Researchers at the University of Durham have developed an affordable, forgery-proof security tagging system based on nano-technology. The development of the tag, which works in a similar way to a traditional barcode, was announced at the Institute of Nanotechnology's conference 'Nanotechnology in Crime Prevention and Detection' in London last week. It is designed to authenticate branded goods and components such as spare parts for cars. Made from a metallic alloy, the microsystem is 2mm long x 1 mm wide x 100 microns thick, with a silicon dioxide hard glass coating to make it scratch resistant. It can be attached to the surface of a paper document, such as a warranty, that a criminal might attempt to forge for financial gain. As well as its own unique number, each tag has its own magnetic pattern that cannot be copied even by its manufacturers. 'If you zoom into the tag at atom level then you can see atoms are missing or have been substituted by impurities,' said Dr Russell Cowburn, a nanotechnology specialist in the university's Physics department. 'Small errors always occur naturally in an arrangement of atoms, meaning the pattern of each tag is like a fingerprint.'
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