Encrypted Electron Beam Lithography Nano-Signatures for Authentication

Abstract

In this work, engineered nanostructures (ENS) have been fabricated on the packed integrated circuits. Coding lookup tables were developed to assign different digits in numerical matrices to different fabricated nano-signatures. The numerical matrices are encrypted according to advanced encryption standard (AES). The encrypted numerical matrix is ink printed on the components, and the nanosignatures are fabricated on the packaged of the chips via electron beam lithography (EBL). This process is to be done in the manufacturer side of the supply chain. The numerical matrix and the nanosignature accompany the product in its long journey in the global supply chain. The global supply chain is proved to be susceptible to counterfeiters. For keeping counterfeiters‘ hands out of the process, the cipher key and the coding lookup tables are provided to the consumer using a secure direct line between the authentic manufacturer and the consumer. In the consumer side, the printed numerical matrix is decrypted. Having the decrypted numerical matrix makes it possible to extract the nanosignature from the laser speckle pattern shined on the packaged product. In this work, an algorithm is developed to extract the nano-signature by having the decrypted matrix and reflected laser speckle patterns as inputs. Confirming the existence of the nano-signature confirms the authenticity of the component. Imitating the nano-signatures by the counterfeiters is not possible because there is no way for them to observe the shape of these signatures without having access to the cipher key.