Your next smartphone may not need a separate biometric sensor

The use of biometric fingerprint sensors to unlock phones initially introduced by Apple with its iPhone 5s smartphone has proven to be a popular added feature. The ease of use outside of a dirty sensor surface or fingertip is now adapted by a number of manufacturers. In doing so, each smartphone using the technology requires the sensor to be integrated into a button on the smartphone, which means the phone needs a prominent button.

But what design opportunities could you pursue if you could integrate the system into the screen itself? Gorilla Glass is a popular screen material for most smartphones and tablets, gaining a reputation for durability that has made it a market leader. Now, a company called Sonavation has managed to make it a fully functional biometric sensor as well.

The designers were able to coat the underside of a 400-micron sheet of Gorilla Glass with a biometric ultrasound 3D sensor. This would allow the smartphone’s screen to act as a fingerprint reader. The company claims that the system may be an improvement over many existing fingerprint sensors as it would be able to read a dirty fingertip as well.

It should be noted that the technology is not necessarily limited to Gorilla Glass as it may also work on other screen materials. However, the ability to mate the sensors with the single most popular material used in high-end smartphones is a strong endorsement for its potential. In fact, the technology may not be limited to tablets or smartphones; wearables can also be adapted to use the technology. Any device with a screen could be adapted to have a biometric sensor.