According to the Korea Herald, on-screen fingerprint scanners are now being introduced by fingerprint module maker CrucialTec and will be available to global smartphone manufacturers this year. The “Display Fingerprint Solution” is claimed to have enough sensitivity to detect the touch of a single hair and can extract a high-resolution fingerprint at 500 dots per inch. This means that fingerprint authentication can now be performed on a smartphone screen rather than by the home button or scanner at the rear of the phone. This will allow smartphone manufacturers to provide better security and produce more flexible designs.
The CrucialTec module can be embedded under a smartphone screen and the module consists of transparent components such as a thin film transistor and a sensing electrode. The company holds 50 patents relating to this new biometric technology.
Other global fingerprint sensor and module firms, such as US-based Synaptics, are still believed to be working to produce similar module technology.
