Date Created: 20 January 2012
World's smallest greetings card made in Scotland
It’s so small that it can’t be seen by the naked eye – but a tiny Chinese New Year greetings card created by the University of Glasgow represents the huge potential for China to profit from Scottish innovation.
The card was made by experts from the University’s James Watt Nanofabrication Centre in collaboration with Scottish Development International (SDI). The card showcases the University’s world-leading expertise in nanotechnology ahead of Chinese New Year celebrations, which begin Monday 23 January.
The card expresses warm wishes for health and prosperity during the Year of the Dragon from Scotland to China and is also an invitation for collaboration and partnership in cutting-edge technology between the two countries. SDI’s team in China is on hand to support collaboration and partnerships in academia and industry between Scotland and China to help strengthen international trade.
Size of a human hair
The card is 300 micrometres wide by 200 micrometres tall (a micrometre is one-millionth of a metre). It’s so small that 21,600 of them could fit on an area the size of the China Post’s 36mm-by-36mm 2012 Chinese New Year commemorative stamp.
The Chinese characters are just 45 micrometres tall, and the dragon is just 116 micrometres long. By comparison, the width of a human hair is about 100 micrometres.
Professor David Cumming and Dr Qin Chen from the University’s School of Engineering etched the Chinese characters and dragon image onto a very small piece of glass. The manufacturing process took just 30 minutes.
Future of nanotechnology
Professor Cumming said: “The future applications of nanotechnology are vast, but the nature of nanotechnology can be difficult to express to the public. Making this Chinese New Year card was a simple way to show how accurate our technology is.
“The colours were produced by plasmon resonance in a patterned aluminium film made in our James Watt Nanofabrication Centre. The underlying technology has some very important real world applications in biotechnology sensing, optical filtering and light control components, and advances in micro and nanofabrication for the electronics industry.
“All these applications are critical in the future development of the digital economy and the emerging healthcare technology markets. Within a home environment, this technology could eventually find its way into cameras, television and computer screens to reduce the manufacturing cost.”
Scotland-China partnership
SDI Chief Executive Anne MacColl said: “Nanotechnology is just one area in which Scotland is considered a world leader. From renewable energy to life sciences, digital media to ICT and education to financial services, Scotland has a wealth of expertise, skilled people and knowledge.
“Chinese firms can gain a competitive edge by partnering with Scottish universities and companies across these critical high growth sectors. Innovation is key to China’s economic development and SDI’s offices in Beijing and Shanghai are on hand to help Chinese universities and firms learn more about the benefits of international partnership.”
Many examples of collaboration between Scotland and China exist today, particularly in the field of innovation-based research and development.
Four mainland Chinese companies are investors in Scotland and a number of Scotland’s world-leading universities have research partnerships and joint ventures in place with Chinese academic institutions and corporations.
Scotland’s First Minister recently made his third visit to China in two years, underpinning Scotland’s commitment to growing business and academic links with China even further.
Learn more about Scotland’s expertise and the future of nanontechnology