Micro-Sized Camera

Scientists have developed a camera about the size of a coarse grain of salt that can produce crisp, full-color images similar to conventional compound camera lenses.

The ultra-compact camera is based on a technology called metasurface, which is composed of 1.6 million cylindrical posts of silicon nitride — a glass-like material used in semiconductor manufacturing. The metasurface can be mass produced more easily and at a lower cost than traditional lenses. It can also be integrated with machine learning algorithms to enhance image quality and expand field of view.

Devices such as this represent another step toward creating surfaces as sensors. For example, instead of a camera on the back of a phone, the entire back surface would become an imaging device. Added capabilities could also include artificial intelligence-based object recognition and electrical sensing modalities for robotics and biomedical applications.