Xerox PARC Protects Sensitive, Classified Data With Self-Destructing Chip

There are few things nowadays that haven't been impacted by the computer chip. Chances are good that if you look in any direction, you're bound to spot something that has a computer chip under its hood. It could be said that these chips are just not that exciting anymore - that we need a good spicing-up of things. With its PARC, Xerox has got us covered.

PARC was created by Xerox as part of DARPA's vanishing programmable resources project and could provide a seriously secure way for companies to create a sensitive chip that can be easily destroyed if need be. It looks cool, with its Gorilla Glass frame and sketched IC design, but that's just a perk.

These chips are built to have some enormous stress in them from the get-go, accomplished through an ion-exchange temper. Once enough heat affects the glass, it shatters into a countless number of pieces. Even after the initial shatter, the smaller pieces can continue to shatter as well - the amount of stress seems to be intense.

We're not likely to see these kinds of chips used for advanced applications, but they could prove a boon for security. Imagine having a device that looks like a flash drive packing one of these chips, and after using it to gain access to something, you push a button to let it heat up to the point of explosion.

Do yourself a favor and watch the video here, because the shattering is really cool to see (especially with slow motion in the second-half of the video).