Researcher builds optical information carrier lifetime to completed. n billion years

Researcher Jeroen de Vries from the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology of the University of Twente has an optical information carrier developed that information for extremely long periods of time it can save. The retention period would be 1 billion years can amounts.

De Vries focused his research on the development of a storage medium that data is extremely long. So there would be information stored must be able to remain for a period of 1 million to 1 billion years. That way there would be knowledge can be preserved if, for example, the mankind will be affected by large-scale disaster or as a legacy for the distant future.

The researcher thinks that this requirement can be met with an optical information carrier in which bit by means of etstechnieken in the form of qr-codes has to be written. Within each pixel of the qr code is a smaller qr-code which other information is placed. The information carrier consists of a wafer of tungsten which is protected by a layer of silicon nitride. Tungsten is resistant to very high temperatures.

To the readability of the data stored over millions of years of testing the optical information medium subjected to aging tests during more than. From a test plate for one hour at 200°C was kept, proved that the data is still perfectly legible, and that there is no visible degradation of the tungsten. This test would be a retention period of at least 1 million years to simulate. At higher temperatures, up to 440°C, would the reading be more complicated, but still possible. De Vries wants to have more tests but says that the data on a very stable place, for example, a kernopslagfaciliteit, extremely long periods of time can be stored without data loss will occur.