Panasonic AU-V35C1G MOS Details

Newly Developed

super 35mm MOS SENSOR

REFERENCE MANUAL

VARICAM 35 Newly Developed super 35mm MOS SENSOR REFERENCE MANUAL

July, 2015

Revision Date Explanation

Rev.1.2 July, 2015 First Edition

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VARICAM 35 Newly Developed super 35mm MOS SENSOR REFERENCE MANUAL

Summary

Panasonic recently developed the "VARICAM 35", a modular camera system comprised of a

camera “head” module (AU-V35C1G) and a recorder module (AU-VREC1G). The

“VARICAM35” camera is equipped with a newly developed super35mm MOS sensor, and

records using the "AVC-ULTRA" family of Video CODECs for 4K / UHD / 2K and HD

recordings.

The new super 35mm size MOS sensor in the "VARICAM 35" has very wide color gamut,

and an effective 8.9 million pixels. Yet it easily achieves a wide dynamic range of 14 + stops.

In addition, it provides the characteristic shallow depth of field of super 35mm cinema format,

combined with the required high resolution for native 4K recording.

This document explains the Panasonic newly developed s35mm imager technology and

MOS Sensor developed for the high-performance "VARICAM 35" camera system.

1. Introduction

The digital video production process is quite common now in the video production industry

because of some advantages such as efficiency of production workflows, Video quality and

CG workflows. The type and number of digital video camera available on the market has

also greatly expanded. The optical system for the camera is required to be the same as that

of a super35mm camera, which features a single large-sized sensor, much different to the

conventional 2/3” 3 imager / prism EFP video camera. Moreover, in order to meet the

various demands of video producers, namely; wide latitude (dynamic range), high sensitivity,

and high-frame rate capture are also required. Initially the large format cameras were of

the HD or 2K (2048 (H) × 1080 (V)) resolution class, now various 4K (4096 (H) × 2160 (V))

cameras are available and in use.

With this camera market growing, Panasonic decided to develop a 4K camera / recorder, to

be known as the "VARICAM 35". In developing this camera, it was critically important to

realize true 4K high-resolution, wide dynamic range and high-frame rate recording, plus the

expected features like VFR (variable frame rate) recording, VFR was one of the strengths of

the earlier Panasonic VariCam 2/3” cameras. To achieve this, Panasonic has developed a

MOS sensor specifically designed to match the newly designed super35mm 4k optics. The

following describes the new technology that has been integrated in the new sensor.

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VARICAM 35 Newly Developed super 35mm MOS SENSOR REFERENCE MANUAL

2. The Design Criteria for the new Image Sensor.

As the image sensor used in this camera of the video production field applications, the

following requirements were considered the most important points, in order to meet the

various requirement from video creators to represent their creative ideas.

(1) Wide dynamic range to achieve the 14 stops and more.

(2) High Sensitivity to allow shooting in low light.

(3) VFR (Variable Frame Rate) high-speed imaging

With such a requirement, in order to achieve at a high pixel count for 4K signal, Panasonic

developed the new technologies for image sensors by merging the experience from our

semiconductor technology group, with that of the high-quality camera system design

tradition that has been cultivated for many years for the broadcast and professional video

industry.

In the next section, the detail of the introduced technologies to achieve the superb

performance and the unique functions will be described.

3. New technology of the new image sensor

The specification of newly developed image sensor is shown in Table 3-1. When

compared with the HD (or 2K) conventional image sensor with the same optical size., As

UHD/ 4k imagers have twice the horizontal and vertical number of pixels, the pixel area will

be very small as compared to a n HD 35mm imager, as ¼ of the effective size. Therefore, it

is necessary to generate a four times performance improvement for 4K, to achieve

equivalent performance at 2K

Further, imager clocking speeds are proportional to the increase in the number of vertical

pixel columns, so in order to achieve the same frame rate, the operating speed is also

required to be doubled for the pixel read speed and ADC.

This chapter will describe the details of the technology developed and implemented to

achieve the desired performance at 4k levels.

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Image sensor size ( effective area) 26.688 (H) mm × 143.848 (V) mm

Effective pixels 4448 (H) × 2308(V)

Total Pixels 5160(H) × 2408 (V)

Size of Pixel 6.0 (H) μm × 6.0 (V) μm

Color Filter pattern R,G,B Bayer Pattern

VARICAM 35 Newly Developed super 35mm MOS SENSOR REFERENCE MANUAL

Subject Specification

Table 3-1. Specification of Image Sensor

3-1. High Dynamic Range and High Sensitivity technology

Figure 3-1-1 shows the electric potential distribution of the high-capacity photodiodes of this

image sensor. By modifying the photosite well design, the charge capacity of the photodiode

is boosted 1.3 times over a conventional well. Larger well capacity means more charge,

which equates to higher dynamic range before well saturation.

Fig. 3-1-1 High capacity Photodiodes

In addition, high sensitivity is one aspect of the imager design vigorously pursued. The

improvement of the light-harvesting performance was accomplished by optimizing the

curvature of the on-chip lens that forms on top of the photodiode, and also the silicon’s

photoelectric conversion efficiency.

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