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Researchers create world's smallest QR code for long-term data storage

Science & technologyScience
Key Points
  • Researchers created the world's smallest QR code at 1.98 square micrometers.
  • The technology could store over 2 terabytes on an A4-sized surface.
  • Data can be preserved for centuries without electricity on a ceramic film.

98 square micrometers, smaller than most bacteria. The code uses ion beams to etch patterns with pixels only 49 nanometers wide, making it invisible to the naked light but readable with electron microscopes. This technology could store over 2 terabytes of data on an A4-sized surface.

The code is engraved on an extremely stable ceramic film designed to preserve data for hundreds or even thousands of years without electricity or maintenance.

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