For DARPA, the goal is to create “electronics that last precisely as long as they are needed,” Alicia Jackson, a project manager for the agency, said in a statement last year. “The breakdown of such devices could be triggered by a signal sent from command or any number of possible environmental conditions, such as temperature.”
PARC’s new computer chip promises to do just that. Made of Gorilla Glass – the same tough material used for smartphone displays – the chip was built in heavy stress, so that certain triggers could cause the glass to shatter. At the St. Louis event, demonstrators triggered the chip’s self-destruct circuit using a photo-diode activated by a laser light, but mechanical switches and radio signals would work just as well, according to IDG News.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member