Credit: X. Fuentes/UB
An international team led by researchers of the University of Barcelona builds the smallest and cheapest high-resolution microscope to date. To build it, researchers developed new nanoLEDs that act as a lightning source and determine the resolution of the microscope without lenses. The team created a new start-up and started a new European project to bring this technology to the market.
As part of the European project ChipScope, researchers have created a new type of super-resolution optical chip-sized microscope. The microscope is based on 200 nm nanoLEDs and could allow the observation of some viruses and cellular processes in real time without the problems of current high-resolution techniques. The current prototype has been developed at a cost of nearly 1,500 euros, but it can reach a few tens of euros when produced at a large scale, since it is completely based on conventional microelectronic technologies.