CCDs were so 20th Century. CMOS? Already half in the grave. The next miracle imaging sensor is going to be "quantum dot film." More resolution. More light sensitive. Cheaper to produce. Well, theoretically, anyhow.

University of Toronto professor Ted Sargent managed to suspended lead-sulfide nanoparticles in a polymer matrix to form a new class of semiconducting polymer, which is then spread onto a surface to create a thin film. The  new "quantum film" is not unlike silver halide particles suspended in a nitrocellulose polymer matrix, otherwise known as "film." The real innovation here is that Prof. Sargent removes the polymer with oleic acid and then spin-casts the nanocrystals (a.k.a., quantum dots) onto a glass substrate. Oh, and it's electronic, so you can digitize, save and display the image, which is handy.

On the road to a consumer product near you, the firm InVisage is working on creating actual sensors for use in mobile phones and maybe cameras, too. How soon? Hard to say. No word yet on any actual images or video. It also seems like there's some new revolutionary new camera technology that promises the moon and poops rainbows every few years: most never make it to market. "Many innovations are said to be revolutionary, but are really incremental changes. InVisage's quantum film, on the other hand, really is revolutionary," said Tom Hausken, director of photonics and compound semiconductors at Strategies Unlimited (Mountain View, Calif.) "Quantum dots have been a solution looking for a problem for several years, and InVisage has found a very significant problem they can solve."

References:
* Quantum film threatens to replace CMOS image chips - EE|Times, 03.22.2010