Nanomotion's NanoLens™ and NanoZoom™ technology could bring camera phone miniaturisation to industrialapplications

Sensor Review

ISSN: 0260-2288

Article publication date: 18 September 2007

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Citation

(2007), "Nanomotion's NanoLens™ and NanoZoom™ technology could bring camera phone miniaturisation to industrialapplications", Sensor Review, Vol. 27 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.2007.08727dad.007

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Nanomotion's NanoLens™ and NanoZoom™ technology could bring camera phone miniaturisation to industrialapplications

Nanomotion's NanoLens™ and NanoZoom™ technology could bring camera phone miniaturisation to industrialapplications

Nanomotion, the designer and manufacturer of innovative piezo- ceramic servomotors and controls successfully launched its NanoLens and NanoZoom motor modules during 2006 to provide the enabling technology for high-quality autofocus and optical zoom in today's mobile phone and PDA cameras. As a leading precision motion control equipment supplier and the UK distributor for Nanomotion, Surrey based Heason Technologies are looking for other miniature sub-micron positioning applications where these products may be applied.

The miniature modules (Figure 6) are based upon Nanomotion's standing wave inverse piezoelectric effect technology that delivers sub-micron resolution and accuracy for demanding linear and rotary positioning applications in both manufacturing and research for a wide range of market areas including semiconductors and electronics, lasers and photonics, MEMS and nanotechnology, biotech' and biomedical.

Figure 6 Nanomotion has launched its new NanoLens and NanoZoom motor modules

The NanoLens module provides autofocus accuracy down to 5mm with cycle times of under 100ms in a package size of less than 10 × 10 × 8mm. The product is manufactured in partnership with Nanomotion's sister company Nihon Mini Motor, both are part of the Johnson Electric Group, the world leader in motors for automotive and commercial markets.

The NanoZoom is a packaged optical zoom module that typically provides a 3x zoom ratio with a focal length of 5-15mm. Zoom speed is an incredible 100mm/s which translates to a telephoto-to-wide move in less than 0.1s. Measuring just 13 × 14 × 23mm, the module provides crystal sharp images by combining simultaneous two-axis (zoom and focus) moves, powered by a proprietary ASIC driver.

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