Tiny, tamper-proof ID tag can authenticate almost anything
news.mit.edu
news.mit.edu
Max temp to melt glue is 190F/88C, hard to remove, and the likelihood to reproduce the color flakes suspended in the glue exactly is very slim.
> mix microscopic metal particles into the glue that sticks the tag to an object and then use terahertz waves to detect the unique pattern those particles form on the item's surface
Hmmm
Anyway, supply chain anti-tamper is generally a good and useful thing. I think this is the higher-tech version of the vacuum packed bag of beans/rice idea.
The issue not mentioned is one I've encountered in other similar projects which is false negatives cause by "creep" in plastics and general thermoplastic movement. We had a near-UV scanner that could map the surface of a test object (sensitive circuit boards) down to a few wavelengths, but it was too damn accurate. Go back and scan the same object a week later and stuff (like solder joints) has moved naturally. That doesn't work when things are in transit for weeks with vibrations and temperature variations.
Could you give more info about this scanner? I would imagine it to be very helpful when prototyping a board, to test for eg thermal cycling effects on solder joints.