Knowledge Swiss researchers have developed a better image sensor
Better photos in less light: researchers from ETH Zurich and Empa presented a new image sensor in the journal "Nature" on Wednesday that captures significantly more light than a conventional sensor.
18.06.2025, 17:00
SDA
The sensor consists of crystals called perovskite. Scientists at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) have been researching image sensors made of perovskite for almost ten years, as Empa reported in a press release. In the new study, they have now shown that the technology works.
The sensors are more sensitive to light, reproduce colors more precisely and can offer a significantly higher resolution than conventional silicon technology, as tests with a prototype have shown.
How the sensor works
In conventional silicon image sensors, each pixel only perceives one color, i.e. either red, green or blue light. To create a color image, there is a separate pixel next to each other on the sensor surface for each color. This means that a significant proportion of the incident photons are lost - up to two thirds remain unused.
The new perovskite sensor developed by researchers led by Maksym Kovalenko works differently: it consists of three wafer-thin layers that are stacked on top of each other. Each layer specializes in a specific color and allows the other colors to pass through. This means that each layered pixel can capture the entire color spectrum at the same time, without any color filters. The incident light is therefore used much more efficiently, resulting in better images with less light.
Some hurdles
Although the concept is promising, there are still a few hurdles, wrote Shuming Nie and Viktor Gruev, researchers who were not involved in the development, in a commentary on the study, also published in "Nature". For example, perovskites are susceptible to oxygen and moisture, the three-layer sensor structure requires more effort in the electronics in order to process the increased amount of data without compromising image quality or resolution, and the materials contain lead, which poses environmental risks.
"If these material and manufacturing puzzles are solved, tomorrow's cameras could capture every hue without losing a single photon, turning even the darkest vacation moment into a bright and shiny keepsake," the researchers concluded the commentary.
