Sharing the Load Leads to Cheaper, Compact Imaging Devices

Dec-14-12 Researchers have created a fingernail-sized chip that uses T-Ray technology to see through solid matter, opening the door to a safer alternative to X-rays.

The inexpensive chips, developed at the California Institute of Technology, are manufactured using industry-standard complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) methods. By coordinating the frequencies of multiple transistors on one chip, they were able to overcome the hurdle of achieving terahertz frequencies on a single silicon chip. They also turned the chip into an antenna able to transmit the frequency in same way—by spreading the task among several small pieces of metal incorporated in the chip.

The new technology could open doors to the creation of small, handheld devices that could be used for tasks such as luggage inspection, bomb or drug detection and medical imaging.

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