A scientific paper recently published on Advanced Materials shows the potential application of Quantum Dots in the development of a new three-layer sensor design. Research groups in the USA and South Korea are currently studying this new visible-light imaging technology. A few weeks ago, we reported an official statement by SIGMA on the current development status of their full-frame Foveon chip. This three-layer sensor technology promises to produce images with higher details without the need for the demosaicing (or de-bayering) process. However, the R&D department of the Japanese company isn’t the only team working on a three-layer sensor design. In fact, researchers from Northwestern University in Illinois (USA) and three South Korean institutes are exploring the use of Quantum Dots to go beyond the current Bayer sensor technology. Their findings have been recently published in the scientific journal Advanced Materials. Let’s take a closer look. Bayer vs three-layer sensors Most modern digital cameras rely on a Bayer-pattern sensor. With this design, a Red, Green, or Blue filter occupies the top of each photosite, forming an RGB mosaic. In this way, only specific frequencies of light can make it to the photosite. Without these filters, the intensity of the light hitting the sensor could still be recorded, but the result would be a black and white image. The problem with this system is that each pixel of the sensor can provide true information about only one of the three RGB color channels. A demosaicing (or de-bayering) process is then reconstructing the...
Published By: CineD - Monday, 14 March, 2022