Robust two-color physically unclonable patterns from controlled aggregation of a single organic luminophore

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Optoelectronics
• Security Engineering

Background:

• Physically unclonable functions (PUFs) are crucial for hardware security.
• Current PUF technologies face limitations in encoding capacity and anti-counterfeiting.
• Organic luminophores offer potential for novel PUF designs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a new method for creating two-color luminescent physically unclonable functions (PUFs).
• To leverage organic luminophores with tunable emission colors for enhanced PUF performance.
• To significantly improve anti-counterfeiting capabilities via advanced PUF design.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of an organic luminophore with tunable emission characteristics.
• Fabrication of two-color luminescent PUFs utilizing the developed luminophore.
• Characterization of PUF performance, focusing on luminescence, stability, and security features.

Main Results:

• Successful creation of two-color luminescent PUFs with tunable emission.
• Demonstration of high security and stable performance of the developed PUFs.
• Significant enhancement in encoding capacity achieved through dual-color integration and complex pattern formation.

Conclusions:

• The novel two-color luminescent PUFs offer a promising solution for advanced anti-counterfeiting.
• Tunable organic luminophores are effective for creating high-security, high-capacity PUFs.
• This approach exponentially increases encoding capacity, addressing limitations in current security technologies.