Panasonic develops tech for highly sensitive image sensors using micro color splitters

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Panasonic Corp said Monday it has developed unique “micro color splitters”, which separate the light that falls on image sensors by exploiting light’s wavelike properties. Applying them to actual image sensors allows bright color images to be achieved even under low-light conditions.

This development makes color filters unnecessary by using the micro color splitters that control the diffraction of light at a microscopic level. Panasonic has achieved approximately double the color sensitivity in comparison with conventionalnsensors that use color filters.

Image sensors are used in devices like smartphones, digital still cameras and video cameras, as well in security, vehicle parking, office, and healthcare applications – anywhere, in fact, that digital imaging is needed. Conventional color image sensors use a Bayer array, in which a red, green, or blue light-transmitting filter is placed above each sensor. These filters block 50 – 70% of the incoming light before it even reaches the sensor.

Progress is being made in increasing the resolution of image sensors used in mobile and other devices by reducing pixel size, but demand for higher-sensitivity cameras is also increasing. Panasonic has developed a new technology that can benapplied to existing or future sensors to enable them to capture uniquely vivid color images.