Di Shan Technology Image Sensor Chip Semiconductor Manufacturing: Lighting up the Intelligent Vision with the "Smart Eye" Core

Overview

In an era witnessing the rapid development of artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, intelligent security, medical imaging, and consumer electronics, image sensors—serving as the core perceptual organs that enable machines to "see" the world—are playing an increasingly pivotal role. From the photography function of smartphones and the visual perception of autonomous vehicles, to the high-precision imaging of medical devices and the intelligent recognition of industrial robots, image sensor chips have become indispensable "eyes" of modern technology. As an innovative enterprise focusing on cutting-edge technology and high-end manufacturing, Dishan Technology has actively deployed itself in the semiconductor manufacturing field of image sensor chips. Relying on an independently controllable process platform and systematic R&D capabilities, the company is committed to building high-performance, high-reliability, and localized image sensing "Made-in-China chips", facilitating the independence and upgrading of China's intelligent vision industry. In the highly technologically-barriered and fiercely internationally-competitive semiconductor track, Dishan Technology is writing a new chapter of China's intelligent manufacturing with "chips" as its brush.

Image sensors represent a technology-intensive and widely-applied key segment in the semiconductor industry chain, whose performance directly affects the perception accuracy and response speed of intelligent devices. Dishan Technology has identified image sensor chip manufacturing as one of its core strategic directions, adhering to the development tenet of "technology leadership and independent controllability", and focusing on the wafer manufacturing and advanced process development of CMOS Image Sensors (CIS). The company not only dedicates itself to traditional fields but also sets its sights on the future—it focuses on breaking through key technologies such as Back-Side Illumination (BSI), Stacked architecture, pixel miniaturization, and low-noise imaging, all of which constitute the core barriers of high-end image sensors. For instance, in 2022, Dishan Technology successfully developed and mass-produced a new generation of BSI-CIS, whose imaging quality reached internationally advanced levels and has been widely applied in smartphones and industrial manufacturing equipment. Through sustained R&D investment, Dishan Technology has gradually filled the gap in domestic high-end manufacturing, broken the monopoly of foreign enterprises in the high-end CIS manufacturing field, and built a solid technological moat for China's intelligent vision industry. In terms of business model, the company adopts a dual-wheel driven strategy of "design-manufacturing collaboration": on the one hand, as an open Foundry, it provides customized manufacturing services for domestic and foreign chip design companies to meet diverse market demands; on the other hand, relying on its independent process platform, it develops self-branded image sensors to achieve full-chain control from technology to products. This "technology platform + product implementation" model not only ensures manufacturing flexibility but also provides a sustainable verification ground for technological innovation, forming a unique competitive advantage.

Dishan Technology has built an internationally advanced dedicated manufacturing production line for image sensors, with core technical capabilities covering the entire process from materials to packaging, thus forming a strong technological barrier:

- Back-Side Illumination (BSI) Process Platform: It subverts the limitation of traditional Front-Side Illumination (FSI) structure where light has to penetrate the circuit layer by placing photodiodes under the circuit layer, significantly improving quantum efficiency and low-light imaging performance. This technology enables sensors to capture clear images even in dark environments, making it particularly suitable for scenarios such as smartphone night photography, security monitoring, and vehicle-mounted cameras. Dishan Technology's BSI process has achieved mass production, and its product performance has reached the level of international first-tier brands.

- Stacked CIS Integration Technology: By vertically stacking the pixel layer and the logic layer, it not only greatly reduces chip size but also significantly improves data reading speed and image processing capabilities. This technology meets the requirements of high-frame-rate and high-resolution video shooting, providing key support for high-dynamic scenarios such as AR/VR devices and action cameras.

- Deep Trench Isolation (DTI) and Microlens Array Processes: Through micron-level precision DTI technology, it effectively suppresses optical crosstalk between pixels and improves color reproduction; combined with customized microlens array design, it further optimizes light focusing efficiency and expands dynamic range, enabling sensors to present delicate image quality even in alternating bright and dark environments.

