Detectors & Imaging

Isorg and FlexEnable win award for flexible biometric image sensor on plastic

July 20, 2017

The large-size, high-resolution (500 dpi) flexible plastic fingerprint sensor won a 2017 Best of Sensors Expo award.

The Sensors Expo 2017 award win for Isorg and FlexEnable brings the 500 dpi fingerprint sensor on a flexible substrate for biometric applications wider industry recognition.

Printed organic photodetectors and large-area image sensors manufacturer Isorg (Grenoble, France) and its first, large-sized, high-resolution (500 dpi) flexible plastic fingerprint sensor, co-developed with flexible electronics company FlexEnable (Cambridge, England), won the 2017 Best of Sensors Expo (http://www.sensorsexpo.com/) Silver Applications Award.

The high-resolution, ultrathin, 500 dpi flexible image sensor (sensitive from visible to near-infrared wavelengths) conforms to three-dimensional (3D) shapes, setting it apart from conventional image sensors. The device provides dual detection: fingerprinting as well as vein matching. Due to its large-area sensing and high-resolution image quality, the companies say their device is highly suited to biometric applications from fingerprint scanners and smartcards to mobile phones, where accuracy and robustness as well as cost-competiveness are key.

Several biometric solution providers have sampled the flexible image sensor, verifying its readiness for deployment in products and compliance with FBI Image Quality Standards (IQS).

"Isorg is very honored to have received an international award for our groundbreaking high-resolution flexible image sensor technology whilst attending the most important global trade event dedicated to sensor innovations," said Emmanuel Guerineau, general manager and CFO at Isorg. "We are delighted to have collaborated with FlexEnable to produce the world's first printed electronics image sensor that overcomes the limitations of traditional sensors. Biometric solution providers will be able to take advantage of the key differentiating factors that our technology brings, such as customized formats in large and small sizes, and easy integration. We see these opening up new opportunities across multiple applications."

Isorg is planning to launch high-volume production of the flexible image sensor at its new plant in Limoges, France, in order to support its large-scale commercialization in the global biometrics market. The global biometrics hardware market is expected to grow from $3.9 billion in 2016 to $6.2 billion by 2021, according to Yole Développement.

Central to the 500 dpi flexible image sensor is an organic photodiode (OPD), a printed structure developed by Isorg that converts light into current--responsible for capturing the fingerprint. Isorg also developed the readout electronics, the forensics quality processing software, and the optics to enable seamless integration in products. FlexEnable developed the organic TFT backplane technology, an alternative to amorphous silicon. This partnership between the two companies began in Q4 2013.

"We are delighted that the large area flexible fingerprint sensor we developed with Isorg has been recognized with such a prestigious award. Thanks to being thin, light and glass-free, the sensor can be conformed to almost any surface to enable new form factors and use cases not possible with conventional fingerprint sensors," said Paul Cain, strategy director at FlexEnable.

Designed on a large area (7.62 cm x 8.13 cm) plastic substrate, the flexible image sensor is ultrathin (300 microns), lightweight, compact, and highly resistant to shock.

SOURCE: Andrew Lloyd & Associates; http://www.ala.com/isorg-and-flexenable-win-industry-award-for-first-high-resolution-flexible-image-sensor-designed-on-plastic/

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.