Quantum Dots to Augment Camera Phones

Most modern-day cell phones have at least one camera, which can be used either for visual communications, or for snapping images of the user's surroundings. But one thing that makes these cameras stand out, and not in a good way, is the fact that they produce photos of reduced quality, which almost always look grainy and fuzzy. Menlo Park, California-based InVisage is a company that has taken an issue with that, and is currently developing a new technology, called QuantumFilm, that would allow for cell phone cameras to become considerably more efficient than they are today.

According to Technology Review, the InVisage executives made the announcement today, March 22, at the DEMO conference, held in Palm Springs, CA. The officials from the company revealed that the main innovation that would allow for QuantumFilm to make phone cameras more advanced than ever was the layer of quantum dots that would adorn the photo-sensitive microchip. They say that the new additions will ensure the chips will collect two times more light than possible with current technologies.

The main thing preventing existing cameras from being better at snapping pictures is the amount of light they can take it. Photo-sensitive chips – a silicon substrate containing photo-detectors – need to be produced in very small dimensions in order to fit into ever-shrinking phones, and this severely limits the total amount of light that they can absorb. The lens on existing mobile phones is also regularly made out of very cheap, poor-quality materials, which ensure that prices are maintained within affordable limits.

What QuantumFilm promises to do, executives at the company say, is to improve on these traits without even having to add extra cost, significant complexity, or even size. Using quantum dots means applying a thin layer of special, tiny crystals to the exterior of the lens. These crystals can either emit photons or electrons upon absorbing light, and InVisage says that the variant which emits electrons is better. The chip's circuitry can easily absorb and handle the electrons, turning them into images of higher-quality. With the new additions, the chips may become able to collect as much as two times the amount of light they do today.