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Printed smart devices for anti-counterfeiting allowing precise identification with household equipment

Author

Listed:
  • Junfang Zhang

    (Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Am Muehlenberg 1
    and Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Imperial College London)

  • Rong Tan

    (Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Am Muehlenberg 1
    Soochow University, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Material Science)

  • Yuxin Liu

    (Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Am Muehlenberg 1
    Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arnimallee 22)

  • Matteo Albino

    (and Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Imperial College London)

  • Weinan Zhang

    (and Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Imperial College London)

  • Molly M. Stevens

    (and Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Imperial College London)

  • Felix F. Loeffler

    (Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Am Muehlenberg 1)

Abstract

Counterfeiting has become a serious global problem, causing worldwide losses and disrupting the normal order of society. Physical unclonable functions are promising hardware-based cryptographic primitives, especially those generated by chemical processes showing a massive challenge-response pair space. However, current chemical-based physical unclonable function devices typically require complex fabrication processes or sophisticated characterization methods with only binary (bit) keys, limiting their practical applications and security properties. Here, we report a flexible laser printing method to synthesize unclonable electronics with high randomness, uniqueness, and repeatability. Hexadecimal resistive keys and binary optical keys can be obtained by the challenge with an ohmmeter and an optical microscope. These readout methods not only make the identification process available to general end users without professional expertise, but also guarantee device complexity and data capacity. An adopted open-source deep learning model guarantees precise identification with high reliability. The electrodes and connection wires are directly printed during laser writing, which allows electronics with different structures to be realized through free design. Meanwhile, the electronics exhibit excellent mechanical and thermal stability. The high physical unclonable function performance and the widely accessible readout methods, together with the flexibility and stability, make this synthesis strategy extremely attractive for practical applications.

Suggested Citation

  • Junfang Zhang & Rong Tan & Yuxin Liu & Matteo Albino & Weinan Zhang & Molly M. Stevens & Felix F. Loeffler, 2024. "Printed smart devices for anti-counterfeiting allowing precise identification with household equipment," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-45428-3
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45428-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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