Samsung Electronics and Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), through an industry-academia collaboration, have successfully developed metalens technology that can improve the camera bump problem in smartphones and demonstrated its commercial potential. The research has been published in the international academic journal Nature Communications.
The research was reportedly led by Samsung Research Institute researcher Yoon Jeong-keun and POSTECH professor Roh Jun-seok, with POSTECH researcher Kang Hyun-jeong as co-first author. The team innovatively proposed a method that efficiently diffracts light by using only minimal speed control, achieving a phase delay of two-thirds of a wavelength (compared to the full wavelength required by traditional methods), significantly reducing manufacturing complexity and defect rates. This breakthrough overcomes the complex process challenges of traditional metalens, which require tens of millions of nanopillars to achieve phase delay, significantly improving production efficiency and cost competitiveness.
Metalens, a next-generation optical technology, achieve lens functionality by inscribing microstructures on thin substrates. Compared to traditional refractive lenses, they are thinner and lighter. This achievement is expected to significantly reduce the thickness and weight of XR devices and the height of smartphone camera modules, thereby alleviating the camera bump problem. Samsung said that the technology simultaneously ensures optical performance, mechanical stability and cost competitiveness. In the future, by expanding the technology to the visible light field, the size of the camera module can be further reduced, providing new possibilities for differentiated device design.
