IMAGING Visible

Apple iPhone X capacities, with a standard offer from ams.

Upon acquiring MAZet in 2016, ams extended its leadership in advanced optical sensing. The acquisition brought to ams several innovative technologies, including spectral sensing. In developing its new AS726X multispectral sensor series, ams has not only maintained its place in Apple’s ambient light sensor supply chain, it’s also added a new multispectral sensor to its portfolio. With the AS726X series, ams provides a wide array of solutions, from an XYZ sensor and an NIR sensor to a visible light sensor made entirely of interferometric filters.

 

Offered as three separate devices, the AS726X multispectral sensor series provides three different sensing wavelengths, offering solutions for color matching (i.e. skin tone in the cosmetics industry) and food analysis. All three devices share the same package (4.5 x 4.7 x 2.5 mm) and configuration.

The AS726X sensors feature interferometric filters, allowing for a more robust, versatile approach than organic filters. In fact, the AS726 provides three different sensing behaviors in six different cells: true-color sensor, visible light sensor, and pure NIR sensor.

This report analyzes ams’ complete multi-spectral sensor portfolio, from sensor die to packaging. This report also includes a complete analysis of the package and sensor die, along with a cost analysis and a price estimate for the device. Moreover, it features a comparison with the ams interferometric multispectral sensor currently found in the Apple iPhone X. Overall, this report covers all of ams’ available technologies in spectral sensing.

Overview / Introduction

ams Company Profile

Physical Analysis

• Physical Analysis Methodology
• Package
  • View and dimensions
  • Package opening
  • Package cross-section: lenses, substrate

• Sensor Die
  • View, dimensions, and markings
  • Die process
  • Cross-section: substrate, pads, filters

• Physical Data Summary

Comparison with ams’ Multispectral Sensor in Apple’s iPhone X

Manufacturing Process Flow

• Sensor – Die Process
• Sensor – Wafer Fabrication Unit
• Sensor – Filter Process Flow
• Sensor – Filter Wafer Fabrication Unit
• Packaging Process Flow
• Final Assembly Unit

Cost Analysis

• Cost Analysis Overview
• Main Steps Used in the Economic Analysis
• Yield Hypotheses
• Sensor Die Cost
  • Sensor – front-end (FE) cost
  • Sensor – filter FE cost
  • Back-end – tests and dicing
  • Sensor – wafer and die cost

• Component
  • Packaging cost
  • Component cost

Estimated Sales Price Analysis

• Apple vs. Samsung: Ambient Light and Proximity Sensing Devices Comparison
• ams’s Color Sensor in the Apple iPhone 8
• STMicroelectronics’ Near Infrared Camera Sensor in the Apple iPhone X
• Apple iPhone X Special Offer
• ams’ Multi-Spectral Sensor in the Apple iPhone X
• ams’ Direct Time-of-Flight Detection SPAD-Based Proximity Sensor
• Status of the Camera Module Industry 2019 – Focus on Wafer Level Optics
• Apple iPhone X – Infrared Dot Projector
• Camera Module 2017 – Physical Analyses Overview
• Apple iPhone 7 Plus: Rear-Facing Dual Camera Module