The Smallest Christmas Card Is So Small That Over 20 Million Of Them Can Fit On 1 Standard Postage Stamp
The card, created by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK¡¯s national measurement standards laboratory, measures 15 x 20 micrometers. A micrometer is one millionth of a metre.
There's no end to imagination and everything just gets better with technology.
British scientists have created what they believe is the world¡¯s smallest Christmas card, a seasonal greeting so tiny that over 200 million of them could fit into a standard postage stamp.
The card, created by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK¡¯s national measurement standards laboratory, measures 15 x 20 micrometers. A micrometer is one millionth of a metre.
It is made from platinum-coated silicon nitride, and was illustrated using a focused ion beam. The card¡¯s cover features an etching of a snowman, above the words ¡°seasons greetings,¡± as well as a seasonal message inside.
One of the card¡¯s inventors, NPL¡¯s Dr David Cox, who created the card along with his colleague Dr Kin Mingard, said the technology used in its making had more practical uses.
¡°We are using the tools that created the card to accurately measure the thickness of extremely small features in materials, helping to unlock new battery and semiconductor technologies. It¡¯s a genuinely exciting development.¡±
The NPL said that the previous smallest Christmas card measured 200 x 209 micrometers, making their effort over 100 times smaller.