LBCAST (lateral buried charge accumulator and sensing transistor array) is a type of photo sensor which the manufacturer claims is simpler and thus smaller and faster than CMOS sensors.
Both CMOS and LBCAST technologies branched from researchers discussions of "amplifying sensors" as a way to develop an imaging sensor with lower power requirements than the already-existing CCD sensor technology, for use in portable devices such as DSLR cameras.
[1] From the Nikon Website: The main differences between LBCAST and CMOS-based sensors appear to be those given below:[1] As at end 2006, the Nikon D2H and the D2Hs were the only publicly available cameras known to carry the sensor.
Nikon has opted to use CCDs sourced from Sony in most of their low and mid range cameras and used a CMOS sensor in the flagship D2Xs/D2x.
With the advent of the D3, D700 and D300 cameras in 2007 and 2008, all featuring CMOS sensor technology, it is unknown whether LBCAST plays a part in the design of the CMOS sensor of either, since Nikon's implementation of LBCAST is an adaptation of CMOS, and it is therefore technically correct to refer to the known instances of LBCAST as CMOS, Nikon has not been forthcoming to requests for specific information on the D3 sensor[2] and Nikon have claimed in the past that LBCAST would be further developed.