Quantum film to replace CMOS sensors in digital cameras?

[HiFiGuy1]

Just saw this in the EE Times. It was an article linked through Canon rumors, but isn't necessarily limited to a single brand.


Quantum film article

[mpphoto12]

ohhh wow i hope not or my rebel XT will look even MORE obsolete lol

[Daniel Browning]

As much as I love real technological breakthroughs, it appears to me that this is just another vacuous press release disguised as a news item about technology that will never materialize. For one thing, some of their claims break the laws of physics, since the peak QE is already 70% in existing sensors (making a 1.4X improvement in the realm of possibility, but 4X is not even theoretically feasible). For another, they have yet to post even "claimed" performance measurements, like read noise, FWC, or QE. Not even a picture. People have been raising VC for silicon replacements for decades (like "amorphous silicon" 20 years ago), but none of them have come to reality.


One technology that I am looking forward to, however, is BSI. It's already been proven on the market for a while now in camcorders and other products, I just can't wait for the technology to trickle down to DSLRs.

[Lars]

Since I am no techno freak (no offense), and also not a native English-user, I have some problems with the abbreviations/acronyms in this forum. It would help a bit if you sometimes wrote what the acronyms mean. Lik FWC, QE, VC and BSI. I understand DSLR, though [].

[Colin500]

BSI = Back-Side Illuminated, a new kind of sensor where the part of the chip that actually collects the light is pointing towards where the light comes from (and the name derives from the fact that previously, for some reason I don't know, the light-collecting part was on the back, hidden by other parts of the chip that "wasted" some/much (?) of the incoming light).


Don't know about the others, but from the post I'm guessing that VC = Vacuous Claim...


Ciao, Colin





PS: Do you know the AAAAA? It's the American Association Against the Abuse of Acronyms ;-)

[neuroanatomist]

for some reason I don't know, the light-collecting part was on the back, hidden by other parts of the chip that "wasted" some/much (?) of the incoming light)

Sounds like a really weird way to design a light sensor, doesn't it? Putting the photoreceptive elements at the 'back' relative to the direction of the light, with other sensor elements in between the light source and the photoreceptive surface. Who in their right mind would design something that way?!?!? WHO, I ask you???


(Well, nature/evolution/the-deity-of-your-personal-preference did, for one thing - that's exactly the way the mammalian eye functions!)

[Daniel Browning]

FWC, QE, VC and BSI

FWC is Full Well Capacity, the maximum number of photoelectrons that can be detected by the pixel.


QE is Quantum Efficiency, the percentage of light that is detected.


VC is Venture Capital.


HTH HAND (Hope That Helps, Have A Nice Day). []

[scalesusa]

I agree with you. If this is a real breakthru, sensor manufacturers would be in a bidding war to buy the company. They only have 30 million incapital, and you can bet its all spent.


Venture capitalists invest in startups for one reason, to sell the company for 50X profit to a large company that has the billion or so to develop, market, and manufacture it.