"Obsidian Sensors Unveils SVGA (800x600) Thermal Imaging Sensor, Progressing Toward HD Resolution While Maintaining Low Cost"

SAN DIEGO, April 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Obsidian Sensors is pleased to announce its new higher resolution thermal imaging sensor: SVGA (800x600) on a 17um pixel pitch. The new sensors were fabricated on large glass substrates at Obsidian's manufacturing partner, Innolux, in its T3 LTPS fab in Jhunan, Taiwan. Over a very short period of time, we increased the resolution of the sensor by over 50% by scaling our pixel to the 17um node, a testament to the strong and effective collaboration with Innolux, our manufacturing partner. 

While our competitors are struggling to meet the aggressive price targets for mass market adoption by reducing the resolution of their sensors, we are taking full advantage of our revolutionary manufacturing platform to produce even higher resolution sensors at the same price point. These SVGA sensors are vacuum-packaged at the wafer level and have a very similar form factor to our existing VGA sensors that have already shipped to numerous customers worldwide.

With JDI (Japan Display Inc.) on board as our second manufacturing partner, we will be cementing our ability to provide thermal imaging at unprecedented volume scale and pricing, something the world needs in so many ways today. "The SVGA microbolometer focal plane will be available to customers later this year. A further shrink to SXGA (1280x1024) at 12um is planned for introduction in 2026 to meet the most demanding applications including thermal imaging applications for dual-use robotics," says John Hong, CEO and co-founder of Obsidian Sensors. 

The silicon versus glass substrate choice is foreign to most people that work in thermal imaging but now that we have eliminated all of the technical risks in manufacturing on large glass substrates with high yielding microbolometers on glass a reality, we are focused on executing on our roadmap that will lead to SXGA (1280x1024) in 2026, FHD (1920x1080) in 2027 and 4K (3840x2160) in 2028. As a true dual-use technology, we address commercial markets in automotive, security and industrial sectors and also defense applications that make use of commercial parts.

Based in San Diego, California, Obsidian Sensors spun out of Qualcomm in 2017 to develop and manufacture a new type of microbolometer built on glass substrates using flat panel display manufacturing tools. The LAMP (Large Area MEMS Platform) manufacturing technology is a surface micromachining process that is integrated with high performance LTPS TFT (low temperature polysilicon thin film transistors) that can be used to fabricate microbolometers and other MEMS devices at the lowest cost and highest volume capability.

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SOURCE Obsidian Sensors