Color imaging archival system
AssigneeNanoark Corporation
InventorAjay Pasupuleti
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for the long-term storage and high-speed retrieval of color images stored on semiconductor substrates. The images are stored on semiconductor substrates by utilizing semiconductor fabrication techniques to produce a plurality of images. A transparent thin-film dielectric varies in thickness to product a color palette.
Claims20
An image archival device comprising:
- a. a semiconductor substrate having at least one orientation indicator;
- and
- b. a transparent thin-film dielectric layer over said semiconductor substrate that varies in thickness to produce distinct hues that correlate to the thickness of the transparent thin-film dielectric layer;
- the distinct hues producing a plurality of bit-mapped color images.
The image archival device of claim 4, wherein said transparent thin-film dielectric layer is SiO2 or Si3N4.
A method for forming a plurality of images on a semiconductor substrate comprising the steps of:
- a. providing a semiconductor substrate;
- b. depositing a transparent thin-film dielectric layer over said semiconductor substrate having a first thickness that reflects a first color;
- c. partially etching the portions of the transparent thin-film dielectric layer to form a varying thickness in the thin-film dielectric layer;
- the different thicknesses reflecting different colors creating a pattern representative of a plurality of color images.
A method for retaining images on a semiconductor substrate comprising:
- scanning a plurality of images;
- condensing the plurality of images to a bit-mapped image file, such that the image file organizes the plurality of images to fit on a silicon wafer;
- writing the bit-mapped image file onto a silicon wafer substrate as a plurality of half-toned images utilizing maskless lithography techniques;
- and
- writing an image location device onto a silicon wafer as part of said bit-mapped image file utilizing maskless lithography techniques, said image location device containing the location information for at least one of said plurality of images located on said silicon wafer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.