Theses›Industrial›Spectral imaging

Spectral imaging

Capturing spectral information beyond plain RGB on a chip, for material and chemical identification, is one coherent space, not four.

  • Shut

The call, a draftThe restraints are winning for chip makers: imec licenses spectral filters on standard CMOS wafers to everyone, so the profit moves to the models and data held by customers. The market grows about 7-15% a year, and the window is structural.

D1D2D3R1R2R3C1foragainst D1D2D3R1R2R3C1foragainst
Fig. 1The balance. Drivers and catalysts against restraints, each block sized by its weight; catalysts hang dashed because they have not happened yet, sized by their odds. It tips toward the restraints.
  1. D1Short-wave infrared detector costs fell about 35% in 2024-25, and lead-free quantum dots remove the RoHS barrier to consumer short-wave infrared.
  2. D2AI makes a spectral fingerprint usable for classifying materials in process control, food, agriculture, gas and consumer devices.
  3. D3Infrared and short-wave infrared make up about 35-40% of spectral sensor value and the snapshot form factor grows at 18-22% a year.
  4. R1imec put quantum-dot photodiodes on metasurfaces onto its 300mm CMOS pilot line (IEDM, Dec 2025), claiming an order-of-magnitude cost gain, and licenses the process to all comers.
  5. R2ams-OSRAM already ships 11- to 18-channel multispectral sensors and a hyperspectral infrared part, and works with BASF on consumer infrared, so the consumer chip layer is contested.
  6. R3Device brands keep the biomarker and classification models in-house, so a chip supplier sells a $10-15 part and leaves the data loop to the customer.
  7. C1A spectral chip supplier wins a named device-maker design that locks its chip in, or shows a data and model loop with documented switching costs.31 Dec 2027
What would prove itdated tests, open and resolved
20272028today1watch 20272028today1watch
Fig. 2Each ring is a dated test: dashed while open, struck through when overdue, ticked or crossed once resolved.
  1. 1How widely imec's filter-on-CMOS process is licensed.Dec 2027 · open
Expressionslisted, private, technologies
Private · 4 private companies.

S-Sentia · nanoplus · Sentec · Kuva Space

28 more private companies tracked, not shown

Technologies
What changedthe record, newest first
  • 23 Jun 2026In spectral imaging the chip is being commoditised by a neutral licensable wafer process, so the value is in the data and model loop, not the sensor; the chip layer is a public read, not a venture bet.