Tiny Camera Enables Diagnostic and Surgical Applications to Incorporate Video

medigus_tower_camera

Pictured next to the tip of a pen, a miniature video camera featuring a CMOS image sensor is designed for use in endoscopes and other diagnostic and surgical device applications.

Medigus Ltd. (Omer, Israel), a developer of endoscopic and visualization medical device technology, and Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (Migdal Ha'emak, Israel), a manufacturer of integrated circuits, have partnered to create a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) imager for disposable miniature cameras. Calling the camera the smallest of its kind in the world, the companies have designed it to be incorporated into disposable endoscopes and various other diagnostic and surgical medical device applications.The camera includes miniature electronics and objective lenses developed by Medigus, as well as Tower Semiconductor's CMOS imager, which measures 700 Ã-- 700 µm. With a housing measuring 1.2 Ã-- 5 mm, the camera can be used in diagnostic and therapeutic markets for which use of current video cameras is not feasible due to their size, according to the companies. The camera provides high sensitivity, resolution, and versatility, and could potentially be used in such applications as gastroenterology, natural orifice transluminal endoscopy surgery, and orthopedics, according to the developers. Moreover, it features biocompatible components and is disposable, eliminating the need for secondary sterilization processes commonly associated with endoscopic device manufacturing.Tower Semiconductor is producing the camera's sensor using is 0.18-µm CMOS image sensor manufacturing process, and the sensor and camera will be integrated and produced in Medigus' manufacturing facilities.