Developing a highly responsive miniaturized security device based on a printed copper ammine energetic composite

Abstract

This work presents a triggerable ultimate security device (USD) capable of physically destroying a memory chip that contains classified data within a few milliseconds upon the detection of intrusion. The USD is designed as an add-on module that can be positioned onto any electronic chip, IC circuit, or memory card without requiring any specialized chip design, substrate type or encapsulation solution. Its operation is simply based on the exothermic reaction of a solid-state printed energetic composite that physically disintegrates the sensible component in less than 1 ms. The solid-state energetic composite consists of a mixture of Al/CuO nanothermite with a copper ammine complex densely printed onto the chip that is meant to be destroyed. This energetic layer can be ignited through resistive heating or capacitance discharge in less than 50 µs. The paper details the fabrication and assembly of a test USD device and demonstrates that 400 mg of energetic composite can be used to irreversibly destroy one silicon chip (~120 mm 3 ) in less than 10 ms. The outcome of this work also shows that the reaction time and efficiency are highly dependent on the reactive material loading, i.e., the mass of nanothermites deposited into the device and memory card. • A novel ultimate security device concept is designed and developed. • The actuation is based on the reaction of a confined safe copper ammine energetics placed on the circuitry to be destroyed. • The pressure burst can be easily tuned by modifying the energetic composite solid loading. • A fast response is demonstrated. • The concept and technology hold potential for commercial scale production.