Chipping In

A number of digital camera manufactures are incorporating CMOS sensors into their models. Canon, in particular, has been aggressively implementing CMOS in its digital SLR design. Both the 1Ds, which, at a street price of around $8,000 is one of the most expensive digital SLRs on the market, and the 10D, which, with a street price of $1,600, is one of the least expensive to utilize CMOS sensors.

CMOS sensors are also being used in many of the miniature cameras that are part of space missions. For example, some of these small cameras, which can be the size of a quarter, are used on the rover vehicles that NASA is planning to send to Mars.
To further increase the quality of the images that these tiny CMOS-based cameras can capture, NASA is working on what’s called hybrid imaging technology (HIT).

Theoretically, HIT merges the best of CCD and CMOS technology, in hopes of coming up with a new technology that’s better than either. Once implemented, the resulting technology should have higher resolution, better scalability and reduced power consumption.

NASA is also working on another type of sensor altogether. Under contract to the space agency, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is working on what’s being called an SOI (silicon on insulator) sensor. SOI sensors are extremely thin, just 1 micron, and could be applied to just about any flat surface.

Because of their light weight and low power consumption, they could be used for a wide range of applications. These sensors should be available commercially by the end of the decade. This could very well be another revolutionary step in digital imaging.