IBM and National Geographic plan to create the world's smallest magazine cover

Moreover, according to the plan, this will be the official record recorded by the team of the Guinness Book of Records. A team of specialists from IBM, engaged in this project, created a tiny "cutter", which is 100,000 times sharper than the sharpened tip of a pencil.

Using this tool, scientists are going to cut the cover of a children's magazine from National Geographic Kids on the surface of a piece of PPHA polymer (polyphthalaldehyde). The cover of the magazine will turn out so small that on a regular crystal of salt (the crystal is shown in the picture in the announcement) there will be 2000 such covers. In principle, a whole issue of magazines from National Geographic could be placed on such a crystal of salt.
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The surface of the polymer in the process of doing the work will be constantly scanned to determine the surface structure. And the “cutter”, using simultaneously heating and mechanical action on certain points, will move the polymer sections, working according to a predetermined model by specialists. All this really seems to work with an ordinary cutter.

As a result, a system of bulk “patterns” with nanometric accuracy will be created on the polymer. The work of the tool itself is compared with the work of a 3D printer, not ordinary, but ultra-precise, capable of working with microscopic doses of material.

Previously, using similar technology, IBM already created a map of the Earth, models of various geological objects, and so on. This kind of work is carried out fairly quickly - a few minutes will be enough to “print” the mentioned cover of the magazine.

Of course, all this is done not for the sake of pleasure, but with the purpose of demonstrating the technology developed in recent years, which will later be used to create miniature electronic components, transistors and microchips, which will lead to a new stage of miniaturization of electronic devices. A new type of electronics will be used everywhere - from data centers to smartphones.



By the way, you can help choose the cover of the magazine, which will be “printed”. Voting for covers is open here .

By the way, IBM is not the first time working with vanishingly small size. For example, less than a year ago, a cartoon about a boy playing football was created, and this cartoon was created from individual carbon monoxide molecules. Here is this cartoon:



Via ibmresearchnews