In the Christmas atmosphere approaching, people rush to shop for satisfactory items as gifts for their loved ones, along with a series of meaningful gift ideas created by manufacturers. thoroughly exploited and introduced.
When scientists also participate in this ” busy spin” , the products made are not only meaningful but also very unique, and the micro Christmas card is one of them.
This is a unique idea invented and implemented by scientists from the National Physics Laboratory (NPL) of the UK’s National Metrology Service. Their products really do create something super small in size but super big in creative meaning.
The image on the world’s smallest Christmas card. (Source: NPL).
Measuring only 15×20 micrometers (1 micrometer is equivalent to 1/1,000,000m), this is the smallest card made to date, 100 times smaller than the previous record of 200×209 micrometers. (The width of a human hair is about 100 micrometers.)
Scientists say it is possible to fit more than 200 million of these special Christmas cards into the frame of an ordinary postage stamp.
“Small but mighty”, these cards don’t lack the same meaningful content and images as their normal-sized cousins, with full wishes and the words “Seasons greetings” printed underneath the picture. cleverly carved funny snowman.
These 200 million postcards can fit in the frame of a regular postage stamp. (Source: NPL).
The creation of this type of card is not only for the fun of the festival, but behind it is also an extremely useful scientific research meaning. To get these images and text, the scientists had to manipulate super-difficult illustration techniques using focused ion beams on a platinum-coated silicon and nitrogen compound.
The authors of the work say that their successful application of this technique can be considered an innovative breakthrough, paving the way for many other applications in the fields of micromaterials, battery technology and technology. semiconductor engineering.