By Bolt Yi
Subheading: Recently, researchers of The University of Texas at Dallas and Oklahoma State University, have created a new Imager Microchip, a piece of technology that allows one to be able to identify images, that is more powerful than the other microchips preceding this one. It is called the Terahertz Imager Microchip.
Have you ever used filters on your camera and wondered, “how does it accurately tell that this is my face?”. It is because your camera has an imager microchip. The imager microchip is responsible for sending what it is seeing at the moment. In the example stated above, we could say that the microchip sends the image of your face to the main processing unit, which determines the facial features of a person and applies the filters.
The role of an Imager Microchip is extremely important. It needs to provide data of good quality at quick speeds to the main processing unit. The terahertz Microchip accomplishes all of these. It has a reflector that increases the distance the chip can process, the quality and the resolution of the image, and power efficiency. The details allow the chip to pick up things that other chips cannot see and pass through objects that other chips cannot penetrate. The Terahertz Imager Microchip uses radiation beams of 430 gigaHertz, large image processors usually use radiation beams of over 100 gigahertz, which allows it to pick up images that have pixels smaller than the average grain of sand. This advancement allows the chip to identify objects through fog, smoke, dust, and snow.
This was the background of the Terahertz Imager Microchip. As you can tell, the microchip is a lot more powerful than previous microchips that used mostly X-rays to look into objects, which is less accurate. Therefore, there are a lot of contributions this chip can make. First of all, automated cars not only use radars but also cameras. If these cameras are equipped with this microchip, they will be able to work even during snowy or rainy days with extreme accuracy. Moreover, the medical field could also use this to partially replace X-rays since the microchip has a lot safer radiation than X-rays. Lastly, this chip can look at things through most non-metal objects like clothing and boxes which would be useful in the field of security as well. Thus, the Terahertz Imager microchip is a valuable asset to many fields. Microchips are only at the start of the developing stage; as more powerful ones enter the market, technology in a wide variety of fields will be improved.
References
Learn the microchip basics. ASML. (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2022, from https://www.asml.com/en/technology/all-about-microchips/microchip-basics#:~:text=Microchips%20are%20used%20in%20almost,consoles%2C%20cars%20and%20medical%20equipment.
ScienceDaily. (2018, March 25). Smaller and faster: The Terahertz Computer Chip is now within reach.ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 29, 2022, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180325115835.htm
ScienceDaily. (2022, February 25). New Imager microchip helps devices bring hidden objects to light. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 29, 2022, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220225123547.htm
Sciami, F. MICROCHIP. flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/57688343@N00/2497324185.
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