What is LOFIC Technology – Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor
Honor’s Li Kun announced the launch of the Honor Magic6 Ultimate Edition and the Honor Magic6 RSR Porsche Design, both featuring the SLR-class super dynamic Eagle Eye camera based on LOFIC technology.
In the recent release poster, it was revealed that in the upcoming Honor Magic6 series, Honor will introduce the industry’s first SLR-level super dynamic eagle eye camera based on LOFIC technology. Recognizing the widespread interest in their new image technology, Li Kun, the flagship mobile phone product manager of Honor, provided an in-depth explanation of “LOFIC technology,” which stands for Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor.
The basic principle involves placing each photodiode in the mobile phone image sensor within a high-density capacitor to collect photoelectrons that might otherwise overflow due to saturation. This prevents overexposure by allowing excess photoelectrons to flow to adjacent capacitors, ensuring that highlights in the scene are better retained by the sensor, resulting in more realistic light and shadow scenes in the captured images.
From a technical standpoint, Honor’s implementation of LOFIC technology represents a significant advancement. Traditional mobile phone image sensors have a single pixel full well capacity of 30,000, but with LOFIC technology, this capacity is increased by about 9 times to reach 270,000, greatly enhancing the sensor’s ability to handle scenes with high light ratios.
Additionally, the image sensor achieves a DSLR-class 15EV ultra-high dynamic range, surpassing traditional mobile phone image sensors by more than 3 stops and even rivaling that of SONY’s microsingle video flagship, the A7S3. This higher dynamic range enables the mobile phone to capture and retain details in both high light and dark areas, resulting in images that closely resemble what the human eye sees.
LOFIC technology was originally developed for use in the automotive industry for automatic driving on-board camera systems, which often encounter highly dynamic scenes such as tunnels, car parks, and low-light conditions. Honor recognized the potential of this technology for mobile imaging systems and aimed to address the limited dynamic range of mobile phone image sensors more innovatively.
However, implementing LOFIC technology in mobile phone image sensors posed several challenges, including how to incorporate high-density capacitors into small pixels and how to handle and utilize the ultra-high dynamic range information. Despite these challenges, Honor has demonstrated the technical feasibility of LOFIC technology over the past two years, designing a system scheme that fully leverages its advantages and allows the new Honor Magic6 series to deliver excellent results in ultra-high dynamic imaging.
The Honor Magic6 series represents a breakthrough in various fields including communication, range, screen, glass, image, and AI, providing consumers with a magical technological experience. The upcoming release of the Honor Magic6 Ultimate Edition and the Honor Magic6 RSR Porsche Design will further enhance the high-end experience and embody the core concept of Honor’s brand leadership in technology.
For those eager to learn more, Honor’s spring event on 18 March promises to unveil new products and showcase additional innovative technologies and features. Stay tuned for further updates on LOFIC and other advancements.