

Ultrashort Pulsed Laser-Engraved Terahertz-Readable Tags for Secure and Reliable Product Traceability in Microelectronics
Project ID:
P1_25B
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Sina Shahbazmohamadi
Email:
Co-Principal Investigator(s):
Dr. Pouya Tavousi
Topic Areas:
Pseudo-Unique Fingerprint for Mass Production Components
Abstract
Counterfeit microelectronic components pose significant economic, security, and operational risks across critical industries, including defense, aerospace, automotive, and consumer electronics. Current traceability methods, such as barcodes, RFID, and traditional physically unclonable functions (PUFs), face inherent limitations including susceptibility to duplication, high implementation costs, and challenges in passive, non-destructive reading. To address these shortcomings, this proposal introduces a novel method using ultrashort pulsed lasers to create unique, immutable, and unclonable physical tags directly on microelectronic components. These tags are designed to be easily readable using non-destructive far-field Terahertz (THz) spectroscopy, providing a robust, rapid, and cost-effective traceability solution. The proposed research will systematically investigate the sensitivity of THz spectroscopy to laser engraving parameters, optimize the method for generating high-information-density identifiers, and validate the capability of reading identifiers through protective packaging. Successful demonstration of this technique will significantly enhance supply chain integrity by providing a universally adoptable solution for microelectronics provenance and counterfeit mitigation.