Sony has published a revised schedule for last orders of its CCD line. The company has extended its last-time-buy deadline by seven months until March 2016, according to a LinkedIn post by Dr Ronald Müller, formally of Framos and now running a consulting service called Vision Markets. The date has yet to be confirmed by Sony.
The last order date for CCD sensors was subject to discussion, although Müller said that last-time-buy quantities from Sony’s distributors and direct customers was originally by August of this year. The extension gives camera OEMs more time to decide on the quantities of sensors they need before Sony’s CCD 200mm wafer line at the Kagoshima Technology Centre in Japan is shut down.
Sony will discontinue production of CCD sensors in March 2017, although that date relates to the wafer production only and assembly of the final CCD housing will continue until March 2020.
Sony Europe's Image Sensing Solutions (ISS) has said that it has no plans to discontinue any industrial camera products related to CCD sensor availability before March 2026.
The March 2016 last-time-buy date only relates to ‘A-rank’ sensors, according to Müller. He gives a list of the sensors that fall under the category in his post.
Related articles:
Sony to support CCD cameras until 2026
End of the line for the CCD? - Pierre Cambou at Yole Développement assesses what the move means for machine vision camera suppliers
Unconfirmed reports of Sony to discontinue CCDs
CMOS takes charge - Greg Blackman on the advances being made in image sensor technology for machine vision, including Sony’s first global shutter CMOS sensor
CMOS market to reach $13bn by 2018
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