Posted on 02/23/2007 8:19:11 AM PST by dead
TOKYO - Tiny computer chips used for tracking food, tickets and other items are getting even smaller. Hitachi Ltd., a Japanese electronics maker, recently showed off radio frequency identification, or RFID, chips that are just 0.002 inches by 0.002 inches and look like bits of powder. They're thin enough to be embedded in a piece of paper, company spokesman Masayuki Takeuchi said Thursday.
In this photo released by Hitachi, Ltd., new radio frequency identification, or RFID, chips
are placed next to a human hair (that's running horizontally) for comparison in
Tokyo, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007. Smart tags, or computer chips used for tracking items
by relaying information wirelessly, are getting so tiny lately, the latest, billed as the
world's smallest, is as invisible as a speck of dust. RFID chips looks like powder,
measuring just 0.05 millimeters (0.002 inches) by 0.05 millimeters (0.002 inches),
and are thin enough to be embedded in pieces of paper, company spokesman said
Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007.(AP Photo/Hitachi, Ltd., HO)
RFID tags store data, but they need to be brought near special reading devices that beam energy to the chips, which then send information back to the readers.
The technology is already widely used to track and identify items, such as monitoring the distribution of food products or guarding against forgery of concert tickets.
Shown to the public for the first time earlier this month, the new chip is an improvement on its predecessor from Hitachi — the Mu-chip, which at 0.4 millimeters by 0.4 millimeters, looks about the size of the period at the end of this sentence.
The latest chip, which still has no name, is 60 times smaller than the Mu-chip but can handle the same amount of information, which gets stored as a 38-digit number, according to Hitachi.
One catch is that the new chip needs an external antenna, unlike the Mu-chip.
The smallest antennas are about 0.16 inches — giants next to the powder-size chip.
There are no plans yet to start commercial production of the new chip, Takeuchi said.
Invisible tracking brings to mind science-fiction-inspired uses, or even abuses, such as unknowingly getting sprinkled with smart-tag powder for Big Brother-like monitoring.
"We are not imagining such uses," Takeuchi said, adding that the latest chip is so new — and so miniature — Hitachi is still studying its possible uses.
Very hard to scoop salsa with, however...
Cocaine.............
Rest assured, others are.
Keep 'em.
BUMP!
Soon, every round of ammo you buy (projectile and casing) will have this.
And every dollar bill.
Those are just the chip. They still have to have an antenna to make them work and that antenna has to be several thousand time larger than the chip.
"They still have to have an antenna to make them work and that antenna has to be several thousand time larger than the chip."
According to the article, the smallest antennas are .16", or just over 4 mm. long. That is around 100 times longer than the largest dimension of the chip (0.05 mm), scarcely "several thousand time[s]".
Hope it helped...
If the wavelength is that short is it really RFID?
As if the various other permutations and teensyness of RFID weren't wild enough, here comes Hitachi with its new "powder" 0.05mm x 0.05mm RFID chips. The new chips are 64 times smaller than the previous record holder, the 0.4mm x 0.4mm mu-chips, and nine times smaller than Hitachi's last year prototype, and yet still make room for a 128-bit ROM that can store a unique 38-digit ID number. The main application is likely to be anti-counterfeit, but since the previous mu-chips could be embedded into paper quite easily enough, we're fairly certain Hitachi is just doing this for bragging rights and potential pepper shaker mixups. Hitachi should have these on the market in two or three years.
Let's hope that some smart hacker is working on a credit-card-sized device that will instantly disable every little RFID bug in its vicinity...
"We are not imagining such uses," Takeuchi said, adding that the latest chip is so new — and so miniature — Hitachi is still studying its possible uses.
So its for invisable tracking purposes, to send back signals, but this is not "Big Brother Monitoring". Seems as logical as the record snowfalls being caused by Global Warming!
That's what I was thinking. Shouldn't be too hard to zap these little critters...
RFID Ping
"what would be the consequence of having such a chip enter the body."
How would you attach it to the nerves? How do you get the body to not reject it?
I don't know how it will attach to the nerves but as far as the body rejecting it, that shouldn't be a issue. My company makes implants from Delrin and PLA and never has rejection ever been an issue.
Rejection would only apply if the chips were living organisms or unless the recipient was alergic.
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