Microcamera the Size of a Grain of Salt

A team of researchers have created a microcamera as large as a grain of salt, supplies razor-sharp pictures and can be manufactured very inexpensively.

This microscopic camera is the work of the Fraunhofer Institute and image sensor company Awaiba. It’s essentially a tiny 1mm square substrate with a layer of image sensors and then a lens layer on top of that — giving this camera a total size of 1x1x1mm. The new tiny shooters (250 x 250 pixel resolution) are created using a streamlined process in which the lens and sensor wafers are affixed before being cut into a series of 28,000 little cameras.

The creators of a new camera are hoping that it will be used in consumer electronics and automotive industries. It is expected that mass production of microcameras will start in 2012.

Source: Engadget