A Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) sensor is an electronic chip that converts photons to electrons for digital processing. These sensors are used to create images in all types of digital cameras.
As an upgrade to the traditional photodiode, the CMOS sensor has revolutionized camera technology. We carry nearly six such sensors on our smartphone cameras. These camera sensors could be leveraged to design sensing devices for various sectors, including biotechnological and electrochemical sensing.
With over 173 million smartphones in use in India alone, and the daily increase in numbers, this represents a significant new opportunity.
In this paper, we discuss the avenues a smartphone opens up for becoming the next big optical platform and to be used as a hand-held scientific tool available at a fraction of the cost.