The camera technology in smartphones has evolved at an exponential pace over the past few years, as tech companies continue to innovate advanced cameras for flagship smartphones. Now, one of the primary goals here is to offer high-quality cameras in a compact form factor to eliminate the camera bump without compromising on the image quality or the megapixel count. With this objective, a team of researchers has developed a new quantum dots-based camera tech that could help smartphone manufacturers develop tiny cameras without sacrificing their imaging capabilities. Hence, future smartphones could eliminate the rear camera bumps without compromising on camera quality.
Researchers Develop Quantum Dots Camera Tech
Now, before getting into the nerdy details, let me give you a quick brief of quantum dots. So, quantum dots are these tiny semiconductor nano-crystals that can be activated by light to emit a specific color. This technology is currently used in high-end TVs to generate accurate colors and vivid pictures. On the flip side, it could enable smartphone manufacturers to integrate compact cameras into their devices that would be able to capture brighter, more natural-looking images, all while being compact and energy-efficient.
So, researchers from Chung-Ang University in Seoul, South Korea, recently published a paper in the Advanced Materials journal, detailing the quantum dots-based camera technology. The researchers have seemingly discovered that they can customize quantum dots of very specific size and composition to respond to a specific colored light. This allows the quantum dots to function as the photo-diodes on an image sensor, which are usually covered by a color filter in traditional CMOS sensors, but without the need for the color filter.
Following this discovery, the researchers developed a photodetector array with 5,500 pixels. These pixels were packed into a tiny area of just a square centimeter. As per the researchers, this quantum dots-based camera system not only increases the megapixel count of the camera but also allows companies to design cameras and sensors that are more compact than what is available in the market today.
The researchers believe that the new quantum dots cameras could help manufacturers shrink the size of their smartphone cameras without compromising on quality. Other than this, the camera tech could also help autonomous vehicle manufacturers to integrate miniaturized modules of cameras and sensors into the body of their vehicles in the future.
So, what do you think about the new quantum dots-based camera tech? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
