BanderasNews
Puerto Vallarta Weather Report
Welcome to Puerto Vallarta's liveliest website!
Contact UsSearch
Why Vallarta?Vallarta WeddingsRestaurantsWeatherPhoto GalleriesToday's EventsMaps
 NEWS/HOME
 AROUND THE BAY
 AROUND THE REPUBLIC
 AMERICAS & BEYOND
 BUSINESS NEWS
 TECHNOLOGY NEWS
 WEIRD NEWS
 EDITORIALS
 ENTERTAINMENT
 VALLARTA LIVING
 PV REAL ESTATE
 TRAVEL / OUTDOORS
 HEALTH / BEAUTY
 SPORTS
 DAZED & CONFUSED
 PHOTOGRAPHY
 CLASSIFIEDS
 READERS CORNER
 BANDERAS NEWS TEAM
Sign up NOW!

Free Newsletter!

Puerto Vallarta News NetworkTechnology News 

Printing Ultra-Thin Circuits Into Banknotes Could Give Electronic Security to Paper Currency
email this pageprint this pageemail usClay Dillow - Popular Science
go to original
December 24, 2010



It's all about the Benjamins (Surat Lozowick/Flickr)
Earlier this month, it came to light that the new high-tech U.S. $100 bill was so difficult to counterfeit that even the U.S. mint couldn’t properly master the production process, causing printing problems that eventually led the Treasury Department to quarantine $110 billion in new currency.

But rather than incorporating sophisticated printing tricks like 3-D security strips, watermarks, and color-shifting inks, a team of German and Japanese researchers have come up with an easier and potentially more effective way to secure banknotes: stamp tiny organic circuitry directly onto the bills.

Testing on U.S. dollars, Swiss francs, Japanese yen and Euros, the researchers essentially printed aluminum oxide, gold, and organic molecules right onto the notes to create layers of thin-film transistors (TFTs) right on the currency. Those TFT arrays need next to no power to operate – just 3 volts, which could be supplied from a wireless source. The team managed to get 100 organic, ultrathin TFTs onto each note, enough to perform simple computing tasks.

The team hasn’t quite yet worked out the anti-counterfeit part of the equation, but it’s not hard to see how future bills could be minted with tiny, flexible circuits printed right into them. A device similar to an RFID reader could both provide them with power and communicate with the circuits whenever they pass in close proximity, making it easier to both track and authenticate bills in circulation.

Ref: New Scientist




In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research and educational purposes • m3 © 2009 BanderasNews ® all rights reserved • carpe aestus