. from Yale in 1984 and became an EE faculty member at Columbia University. In 1990 he was recruited to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech where he managed JPL’s image sensor and focal-plane technology R&D and invented the CMOS image sensor. He then co-founded and led Photobit Corporation to commercialize the technology. Photobit was acquired by Micron in 2001. He later served as CEO of Siimpel Corporation to commercialize MEMS auto-focus actuators for camera phones. Siimpel was subsequently acquired by Tessera. He worked with Samsung Electronics before joining Dartmouth in 2010.
He has published over 280 technical papers and holds over 150 US patents.
He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Charter Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He and his wife operate a hobby farm in New Hampshire and he enjoys his time on his tractor.
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