Micron Technology, Inc., Announces Availability of New MT9M111 SOC Megapixel CMOS Image Sensor

-- Micron Technology, Inc., (NYSE:MU - News) today announced the availability of its new MT9M111 DigitalClarity(TM) System-on-a-Chip (SOC) 1.3-megapixel CMOS image sensor, designed specifically for camera-equipped cell-phones and PDAs - which are the fastest growing segments of the digital camera industry. The new MT9M111 SOC features all the functions of a camera on a single silicon sensor, offers Micron's revolutionary CMOS active-pixel technology and has demonstrated best-in-class performance in low-light situations - a key consideration for demanding cell-phone and PDA manufacturers. For camera designers, the SOC functionality simplifies the module manufacturing process and reduces overall system costs. The MT9M111 is currently available for general customer sampling.
"With this device, we are extending the exceptional performance of our VGA mobile sensor product into megapixel resolution," stated Micron Vice President of Imaging Bob Gove. "We brought together an incredibly talented team of engineers to develop a sophisticated SOC solution that achieves the best image quality possible. Low-light sensitivity in mobile devices is critical to providing the user a pleasant and compelling visual experience - particularly indoors. We've firmly established ourselves as a leader in developing SOC sensors capable of delivering superior VGA quality, and we're looking forward to duplicating that success in the megapixel arena with our fourth-generation digital image processing techniques. At Micron we have both the design and manufacturing resources to meet our customers' growing demand for higher quantities and higher resolution devices."

The MT9M111 SOC chip is a one-third inch low-power device, optimized using Micron's low leakage DRAM-based process and meets the extreme demands of the camera-phone industry. Equipped with Micron's proprietary DigitalClarity technology, the high-performance sensor delivers brilliant color images even under the poorest lighting conditions. Distinguishing performance advantages include: lower dark current, reduced crosstalk and lower temporal noise.

The sophisticated functions performed by the MT9M111's embedded programmable image flow processor include color recovery and correction, auto exposure, white balance, lens shading correction, sharpening, programmable gamma correction, black level offset correction, flicker avoidance, filtered resize with continuous, smooth digital zoom, fast auto-exposure modes, ultra-low power view-finding and on-the-fly defect correction. These functions are designed directly into the chip. Because it requires fewer parts, the MT9M111 minimizes board space, simplifies designs and enables a faster time-to-market.

Micron Technology, Inc., is one of the world's leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions. Through its worldwide operations, Micron manufactures and markets DRAMs, Flash memory, CMOS image sensors, other semiconductor components and memory modules for use in leading-edge computing, consumer, networking, and mobile products. Micron's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the MU symbol. To learn more about Micron Technology, Inc., visit its Web site at www.micron.com.

Micron and DigitalClarity are trademarks of Micron Technology, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.