Toshiba today announced new 8-megapixel CMOS sensor featuring new 1.12 micrometer pixel, industry’s smallest pixel size. However, even though the pixel size is smaller Toshiba claims that they have enhanced sensitivity and improved imaging performance of back-side illumination technology (BSI).

Toshiba says, as smartphones get smaller and their image sensors continue to offer higher resolutions, now in a range from 5M pixels to 8M pixels, the challenge here is of smaller pixels, where miniaturization can result in a fall off in performance. BSI overcomes this and brings a new level of responsiveness to CMOS imaging. BSI sensors deploy lenses on the rear of the sensor, on its silicon substrate, not on the front, where wiring limits light absorption. This positioning boosts light sensitivity and absorption, and allows formation of finer image pixels in smaller CMOS image sensors, bringing it more suitable for motion pictures applications as well.

By using BSI technology and decreasing the pixel size to 1.12 micrometer, Toshiba was able to pack 8.08 million pixels into a ¼-inch CMOS sensor. Sampling of the new sensor will begin at the end of this month and mass production will follow from the end of 2011.