DigiTimes.com

Taiwan-based LighTuning introduces fingerprint slide sensor

October 11, 2004

By Kathryn Chiu, Hsinchu; Jessie Shen

LighTuning Technology, a Taiwan-based fabless design house for finger-scan chips and modules, recently succeeded in developing a single-chip fingerprint slide sensor, according to the company. The solution will be used for applications in smartphones and PC peripherals in the second quarter of 2005, said the company.

LighTuning was founded in November 2001; its major shareholders include K Laser Technology and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC).

The IC-design house introduced its first surface-imaging fingerprint sensors, based on capacitive technology, in 2003 and began their mass production early this year, the company stated. Revenues from the segment are expected to total NT$100 million this year, the company added.

The International Biometrics Group (IBG) said that the fingerprint-identification segment represented over 50% of the global biometric ID market last year, up from 48% in 2002. The segment will continue to climb to 65% by 2007, IBG forecast.