Yes, soon you will have a 1 billion pixels sensor in your camera. Eric Fossum, the inventor of the CMOS image sensor, the sensor in almost every modern digital camera, has teamed up with Jiaju Ma in developing the Quanta Image Sensor (QIS).
The quanta image sensor concept involves counting individual photons on sensors made of 1 billion or more specialized sub-diffraction-limit photo detectors (called jots). A series of bit planes is generated through high-speed readout, and a kernel or "cubicle" of bits (X,Y, t) is used to create a single output image pixel. The size of the cubicle can be adjusted post-acquisition to optimize image quality. Jots are read out at 1000 fps, for a data rate exceeding 1Tb/s. Their new sensor has also the capability to significantly enhance low-light sensitivity.
“This is particularly important in applications such as security cameras, astronomy, or life science imaging like seeing how cells react under a microscope, where there’s only just a few photons”
“We’d like to have 1 billion pixels on the sensor and we’ll still keep the sensor the same size”
Eric Fossum and Jiaju Ma at Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering.
These new pixels are able to sense and count a single electron for the first time, without resorting to extreme measures, such as cooling the sensor to minus 60 C.
A revolutionary breakthrough is underway at Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering, an innovation that may usher in the next generation of light-sensing technology with potential applications in scientific research, DSLR's and cell phone photography.
To put this into perspective, consider this: in typical low-light conditions, your camera is working with thousands of photons per pixel. This new sensor is working with single photons. This is literally the smallest amount of light possible.
I guess first out is Canon
Featuring a resolution of approximately 120 effective megapixels, the SLR camera now being developed will incorporate a Canon-developed high-pixel-density CMOS sensor within the current EOS-series platform, which will realize compatibility with the Company’s diverse interchangeable EF lens lineup.
Apparently Nikon is planing a 133Mpixel 60fps UHDTV sensor... for 8K video cameras.