Researchers Developed New and Cheap Camera Sensor That Will Not Need Flash

Researchers at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore developed an all-new as well as less-expensive camera sensor which is 1000 times more sensitive to the light. The recent development would help in clicking the photographs clearly even in the dim lights.

The newly developed sensor is very sensitive to the infrared as well as visible light and it could easily be used for various applications, such as for clicking every-day pictures as well as for surveillance and satellites.

The 1000 times more sensitive camera got high photoresponse from the very innovative structure. The sensor is composed of graphene. Graphene is the very strong carbon compound which has honeycomb structure. This honeycomb structure is flexible just like rubber and is also more conductive than the silicon. It also has the ability to resist the heat better than diamond.

The inventor of this sensor, Wang Qijie explained that this was the very first time that high photosensitive and broad-spectrum sensor was made by making use of pure grapheme.

Wang Qijie also explained that the innovation would provide help not just to the consumer imaging industry but also to the communication industries, mid-infrared application as well as satellite imaging.

The principle behing this new and cheap sensor is use of the light-trapping nanostructures. These nanostructures make use of the graphene as its base. Unlike the conventional sensors, these nanostructures hold the light-generated electron particles for a very long time. Therefore, this helps in stronger electric signal which can then be processed in the image, just like the photograph captured by the digital camera.

It is important to note that almost all the camera sensors used today make use of the metal-oxide semiconductor as a base. The graphene base therefore is very effective for producing sharper and clearer images.