Proceedings of the Aquarian Age Workshop (September 1999), and related items, are to be placed in a durable, inscribed Time Capsule to commemorate the Spring Equinox 2000, March 19-20, and secured in California. The Time Capsule is to be opened at the start of the next New Age, in some 2160 years.
— Steve Durst

We propose using methods and materials used by the microelectronics industry to make tablets that could last millions of years if stored properly. As in ancient Babylon, ceramics may be the best media to store information.

Ceramic tablets of very small size could be used for storage of information, graphics and pictures. We could possibly use lithographic and other imaging means, such as laser etching. This approach requires research into what ceramic compounds to use.

Ceramic tablets would probably need reinforcement, such as by using fiberglass as a backing so the tablets can take shocks and withstand tensile stress. We will need to fire the ceramics at high temperatures. We could use a photo imaging system to deposit carbon material.

The tablets should have no metal content to prevent them having any material value. No gold or other valuable metals should be in the tablets themselves. It might also be possible to include various circuits on ceramic as examples of electrical engineering, but this type of archive should probably be kept separate from the informational archives.

We must assume that human handling must be accounted for, so the tablets must be durable yet lightweight in case the time capsule needs to be transported to a new location. Therefore small size tablets might be desirable, such as a few inches square. The size of the tablets would be determined by the durability of the ceramic compounds.

The dimensions of the tablets must be determined by analyzing various factors. Will a microscope have to be included with the tablets for easy reading? It might be possible to encode this information on a molecular or atomic level, but will the technology exist to read this information when the tablets are found? The scale of the information must be determined: The size of the letters of a word or the size of graphics are the variables. The shape of the tablets could be made to fit the enclosure or the enclosure could be made to fit the tablets. Forms of encapsulation must be explored. What materials will withstand the tests of time? Vast amounts of information need to be stored in small time capsules that are relatively inexpensive so that a huge number of them can be made and distributed to various places on this planet and beyond.

Other technologies should also be considered. Consider glass mask plates and LCD technology. Using the processes for microelectronics would be cheaper than creating a whole new technology for long term archiving. The tolerances might be relaxed. Less grinding would be required on the ceramic surfaces (as is done to finish small ceramic circuit boards) because these tablets wouldn't have to also be operational as circuits, which require a high degree of precision geometry.

We might use a carbon depositing method to make the letters different colors than the ceramic tablet material. We need to do chemical embedding of the ceramic compound a few microns in width so it can be run through imaging machines. The techniques of the microelectronics industry must be exploited. We have the technology to deposit the carbon on ceramic using photo deposit methods. A laser photo plot for printed circuit boards could be used and then run through a developer. Laser etching techniques could be used to etch even finer images.

Research into correct ceramic compounds, chemicals, procedures and technologies might take millions of dollars. Gearing up to do this might take millions more, but there might be semiconductor companies who might want to be associated in this archival effort that might also preserve their company logo for ages to come.
— Lance Carlyle Carter, 6-3-2000