Quanta Image Sensor, the Novel Imaging Technology

Quanta image sensor (QIS) technology will help many scientists and researchers

Engineers from Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering have fabricated a novel imaging technology which may revolutionize research in subjects of medical and life sciences regarding to their security, photography and film making.

Called the Quanta Image Sensor, or it is shortening as QIS. This next generation of light sensing technology enables highly precision and sensitive, and it is simple and uncomplicated to use and higher and advanced quality digital imaging than is currently presented, even in low light situations, according to the co-inventor Eric R. Fossum, a professor of engineering at Dartmouth. Fossum furthermore invented the CMOS image sensor found in nearly all smartphones and cameras across the planet these days.

The novel QIS technology is able to reliably capture and count the lowest level of light, single photons, with resolution as high as one megapixel, or e million pixels, and as fast as thousands of frames for each second. Plus, the QIS can accomplish this in low light, at room temperature and while using mainstream image sensor technology. Previous technology required large pixels or cooling to low temperatures or both.

What does this mean for industry? For cinematographers, the QIS will enable IMAX-quality video in simply edited digital format while still providing many of the same characteristics of film. In astrophysics field, the sensor QIS will allow for the detection and capture of the better signals from distant objects in space. And for life science scientists and researchers, the QIS makes better visualisation of cells under a microscope, which is important for determining the effectiveness of therapies.

Building this innovative imaging capability in a commercially approachable, inexpensive proves is significant, explained Fossum, so he and his team made it compatible with the low cost and mass production of today's CMOS image sensor technology. They also made it readily scalable for higher resolution, with as many as hundreds of megapixels per chip.