Panasonic has today announced that it has developed a MOS type image sensor which can withstand being exposed to direct sunlight for more than twenty years. The most significant part of this announcement however is the development of a new type of microlens formed by concentric rings and color filters made from inorganic materials (unlike the dyed RGB color filters found on traditional sensors). "The cutting-edge semiconductor process technology can realize the pattering of an array of digital-microlenses made of an inorganic material in subwavelength dimensions. A digital-microlens can be formed by patterning digitally the inorganic material in concentric rings, which works out as a conventional onchip microlens to gather more light onto the photo diode area. "
