Researchers develop biometric technology for fingerprint-sensing film

A collaboration between South Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), academic and OEM researchers has resulted in the development of a fingerprint sensor using organic photodiodes that they say delivers high biometric accuracy and can be produced in a film shape for easy integrations, such as into a smartphone display, Aju Business Daily reports.

The need for silicon fingerprint biometric sensor modules to read different wavelengths of light limits how thin they can be, according to the article.

ETRI worked with Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and Korean electronic parts-maker Clap to make a light photodiode sensor based on organic substances and bis (fluorophenyl azide). A higher rate of light-absorption for organic components than silicon makes thinner sensors possible.

The three photoactive layers of the newly-developed sensor are made of molybdenum, oxides and gold, and ETRI says the technology can be quickly commercialized, with widely available materials and existing production facilities.

Beyond smartphones, the researchers suggested the technology could be used to build biometrics into laptops and ATMs.

Computer vision crisis detection

ETRI researchers have also developed artificial intelligence-based software for detecting situations where people need help, Aju Business Daily writes in a separate article.

The computer vision system differs somewhat from other behavior analysis systems that can provide alerts when a crisis is detected, in that it does not rely on movement to analyze behavior, and therefore can detect a stationary person, such as one who is unconscious.

The ‘DeepView’ software for security camera systems was trained on a datasets of 55,000 images and 90,000 movements and human joint-positions, according to the report.

ETRI also recently unveiled a prototype edge biometric platform.

Article Topics

accuracy  |  biometrics  |  biometrics research  |  computer vision  |  Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI)  |  fingerprint sensors  |  research and development  |  South Korea