- Wafer-Level Packaging (WLP) and Chip Scale Package (CSP) Capabilities: Advanced packaging technologies are adopted to achieve chip miniaturization and high integration, while reducing power consumption and costs. This capability provides an ideal solution for applications with strict size requirements such as smartphones and wearable devices.

- Low Dark Current and High Dynamic Range (HDR) Process Optimization: Through material improvement and process innovation, dark current is reduced to the industry-leading level; combined with multi-frame synthesis HDR technology, sensors can retain rich details even under extreme lighting conditions (such as nighttime or direct strong light), and the imaging quality is comparable to human eye visual experience.

 

The breakthroughs in these technologies not only mark Dishan Technology's international competitiveness in manufacturing processes but also open the door to the high-end market for domestic image sensors.

In the field of semiconductor manufacturing, yield and stability are core indicators to measure a factory's competitiveness. Dishan Technology's image sensor manufacturing base adopts a full-process automated production system, deeply integrating the concept of Industry 4.0:

- Intelligent Manufacturing Platform: It integrates systems such as Manufacturing Execution System (MES), Equipment Automation Platform (EAP), and Statistical Process Control (SPC) to realize full-process digital management from wafer incoming inspection to finished product testing. Each wafer is assigned a unique ID, which records data such as temperature, humidity, and process parameters in real time, ensuring the production process is traceable, analyzable, and optimizable. Through the intelligent manufacturing platform, Dishan Technology has significantly improved production efficiency, reduced operating costs, and enhanced product quality and reliability, thereby consolidating its leading position in the semiconductor manufacturing field.

- Clean Production Environment: The core workshop meets the ISO Class 5 (equivalent to Class 100 cleanliness) standard, equipped with high-efficiency air filtration systems and vibration control devices to eliminate the impact of environmental factors such as dust and static electricity on micron-level processes, ensuring product yield and long-term reliability.

- Stringent Quality System: The company strictly implements international certification standards such as IATF16949 (automotive electronics), ISO9001, and ISO14001, establishing a full-life-cycle quality control system covering design verification, process monitoring, and finished product testing. All products must pass dozens of rigorous verifications including high-temperature aging tests, ESD protection tests, and reliability life assessments, ensuring stable operation in extreme environments ranging from -40℃ to 125℃ to meet the stringent requirements of high-demand scenarios such as automotive, industrial, and medical fields.

This "intelligent manufacturing + ultimate quality control" model enables Dishan Technology's product yield to maintain an industry-leading level and has won high trust from customers.

The image sensor chips manufactured by Dishan Technology have been deeply integrated into multiple fields, becoming the "visual engine" of the intelligent era:

- Intelligent Automotive: It provides ultra-wide-angle low-distortion sensors for vehicle-mounted surround-view systems, supporting 360° panoramic perception with a resolution of up to 8 million pixels to ensure clear and distortion-free images; it develops high-dynamic range sensors for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) to achieve accurate obstacle recognition at night and under strong light with a response time as low as 20 milliseconds, ensuring real-time decision-making; in-cabin monitoring sensors support real-time analysis of driver status to improve driving safety and can accurately detect driver fatigue.

- Consumer Electronics: In the smartphone field, the company's small-pixel high-resolution sensors help smartphone cameras break through the "100-megapixel" threshold; low-power high-frame-rate sensors developed for tablets and AR/VR devices deliver smooth virtual reality experiences.

- Security Monitoring: Ultra-low-illumination night vision sensors can capture clear images even in starlight conditions, and wide-dynamic sensors accurately restore details in strong light and backlight scenarios, providing a "clairvoyant eye" for urban security and smart transportation.

- Medical Imaging: Miniaturized, high-sensitivity endoscope image sensors support precise minimally invasive surgery; sensors in portable ultrasound devices achieve high-definition real-time imaging, promoting the improvement of primary medical diagnosis levels.

- Industrial Vision: High-resolution, anti-interference sensors developed for machine vision systems empower industrial quality inspection, automated sorting, and precise UAV navigation, driving the upgrading of intelligent manufacturing.

