InVisage Technologies

InVisage Technologies was founded by the company's current CTO Ted Sargent, a professor from the University of Toronto.{{cite web|url=http://light.utoronto.ca/team-members/prof-ted-sargent |title=Prof. Ted Sargent | Sargent Group |publisher=Light.utoronto.ca |access-date=2013-11-18}} While developing transmitters and receivers in his lab at U of T, he discovered an especially sensitive receiver, which formed the basis of InVisage's QuantumFilm technology.{{cite web|url=http://issuu.com/alexeeweb/docs/issue_71_-_jess_lee |title=EEWeb Pulse - Issue 71 by EEWeb |date=5 November 2012 |publisher=ISSUU |access-date=2013-11-18}} Sargent then secured the rights to the technology and founded InVisage in October 2006.{{cite web|url=https://venturebeat.com/2010/03/21/demo-invisages-quantumfilm-enables-gorgeous-camera-phone-pictures/ |title=DEMO: InVisage's QuantumFilm enables gorgeous camera phone pictures |publisher=VentureBeat |access-date=2013-11-18}} The company applied this technology toward mobile phone cameras.{{cite web|author=SPIE Europe Ltd |url=http://optics.org/indepth/1/1/1 |title=Timer set for silicon sensor switchover |publisher=Optics.org |access-date=2013-11-18}} In 2007, Jess Lee, a former vice president from OmniVision Technologies, joined InVisage as the company's CEO.{{cite web|author=Jess Lee |url=http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=112028266&privcapId=99936650&previousCapId=99936650&previousTitle=InVisage%20Technologies%20Inc |title=Jess Lee: Executive Profile & Biography - Businessweek |publisher=Investing.businessweek.com |access-date=2013-11-26}}{{dead link|date=April 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} Syrus Madavi serves as the company's chairman of the board of directors, having joined InVisage in 2012.{{cite web|author=Syrus P. Madavi |url=http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=256638&privcapId=24363932 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140314195721/http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=256638&privcapId=24363932 |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 14, 2014 |title=Syrus Madavi: Executive Profile & Biography - Businessweek |publisher=Investing.businessweek.com |access-date=2013-11-26}}

In February 2013, it was announced that the company had received $20 million in a Series D funding round led by GGV Capital that included Nokia Growth Partners as a new investor, with the company expecting to begin shipping devices with their sensors in the second quarter of 2014.{{cite web|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/02/14/smartphone-imaging-startup-invisage.html |title=Smartphone imaging startup InVisage gets over $20M - Silicon Valley Business Journal |publisher=Bizjournals.com |date=2013-02-14 |access-date=2013-11-18}}

On November 9, 2017, Apple, Inc. acquired InVisage Technologies.{{cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/09/apple-has-acquired-imaging-sensor-startup-invisage-technologies/ |title=TechCrunch|date=9 November 2017 }}

QuantumFilm Technology involves the creation of a film to coat the image sensors used in a cellphone camera, allowing it to capture more light, improving the quality of the images taken.{{cite news |last=Vance |first=Ashlee |author-link=Ashlee Vance |date=March 22, 2010 |title=Company Sees Leap for Cellphone Cameras |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/technology/22quantum.html?_r=1& |newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2013-11-18 }}{{cite web|url=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2010/03/demo-tech-conference-what-to-watch-for/1#.UopBP4XtWGJ |title=Demo tech conference: What to watch for |publisher=Content.usatoday.com |date=2010-03-22 |access-date=2013-11-18}} A typical camera phone pixel sensor is made up of several layers, with a layer of colored plastic or glass acting as a color filter sitting on top of several layers of metal connecting silicon electronic transistors together, which is itself on top of a base layer of silicon used by the sensor's electronic transistors and photodetectors. The light coming to the sensor has to pass through the layers of metal before reaching the silicon, a weak light absorber, so the sensor detects only about 25 percent of the light that makes up the image.{{cite web|last=Greenemeier |first=Larry |url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=quantum-dots-cell-camera |title=Light Improvement: Could Quantum Dots Boost the Quality of Cell Phone Pix? |publisher=Scientific American |date=2013-11-14 |access-date=2013-11-18}} QuantumFilm places a layer of semiconducting crystals - called quantum dots - on top of the chip, which allows the chip to absorb more light, place more pixels in a smaller space, and create sharper images.{{cite web|url=http://www.economist.com/node/15865270 |title=Camera-phones: Dotty but dashing |publisher=The Economist |date=2010-04-08 |access-date=2013-11-18}}

Using quantum dots is more efficient at capturing light than traditional silicon-based image sensor chips (capturing 90-95% of the light that hits it), giving the sensors higher sensitivity in low light as well as higher resolution.{{cite web|last=Shankland |first=Stephen |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20000786-264.html |title=InVisage aims to remake camera sensor market | Deep Tech - CNET News |publisher=News.cnet.com |date=2010-03-21 |access-date=2013-11-18}} And while traditional image sensors read an image from top to bottom (which can create a blurred image when the subject is moving), quantum dots detect the entire image at the same moment, reducing the chance for distortion.{{cite web |url=http://www.azosensors.com/news.aspx?newsID=1224 |title=InVisage's Revolutionary QuantumShutter Image Sensor |publisher=Azosensors.com |date=2010-09-30 |access-date=2013-11-18 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304071758/http://www.azosensors.com/news.aspx?newsID=1224 |url-status=dead }}

Invisage holds patents related to the development of QuantumFilm technology, as well as its applications toward optoelectronic devices.{{cite web|url=http://www.faqs.org/patents/assignee/invisage-technologies-inc/ |title=InVisage Technologies, Inc. - Patent applications |publisher=Faqs.org |access-date=2013-11-26}}

In 2010, InVisage's QuantumFilm technology was awarded The Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award.{{cite web |url=http://www.azosensors.com/news.aspx?newsID=1228 |title=InVisage's QuantumFilm Image Sensor Wins Prestigious Wall Street Journal Award |publisher=Azosensors.com |date=2010-10-01 |access-date=2013-11-18 |archive-date=2018-08-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823174234/https://www.azosensors.com/news.aspx?newsID=1228 |url-status=dead }} In 2011, the company received a gold award from the International Imaging Industry Association's (I3A) VISION 2020 Imaging Innovation for its QuantumFilm technology.{{cite web|url=http://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=22786 |title=InVisage Receives Gold Award for QuantumFilm Technology |publisher=Azonano.com |date=2011-06-24 |access-date=2013-11-18}}

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Category:2017 mergers and acquisitions

Category:Apple Inc. acquisitions

Category:Companies based in Menlo Park, California

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