Researchers at New York University Tandon School of Engineering have developed a new technology that could become the next generation of electronic hardware security. The new tech is a novel class of unclonable cybersecurity primitives made of nanomaterial that possesses the highest ability of structural randomness.
The new technology represents the first proof of complete spatial randomness in atomically thin molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). When it comes to this kind of security, randomness is extremely desirable as it ensures encryption and therefore secure computing.
The team created the material by growing it in extremely thin layers (each about a million times thinner than a human hair). As Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Davood Shahrjerdi explains, by varying the thickness of each of these layers, the researchers tuned the size and type of energy band structure. This tuning is what affects the properties of the material and therefore enables its structural randomness.
Shahrjerdi notes that the new material is unique because at its monolayer thickness, it possesses the optical properties of a semiconductor that emits light, but at multilayer, its properties change and it no longer emits light. So, when exposed to light, the material’s patterns become a one-of-a-kind authentication key that secures hardware components.
But that’s not all – the new material is also inexpensive, requires no metal contacts and can simply be applied to a chip or other hardware component like a stamp to a letter.
Source:
NYU Tandon School of Engineering via ScienceDaily (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171129090409.htm)
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