What is this tiniest camera ever built — smaller than grain of salt?

In this fast-changing world, technology has advanced so much that it has contracted the size of hefty devices into handy objects. But it is very unusual if it becomes too tiny to hold.

An image went viral on social media recently showing a tiny grain-sized camera that is built to transform human lives by making contributions to human health.

The size of the camera is estimated at just 0.575 x 0.575, which is equal to the size of a grain of salt.

People were caught in amazement and some of them wondered how it was even developed as the picture shows an unprecedented contribution towards miniaturisation of the technology and its benefits to human health.

The device called 'OV6948', is manufactured by a US-based company named OmniVision Technologies. This camera has also secured a place in the Guinness World Record for "The Smallest Image Sensor Commercially Available" with its size of 0.575mm x 0.575mm.

The purpose of this product development was to innovate medical imagers to address the current market demand for decreased invasiveness and deep anatomical access. The images captured by this tiny camera can solve the many challenges posed by reusable medical imaging equipment, including cross-contamination risks and inefficiencies due to high maintenance costs.

"At Yole Developpement (Yole), we expect disposable endoscope shipments to grow at a 35.9% CAGR over the next five years (1)," asserted Marjorie Villien, PhD, technology and market analyst, medical and industrial imaging.

"This industry is today driven by the recent recommendation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) related to the cross-contamination issues due to improper cleaning of the endoscopes. In this context, all major endoscope OEMs are developing cost-effective, small-diameter disposable endoscopes with high image quality."

According to the company, the OVM6948 is the only ultra-small "chip on tip" camera with backside illumination, which provides excellent image quality and better low-light performance to help reduce LED heat, along with improved sensitivity.