Next-generation physical security devices exploiting 2D materials

James的博士项目将探索混合低维材料作为认证和防伪的硬件安全设备的应用。他将研究不同系统之间不可预测的相互作用是否可以用来产生强大的、复杂的指纹，这些指纹可以被光学读取，不仅可以验证读取的身份，还可以验证它是由低维系统产生的。该项目需要制造和表征包含量子点和其他纳米颗粒的直接间隙2D材料层的设备。Langmuir-Blodgett、电喷雾和滴铸等技术将用于生产这些材料的几层薄膜，以及它们的组合。所制造的设备的结构将通过模拟得到，目的是最大化光发射强度，以及对样品变化的敏感性。在光学测量之后，该项目将研究这些设备作为新型物理不可克隆功能（puf）应用的适用性。量子材料在puf中的应用还处于萌芽阶段，这个概念是从James所在的团队中产生的。迄今为止的研究主要集中在使用单一材料的简单设备上；异质结构优化性能的设计和使用在这个项目中是完全新颖的。该项目将物理和材料科学相结合，针对网络安全中的一个重要突出问题。所有这些学科都属于EPSRC的职权范围。

James' PhD project will explore the application of hybrid low-dimensional materials as hardware security devices for authentication and anti-counterfeiting. He will investigate whether unpredictable interactions between different systems can be used to produce robust, complex fingerprints, which can be optically read - to verify not only the identity of the reading, but also that it was produced by a low-dimensional system.The project entails the fabrication and characterisation of devices containing layers of direct-gap 2D materials with quantum dots and other nanoparticles. Techniques such as Langmuir-Blodgett, electrospray and drop-casting will be applied to produce few-layer films of these materials, and combinations of them. The structure of the devices' that are made will be informed by simulations, with an aim to maximise the optical emission intensity, as well as the sensitive to variations in the sample. Following optical measurements, the project will look at the suitability of the application of these devices as novel forms of physically unclonable functions (PUFs).The use of quantum materials in PUFs is nascent, with the concept having emerged from the group in which James is working. Research to date has focused on simple devices using a single material; the design and use of heterostructures to optimise performance in this project is entirely novel.The project combines physics and material science to target an important outstanding problem in cyber security. All of these disciplines fall within EPSRC's remit.