Nanyang Technological University researchers succeeded develop a new sensor for cameras dedicated to mobile terminals, allowing users to record clear and bright photos in low light conditions. The sensor is manufactured using graphite and practically in situations when the light is low it allows us to record pictures that have a quality at least similar to those recorded during the day, and here we are of course talking about the lighting of the subjects and objects in front of it.
The new sensor made from graphene, is believed to be the first to be able to detect broad spectrum light, from the visible to mid-infrared, with high photoresponse or sensitivity. This means it is suitable for use in all types of cameras, including infrared cameras, traffic speed cameras, satellite imaging and more. Not only is the graphene sensor 1,000 times more sensitive to light than current imaging sensors found in today's cameras, it also uses 10 times less energy as it operates at lower voltages.
The new sensor is 1000 times more sensitive to light than the sensors in current mobile terminals and consumes 10 times less energy because it works at much lower voltages. The development of this sensor took no less than 2 years with the help of several hundred thousand dollars and the interesting part is that the project is almost finished, so the sensor could be implemented in the mobile terminals that will be launched in the following years on the market, but only if mobile terminal manufacturers will be interested in buying it.
We have shown that it is now possible to create cheap, sensitive and flexible photo sensors from graphene alone. We expect our innovation will have great impact not only on the consumer imaging industry, but also in satellite imaging and communication industries, as well as the mid-infrared applications. While designing this sensor, we have kept current manufacturing practices in mind. This means the industry can in principle continue producing camera sensors using the CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) process, which is the prevailing technology used by the majority of factories in the electronics industry.
