Samsung Galaxy S5 camera under the microscope: in-house Samsung sensors make fast auto-focus magic possible

After years of reliance on Sony camera image sensors in its flagships, this year, Samsung is finally ready to ship the Galaxy S5 with its own, in-house ISOCELL sensor that the company claims could be the next key breakthrough for mobile cameras after the arrival of backside-illuminated (BSI) sensors.

BSI camera sensors improved the sensitivity of the sensor hugely, paving the way for higher-resolution (most notably, 13-megapixel) mobile cameras with smaller, 1.1µm pixels. Now, ISOCELL technology builds up on BSI, as it claims to bring another leap in light sensitivity, while reducing noise, and capturing a higher dynamic range.

Chipworks put the 16-megapixel main and the 2-megapixel secondary camera sensor of the Galaxy S5 under the microscope to show what secrets ISOCELL hides, and the images it captured verify that we indeed have Samsung-made camera sensor in the S5.

The main, 16-megapixel camera sensor carries the model name ‘S5K2P2XX’ and features 1.12µm sized pixels. The front-facing 2MP camera has the ‘S5K8B1YX03’ model name, and it also comes with 1.12µm pixel pitch. Chipworks has already showed us a vertical X-ray image of an ISOCELL sensor showing how Samsung is the first to combine advanced features like front deep trench isolation (F-DTI) and Vertical Transfer Gate (VTG) in a mobile camera sensor.

What’s particularly interesting, though, is that Samsung is also one of the first companies to implement phase detection auto-focus pixels that allow the AF mechanism to lock focus in just 0.3 seconds. Indeed, pairs of phase detection pixels are positioned almost entirely throughout the sensor pixel array.