Digital imaging sensors "Hot Pixels" defects accumulate as the camera ages over time at a rate that is highly dependent on pixel size. Previously we developed an empirical formula that projects hot pixel defect growth rates in terms of defect density (defects/year/mm2). We found that hot pixel densities grow via a power law, with the inverse of the pixel size raised to the power of ~3, and almost the square root of the ISO (gain). This paper experimentally explores these defect rates as pixels approach the 2 to 1 micron size. We developed techniques for observing hot pixels both in regular DSLRs (7.5-4um pixels) and in cell phones (1.3um). Cell phones imagers have the smallest pixels, but require careful measurement to detect. First statistical analysis distinguishes potential defects from the nearby noise in a 5x5 pixel area around each pixel. Then linear regression fits the hot pixel equation to a sequence of dark field exposures from short (0.008 sec) to long (2 sec) and accepts only those with high statistical significance. This greatly improved the power law fit for the 2-1 micron pixels.
Research has shown that in digital imaging sensors "Hot Pixels" defects accumulate as the camera ages over time. We have previously developed an empirical formula that projects hot pixel defects growth rates in terms of defect density (defects/year/mm2). We found that hot pixel densities grow via a power law, with the inverse of the pixel size raised to the power of about 3, and the ISO (gain) raised to the power of about 0.5. This paper experimentally explores the defect rates as pixels approach the 2 to 1 micron size. An analysis of the hot pixel parameters statistics shows that stuck high pixels that develop in the field are actually stuck hot pixels. In addition, this analysis indicates that as pixels shrink, not only does the defect rate increase, but it produces both a larger number of weak hot pixels at all ISOs, and a larger number of strong hot pixels at higher ISOs.