The joint development and reference design for smartphone OEMs is a full system implementation that integrates illumination, a camera module that combines ST’s global-shutter image sensor with enhanced near-infrared (NIR) sensitivity (VD56G3), and trinamiX’s patent-protected algorithms running on the processor.

The system offers a contactless, fast, and reliable authentication method for integration into smartphones and other products requiring user authentication. The solution’s strength lies in a unique technology, which uses skin detection to verify a user’s liveness. In addition to verifying the user’s identity, it effectively differentiates between skin and other materials, to recognize fake presentations like photos, hyper-realistic masks, and deepfakes.

“The collaboration with ST provides us with very small, high-performance image sensors at a competitive price point. This is particularly important for our products in the consumer electronics sector,” said Stefan Metz, Head of Smartphone Business Asia at trinamiX.

“Furthermore, trinamiX Face Authentication can fully operate behind OLED while maintaining the highest security levels. If required, the high NIR sensitivity of ST’s image sensors supports the easy integration of our solution behind display.” According to Metz, smartphone manufacturers are thus offered a powerful, attractive package: “During the development of our smartphone reference design, we focused on particularly compact hardware sizes without compromising the performance.”

“ST’s advanced image sensors use the company’s process technologies that enable class-leading pixel size while offering both high sensitivity and low crosstalk, delivering significant improvements in performance, size, and system integration. The collaboration with trinamiX provides ST with additional opportunities to extend our support to technologies, use cases, and ecosystems addressing the thriving under-display market in Personal Electronics and beyond,“ said David Maucotel, Head of the Personal Electronics, Industrial and Mass Market Product Business Line at ST’s Imaging Sub-Group.

In 2021, trinamiX Face Authentication was approved for Android integration and certified according to the high biometric security requirements of Android Biometric Class 3, IIFAA Biometric Face Security Test Requirement, and FIDO Level C – the FIDO alliance’s soon-to-be top standard.