Tiny QR code achieved using electron microscope technology

Some time ago, I tried to use https://github.com/alisinabh/paperify to back up some data I had in the form of QR codes on paper. Turns out the standard printer is very limiting in terms of how many bits of data you can fit into paper if you want to read it reliably. I would guess this would be the same in their case. Maybe they will come up with a good protocol with error codes that would suit their "printer".

Anyway, I like the concept of storing QR codes on paper or other medium even if it is not really practical.

Technically, this is not a QR code. Under ISO 18004, QR codes must be 1cm x 1cm or larger.

"A4 paper sheet-sized ceramic film could hold more than 2 TB of data" Just 2 TB? Makes you appreciate just how much 2 TB of data is.

Also, what's the point of "storing our future" if it is so difficult to read and decode? How would one even know where to look for the data if it's get lost. So besides doing it for fun I don't see the point of this and how it can be ever scaled to be in everyday use.

Looking at the end result, honestly surprised a QR code scanner could read it - other than the corner squares, the lack of pixel fidelity and strong outlines makes the code look melted or smudged

Despite the HN title (and while the focusing optics are similar), the structure in the article was directly milled with an ion beam (FIB), not electrons.

Ha! Reminds me of when my buddy in grad school drew a dick with CO molecules. It was, what, 40 angstrom long?

Good times.

Why did I see the headline and my first thought was the “Scientific Method” episode of Voyager.

That being said, I am curious what the use case is. It mentions data storage but the QR code is not really storing data (ok it is storing something obviously but not in the traditional sense).

Anyone else expecting to be rickrolled by the world's smallest QR code?

Anybody was able to read that? Mine phone app does not recognise this as qr code.

But how to read it out? Doesn't that take too long?

In a way the story of nanofabrication seems like a tale of disappointment. Many decades after Feynman's "Plenty of room at the bottom" or Drexler's "Engines of creation" and we have very little to show in a way of progress. What happened? Why were knowledgeable minds like Feynman too optimistic about our ability to make this happen?

great, we can rick roll people in the next pandemic vaccines!