Chip on glass breaks on command

Researchers at Xerox Parc have developed a chip based on toughened glass that shatters into small particles when heated. The researchers believe that the chip can be used for security applications, such as destroying encryption keys.

Last week, the researchers demonstrated the ‘self-destructing’ chip at a Darpa event, the research division of the US defense department. The chip was processed in toughened glass. Darpa’s destruction method is based on thermal breaking, i.e. as a result of temperature differences in the glass. As a result, the toughened glass disintegrates into thousands of pieces due to the permanent stresses applied to it.

To initiate the destruction, the research group aimed a laser at a photodiode, which heated the resistance in the electrical circuit. The temperature differences caused the glass to break and the compressive stresses caused the small shards to break into even smaller parts up to ten seconds later, PC World describes.

Other switches could also be used to trigger the destruction, the Darpa researchers said, such as mechanical switches and radio signals. The glass-based chips could be used to store sensitive data such as encryption keys and be destroyed remotely if it falls into the wrong hands, the idea is.