Foveon – News

Since its establishment in 1997, Foveon has focused on the development of image capture technologies and products for digital cameras. The company’s X3 direct image sensors are the only image sensors that directly capture red, green, and blue light at every point in an image.

The design of the X3 direct image sensor leverages the natural color separation property of silicon. When silicon is exposed to light, blue light is absorbed near the surface, green light is absorbed deeper, and red light is absorbed deepest within the silicon. In Foveon X3 direct image sensors, pixels are placed at these corresponding depths in the silicon to detect the red, green, and blue light that has been absorbed. This stacked-pixel design ensures that all of the color is captured at every point in an image.

In contrast, the traditional CCD and CMOS image sensors used in today’s digital cameras capture only one color per pixel location and must mathematically interpolate the two colors not detected. This interpolation process results in false colors, reduced color resolution and color artifacts.