Ion Torrent Systems uses a brand-new strategy to DNA sequencing, making it a lot faster, less complex, and even more cost effective than ever before. In contrast to alternative sequencing systems, Ion Torrent devices sequence DNA with a semiconductor chip, just like the semiconductor in your electronic camera. Although the microchip your electronic camera has a sensing level blanketed with countless pixels that decode light into electronic data, an Ion chip has countless wells covering those pixels. Any time a nucleotide is actually combined into an one strand of DNA, a hydrogen ion is produced. This is exactly how the Ion Torrent system decodes DNA, by reading this synthetic modification straight into the well on the chip. Essentially, each well functions as the tiniest pH meter ever made.