2013年5月30日星期四

Clear photos in dim light: New sensor a thousand times more sensitive than current camera sensors

Clear photos in dim light: New sensor a thousand times more sensitive than current camera sensors

May 30, 2013 — Cameras fitted with a new revolutionary sensor will soon be able to take clear and sharp photos in dim conditions, thanks to a new image sensor invented at Nanyang Technological University (NTU).






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. When mass produced, graphene sensors are estimated to cost at least five times cheaper.

Graphene is a million times smaller than the thickest human hair (only one-atom thick) and is made of pure carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb structure. It is known to have a high electrical conductivity among other properties such as durability and flexibility.

The inventor of the graphene sensor, Assistant Professor Wang Qijie, from NTU's School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, said it is believed to be the first time that a broad-spectrum, high photosensitive sensor has been developed using pure graphene.

His breakthrough, made by fabricating a graphene sheet into novel nano structures, was published this month in Nature Communications, a highly-rated research journal.

"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," said Asst Prof Wang, who also holds a joint appointment in NTU's School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.

"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. Therefore manufacturers can easily replace the current base material of photo sensors with our new nano-structured graphene material."

If adopted by industry, Asst Prof Wang expects that cost of manufacturing imaging sensors to fall -- eventually leading to cheaper cameras with longer battery life.

How the Graphene nanostructure works

Asst Prof Wang came up with an innovative idea to create nanostructures on graphene which will "trap" light-generated electron particles for a much longer time, resulting in a much stronger electric signal. Such electric signals can then be processed into an image, such as a photograph captured by a digital camera.

The "trapped electrons" is the key to achieving high photoresponse in graphene, which makes it far more effective than the normal CMOS or CCD (charge-coupled device) image sensors, said Asst Prof Wang. Essentially, the stronger the electric signals generated, the clearer and sharper the photos.

"The performance of our graphene sensor can be further improved, such as the response speed, through nanostructure engineering of graphene, and preliminary results already verified the feasibility of our concept," Asst Prof Wang added.

This research, costing about $200,000, is funded by the Nanyang Assistant Professorship start-up grant and supported partially by the Ministry of Education Tier 2 and 3 research grants.

Development of this sensor took Asst Prof Wang a total of 2 years to complete. His team consisted of two research fellows, Dr Zhang Yongzhe and Dr Li Xiaohui, and four doctoral students Liu Tao, Meng Bo, Liang Guozhen and Hu Xiaonan, from EEE, NTU. Two undergraduate students were also involved in this ground-breaking work.

Asst Prof Wang has filed a patent through NTU's Nanyang Innovation and Enterprise Office for his invention.

The next step is to work with industry collaborators to develop the graphene sensor into a commercial product.



Welcome to SUV System Ltd!

SUV System Ltd is ISO 90012008 Certified electronics distributor with 10 years of experiences.

We have built up long term business relationship with about many companies which are stockers and authorized agents. we have a steady and reliable supply to meet customer's demands to the greatest extent .Confidently, we are able to lower your cost and support your business with our years of professional service.

SUV System Ltd is Electronic Components Distributor Supplies,Find Quality Electronic Components Supplies Products IC(Integrated Circuits),Connectors,Capacitor,Resistors,Diodes,Transistors,LED at Suvsystem.com. Sourcing Other Energy, Environment, Excess Inventory Products from Manufacturers and Suppliers at Suvsystem.com

Electronic Components distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com

Connectors Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Connectors-1.html

IC Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/IC(Integrated-Circuits)-1.html

LED Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/LED-1.html

Capacitor Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Capacitor-1.html

Transistor Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Transistors-1.html

Resistor Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Resistors-1.html

Diode Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Diodes-1.html

SUV System Ltd insists on the managing faith ofsincereness,speciality,foresight, win-win,so we build up stable-relationship customers located all over the world, including the States, Europe, Argentina, UAE, Malaysia, Australia,and India etc

we are focus on the following fields,and hope we can help you.


CRCW0603499KFKEB CRCW0603499KFKEA CRCW06034R02FNEA CRCW06034R02FKEA CRCW06034M99FKTA CRCW06034M99FKEB CRCW06034M99FKEA CRCW06034M87FKEA CRCW06034M75FKTA CRCW06034M75FKEB CRCW06034M75FKEA CRCW06034M70JNTA CRCW06034M70JNEA CRCW06034M70FKTA CRCW06034M70FKEA CRCW06034M64FKEA CRCW06034M53FKTA CRCW06034M53FKEA CRCW06034M42FKEA CRCW06034M32FKTA CRCW06034M32FKEA CRCW06034M30JNEA CRCW06034M30FKEA CRCW06034M22FKEA CRCW06034M12FKTA CRCW06034M0JPEAHR CRCW06034M02FKTA CRCW06034M02FKEA CRCW06034K99FKTA CRCW06034K99FKEB CRCW06034K99FKEAHP CRCW06034K99FKEA CRCW06034K87FKTA CRCW06034K87FKEA CRCW06034K75FKTB CRCW06034K75FKTA CRCW06034K75FKEB CRCW06034K75FKEAHP CRCW06034K75FKEA CRCW06034K70JNEB
http://www.suvsystem.com/a/2015.aspx