Developments in 2012: The advance I describe here is starting to occur! The upcoming generation of sensors from Sony will move the readout circuitry behind the light detector, under the name “stacked CMOS” (a term I only just learned). One generation after that, there should be room for the digital accumulator too, and the shutterless camera design that I describe here will become possible. It should take 5 years at most, allowing time for other needed developments to occur. I’m calling it for 2017 or before!
A sudden revolution in sensor technology could occur when imaging chips have room for a fast A/D converter and a digital accumulator at each pixel. That seems as though it ought to be easy with three-dimensional circuits by putting the extra gear behind the sensor proper, and it may be possible sooner (it depends on hardware stuff that I don’t understand). With that, cameras can switch to a simpler and more capable shutterless design.
Instead of accumulating the image through the entire exposure, each pixel will accumulate light for a short time, read it out and add the value to the accumulator. In effect, the sensor is digitally adding up short exposures to make a long exposure. (Or similarly, with short enough minor exposures, use an “it’s full” counter instead of a proper D/A. In the limit, it’s a photon counter.) The short exposures might be synchronous across the sensor or independent for each pixel. Advantages:
Astronomers already make images by stacking. Adding hardware support for everyday use is obvious to me, but then, my sense of obviousness is skewed, so who knows. I haven’t seen this idea elsewhere, but I’d be surprised if it were absolutely new.
I’m not holding my breath. I think the implementation should be easy with 3D chips, but my impression is that 3D chips are far off. Lithography is naturally flat, and all the proposed near-term replacements that I’ve seen are also flat. I suspect that the economic tradeoffs support shrinking over layering for years to come. Ideas like self-assembly and nanomechanical assembly support 3D designs, but they won’t be possible any time soon.
Original version, June 2009. Added here March 2010. Last updated June 2012.