Picture of the Day: The Smallest Camera Ever Created

Measuring 1x1x1mm in size, this microscopic instrument, created by a research team at Berlin's Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration, is the smallest camera ever built -- about the size of a grain of salt. A tiny square substrate with a thin layer of sensors and a lens layered over one side, this camera sends its signal through an electrical wire because a fiber optic cable would be too thick.

"As always with small-aperture, small-sensor cameras, the image quality is suspect," according to Devin Coldewey at CrunchGear. The resolution is just 250x250 pixels, but the camera is so cheap to construct that the Fraunhofer team considers it disposable. The extremely small size could make the cameras a natural go-to for invasive medical procedures, but also appeal to security experts.

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Image: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Via PSFK.