The Smallest QR Code In History Is Been Created
Credit: Pixabay
Scientists from Monash University and the Czech Republic have announced the creation of the smallest QR code in history. Its size is approximately 50 x 50 nanometers, which is almost 800 times smaller than the previous record and comparable to the size of a virus.
Each pixel of this QR code is a silver atom, detected using a high-precision tunneling microscope—the entire QR code is a thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair. It is also fully functional and can be scanned with a smartphone. The current world record was set in February of this year by scientists from the Technical University of Vienna (TU Wien) and Cerabyte. With pixels measuring 49 nm, the entire QR code is 1.98 µm² in size. The new smallest QR code has a full size of 50 × 50 nm, meaning it is only slightly larger than the previous pixel—roughly the size of the COVID-19 virus.
Creating the object required ultra-high vacuum and cryogenic temperatures. To place the silver atoms in place, an ultra-thin probe with a tip just a few atoms wide was used. The silver particles were positioned using quantum tunneling. The image was created using highly automated tools, and to make the QR code fully scannable, additional alignment and adjustment of the atoms was required.
To put things into perspective, the previous record, held by a joint effort between TU Wien and Cerabyte, was almost twice as large—approximately 1.98 µm². The new QR code occupies an area comparable to one pixel of the previous record holder.
