Ultra Sensitive Black Silicon Discovery

[Zach Gray]

"With the accidental discovery of "black silicon," Harvard physicists may have very well changed the digital photography, solar power and night vision industries forever."

"It's what this revolutionary new material does that's important, starting with light sensitivity. Early indications show black silicon is 100 to 500 times more sensitive to light than a traditional silicon wafer."

LINK--> NY Times

 

[Tom Lowe]

Very, very interesting, if true.

I often see these types of stories, though, and it seems like nothing ever becomes of them.

The stories usually say, "Researcher X has discovered a _______ design that is 100 times faster than current ________ designs. They hope to bring it to market in __ years." And then you never hear about it again.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

It's too early to say... So many discoveries like these take many years to develop into new products, some never come to fruition at all. And while "black silicon" may be a lot more sensitive to light, there could be other properties that make it less suitable for use in sensors than current silicon materials.

 

[David Wyatt]

Would this negate the need for an OLPF?

 

[GlennChan]

David: Probably not.

OLPF is needed to deal with sampling artifacts (aliasing to be precise), which is a problem inherent to all sampling systems.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

No. OLPF would still be needed. The OLPF, for analogous purposes, is kinda like a polarizer of sorts. It filters incoming light to minimize undesirable effects of light hitting the sensor in the wrong way.

 

[Mark L. Pederson]

And then you never hear about it again.

Because if it's real ... it often becomes a Military asset.

 

[Graeme Nattress]

The OLPF is an interesting issue... There are always those who want "sharpness at any cost" and ignore the real and present danger of aliasing issues.

The solution is to throw more pixels at the image. That's why RED went 4k right at the start.

Graeme

 

[Zach Gray]

Does greater low light sensitivity translate to increased dynamic range?

On first thought, it seems like it might... but on the other hand those same sites may have great low light sensitivity, and blow out sooner than standard chips.

 

[Deanan]

It sounds like it's hyper sensitive to IR and probably much higher than silicon which would mean new IRcut formulations.

The other unknown is how the spikes would impact the dyes and microlens formulations.

 

[Graeme Nattress]

Yup, until someone puts this into a sensor, we don't really know how it's going to behave. The article is particularly vague and imprecise on what exactly changes with regards to light sensitivity.

Graeme

 

[kidrobot]

This is like Leica announcing cameras at Photokina, it might take years and years before we see anything real come out of it.

 

[J. Bernard Vallon]

much as i love photography, I think id be more interested in how it could impact solar cells. Right now a medium sized roof packed with solar cells with direct sun for 6 hours per day generates something like 550 kwh/month, and the typical house uses something like 800 (if i remember). We only need to double efficiency one time for private ownership of electricity generation to become a real and practical solution for lots of families. Viva new american industry.

 

[Graeme Nattress]

Yeah, better photo cells for energy capture is much more important than photographic uses! They don't care about IR contamination... Yes, it would be amazing if every house had power generation on it's roof.

Graeme

 

[Jason Ing]

Yeah, better photo cells for energy capture is much more important than photographic uses! They don't care about IR contamination... Yes, it would be amazing if every house had power generation on it's roof.

Graeme

Or...

... every Red is a power generator!

Generate power while capturing beautiful images.

We won't need to use a heavy battery anymore! Yeah!

And we can plug in all our set lights into the Red too! Cool!

Okay... maybe not a 15k light, just yet. We don't want to ask too much... at first.

 

[Dave Blackham]

So what happened here ? Did some one point a very high power lazer at a chunk of silicone and part vaporise it creating a spiky surface thus having a greater surface area freeing up more electrons per aquare mm ? or did some new chemistry transpire in the process of the 'accidental' lazer vaporising episode.

Dave
UK