Canon confirms: The R3 sensor is ours

We posted this article back in April with a change in Canon UK's website about the R3 that seemed to potentially indicate that the sensor in the R3 was not manufactured by Canon.

We laid out some reasonable expectations that Canon simply didn't totally manufacture it because it made sense for the logic substrate to be manufactured by someone else or even they could have outsourced the fabrication.  It seems since we did that article back in April, other sites went off the deep end, to the point of suggesting that shooting with the R3 is basically shooting with a Sony camera because the sensor is most likely a Sony sensor, even though there are other just as probable scenarios.

Canon, most likely tired of all the nonsense, especially coming from one site, issued a statement to PetaPixel that emphatically stated;

The sensor in the upcoming EOS R3 camera is Canon designed and manufactured.

So there you have it. We can all sit back and be in awe of Canon's ability to upgrade its fabrication plants to support stacked sensors.  Special thanks to PetaPixel for chasing this down.

Nano-Imprinting to the rescue?

I'm curious if they are using any of NanoImprint technology.  Canon purchased Molecular Imprints back in 2014, which uses a different technology for lithography. In short, the entire wafer gets done all at once using inkjet technology. This was developed in conjunction with the University of Texas in Austin.  It may be a solution for Canon to really pack in the logic substrate as nanoimprint does a wafer at a time, and can go sub 5nm in design rules. Canon sells the FPA-1200NZ2C nanoimprint-based lithography unit that goes down to 10nm in design rules.  You can read more about Canon's nanoimprint technology here.  

I was always curious if nanoimprinting could be used for sensors, while I can't see why not, Canon has never said anything about it.  If nanoimprint could be used for sensors, all of a sudden - the game is changed.  The cost of a sensor goes down to the cost of a 12 or 18-inch silicon wafer and sensors of any size could be printed.  Canon full-sized medium format sensors? Check.  Full frame sensors far cheaper than we have now? Check.

With Canon having released the FPA-1200NZ2C a while ago, it stands to reason that Canon could be using that now in-house in their own fabrication plants.

Canon also released a white paper on the 1200NZ2C and you can download that paper below.