News Article
CMOS Imaging Buy
Agilent Technologies has agreed to buy the intellectual property and certain other assets of Pixel Devices International, a developer of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor technology.
Agilent Technologies has agreed to buy the intellectual property and certain other assets of Pixel Devices International, a developer of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor technology. Upon the close of the transaction, Pixels key employees will join Agilents Semiconductor Products Group, including PDIs chief technical officer Boyd Fowler.
PDIs focus has been on ultra low noise CMOS image sensors for industrial and biomedical systems. Their "active reset" technology can reduce noise by one or two orders of magnitude compared with traditional CMOS pixel technologies. This enables low-light imaging for embedded cell phone cameras or for high-speed industrial and biomedical applications.
For its part, Agilent is currently developing miniature camera modules to be embedded in wireless handsets. Agilent plans to use PDIs low-noise technology to enhance low-light imaging.
The transaction is expected to close by mid-February, subject to closing conditions.