Through in-depth strategic cooperation with many leading module manufacturers and terminal equipment suppliers, Dishan Technology's products have been mass-applied in flagship products of well-known brands such as Huawei, Xiaomi, and BYD, becoming a benchmark case for localized substitution. The company not only provides standard products but also has rapid customized development capabilities, which can optimize pixel structures, packaging solutions, and interface protocols according to customer needs to achieve one-stop solutions from chips to modules.

Against the backdrop of increasing volatility in the global semiconductor supply chain, Dishan Technology attaches great importance to Business Continuity Management (BCM) in the manufacturing link and has built a multi-dimensional resilience guarantee system:

- Multi-source Supply Chain Network: It adopts an "N+1" backup strategy for key materials and equipment, establishes strategic cooperative relationships with world-leading suppliers, and actively cultivates domestic alternative suppliers to reduce geopolitical risks.

- Emergency Response Mechanism: It has established a spare parts library for key equipment and an off-site data backup center, formulated emergency plans for extreme situations such as natural disasters and cyberattacks, and regularly conducts simulation drills for "black swan" events to ensure that production lines can resume operation within 48 hours.

- Flexible Capacity Allocation: Through a digital production scheduling system, it realizes dynamic production line scheduling, which can quickly switch process nodes and product models according to market demand to flexibly respond to order fluctuations.

- Green Manufacturing and ESG Practices: It adopts energy-saving production equipment and renewable energy, optimizes wastewater and waste gas treatment processes, practices the concept of sustainable development, and improves the long-term stability of the supply chain.

This forward-looking supply chain management enables Dishan Technology to demonstrate strong risk resistance in industry fluctuations, ensure the stable delivery of customer orders, and win long-term cooperation with global customers.

Faced with the infinite possibilities of the intelligent era, Dishan Technology will continue to increase R&D investment and deploy more disruptive cutting-edge technologies:

- Event Camera: Breaking through the limitations of traditional frame rates, it captures dynamic changes in real time in an "event-triggered" mode, opening up new paths for high-speed scene perception and low-power applications.

- SPAD Image Sensor: Based on Single-Photon Avalanche Diode technology, it develops high-sensitivity direct Time-of-Flight (dToF) sensors to empower lidar and 3D vision systems, facilitating autonomous driving and metaverse interaction.

- Multi-spectral Imaging Technology: Integrating visible light, infrared, and ultraviolet bands, it develops cross-border applications such as environmental perception and health monitoring, expanding the perception dimensions of image sensors.

- Wafer-Level Optical System: It integrates optical components such as microlens arrays and filters with sensors for integrated manufacturing, achieving "system-on-chip" level optical performance and promoting breakthroughs in miniaturization and integration.

The company plans to invest in building a new generation of dedicated image sensor manufacturing production lines within the next three years, introducing advanced process equipment such as EUV lithography to further improve production capacity and process precision. Meanwhile, it will deepen cooperation with universities and research institutions to establish an "industry-university-research-application" collaborative innovation platform and accelerate the transformation of technological achievements.

Image sensors are the "insightful eyes" connecting the physical world and the digital world, and the "infrastructure" of the intelligent era. With semiconductor manufacturing as the foundation and technological innovation as the engine, Dishan Technology is constantly breaking through process limits and enhancing the "vision" of domestic products. From micron-level pixel design to nanometer-level process precision, from technological breakthroughs in laboratories to stable delivery in mass production lines, Dishan Technology has used its decade-long craftsmanship to shine the light of "Made-in-China chips" in the cameras of intelligent vehicles, the displays of medical devices, and the monitoring screens of security systems... In the tide of the intelligent era, Dishan Technology will use "chips" as its brush to depict a magnificent picture of China's image sensor industry and light up the intelligent future of the Internet of Everything. In the future, when every pair of "machine eyes" shines with the brilliance of China's intelligent manufacturing, the name of Dishan Technology will surely be engraved on the historical monument of the semiconductor industry.