Japanese electronics maker Hitachi Ltd. has announced it has developed the world's smallest integrated circuit chip.

The wireless IC chip measures 0.0059 inch by 0.0059 inch. It is also the world's thinnest, with a thickness of only 0.00029 inch, less than the 0.0027 inch of a newspaper page, the Asahi Shimbun reported Monday.

If an antenna is attached, the chip will still be thinner than copy machine paper, and the information can be obtained without being touched.

Hitachi officials said further details would be revealed at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, now being held in San Francisco.

Hitachi's previous IC chip, which measured 0.015 inch by 0.015 inch, was sold under the name mu-chip and was used in admission tickets for the 2005 Aichi Expo.

The chip can be incorporated into bank notes, securities papers and official certificates to prevent forgeries.

However, Hitachi says it will be several years before the chip can be mass-produced.