Samsung also recently presented (its) upcoming foundry process 17LPV (Low Power Value) more as a sideshow. However, it wasn't a state-of-the-art process that is vying for new miniaturization records - which is typically reported about a lot in the technology world. Rather, 17LPV has been designed more as a bread-and-butter process for chips that do not require the highest possible density, but are also significantly cheaper to manufacture. 17LPV is especially interesting for slashCAM readers, because it is to be used explicitly for camera sensors.
Samsung is taking a rather unconventional exposure route here, which actually uses two layers with different densities (14nm and 28 nm). Thus, the layer with wiring and circuits can have a different density than the photosites/sensels. The linked Anandtech article by Dr. Ian Cutress describes this very clearly.
The first application for 17LPV is expected to be in camera image signal processors from Samsung's own CMOS image sensor portfolio, with Samsung explicitly highlighting advantages in BSI stacking. In the specific case of 17 LPV, Samsung claims to achieve "39 percent higher performance or 49 percent higher energy efficiency compared to a conventional 28nm process."
While this information is primarily indicative of the future of Samsung's smartphone sensors, the fact that the competition generally operates at a similar level in terms of processes means that we can expect to see a fundamental halving of power consumption in sensors in the near future - at the very least. And that means either more sensors or more frames per second. Or simply cooler sensors in cameras that can do without active ventilation.
Above all, however, 17LPV shows that the end of the line has not yet been reached in sensor development, even if it sometimes seems that way to us these days. For example, the increased efficiency could also be used to push the rolling shutter even closer to the times of a global shutter - without having to accept the typical loss of dynamic range. So it remains exciting what we can expect from upcoming sensors...
