A Samsung spokesman said the company is developing a superlens. This development will make the camera units in smartphones thinner.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics spoke about the development of a metalens or superlens: this is such a flat structure with nanoparticles. It also refracts light, but is thinner than a conventional lens.
Fundamentally similar to the so-called Fresnel lenses, new developments make it possible to create high-quality optics of nanometer thickness.
According to Samsung, the technology will allow for thinner and lighter smartphone cameras than those currently used by manufacturers. When Samsung’s metal lenses go into mass production, they will eliminate the typical disadvantage of smartphones – the protrusions of the camera module above the rear surface, which are typical even for expensive models.
The company is now testing the new technology in its own production. Some Chinese electronics manufacturers are also developing in this direction.
Superlens are mass-produced using semiconductor chip technology, the company said. They have a micro-nano-surface structure to modulate the phase of the incident light. Superlens manufacturing is different from the molding process used in traditional lens manufacturing.
This allows for a significant increase in productivity, which in turn reduces the cost of the finished product. Superlens are from hundreds of nanometers thick.
