Nobukazu Teranishi (寺西 信一, Teranishi Nobukazu, born 1953[1]) is a Japanese engineer who researches image sensors, and is known for inventing the pinned photodiode, an important component of modern digital cameras.
[1][2] At NEC Corporation, Teranishi invented the pinned photodiode in 1980; the device was named in 1984.
The pinned photodiode is a development of the charge-coupled device (CCD) imager.
It has improved efficiency compared with the CCD, resulting in reduced pixel size and higher image resolution.
[5] He received the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering in 2017, with Michael Tompsett, Eric Fossum and George Smith.