Graphene layers for identification of products

• US 9,568,421 B2
• Filed: 07/22/2016
• Issued: 02/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Farmer, Damon B., Pfeiffer, Dirk, Smith, Joshua T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chowdhury, Tarifur
• Assistant Examiner(s): RAHMAN, MD M
• Application Number:
  US15/217,064
• Publication Number:
  US 20160325580A1
• Time in Patent Office: 207 Days
• Field of Search: 356/434
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 25/36 comprising special materials
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 25/465 using chemicals or adhesives
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 1/00 Photometry, e.g. photographic exposure meter spectrophotometry G01J3/00; specially adapted for radiation pyrometry G01J5/00 ; exposure meters built in cameras G03B17/06
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 1/16 using electric radiation detectors G01J1/20 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/534 by measuring transmission alone, i.e. determining opacity
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/95607 using a comparative method
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2201/062 LED's

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a security device, in particular, a multilayered security device. The multilayered security device includes a substrate layer having a first substrate. The substrate layer attaches to the product. The multilayered security device also includes a graphene layer. The graphene layer has a first continuous graphene sheet that is made of a monolayer of covalently-bonded carbon atoms. The graphene layer also forms, in response to exposure to a verification stimulus, a contrasting pattern with respect to an exposed substrate area from the substrate layer.

Claims

1. A method of verifying a product using a multilayered security device, comprising:

applying, by an antenna of a capture device, a low-power radio frequency (RF) signal to a security device attached to the product,

wherein the security device includes an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) substrate with an embedded RF coil, the embedded RF coil causing the OLED substrate to emit light in response to the applied low-power RF signal, the security device further comprising a graphene sheet made of a monolayer of covalently bonded carbon atoms, the graphene sheet preventing light emitted from the OLED substrate to form a contrasting pattern of emitted light;

receiving, by a camera of the capture device and in response to the applied low-power RF signal, a captured pattern from the contrasting pattern of emitted light of the security device

determining the captured pattern matches an expected pattern; and

verifying the authenticity of the product in response to the captured pattern matching the expected pattern.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the capture device is a cellphone.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the security device further comprises a second graphene sheet made of a monolayer of covalently bonded carbon atoms, and wherein the contrasting pattern of emitted light is also formed from the second graphene sheet.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the security device further comprises a protective coating layer over the OLED substrate and the graphene sheet.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the protective coating is a polymer with a low refractive index.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the protective coating is configured to enhance contrast of the graphene layer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the OLED substrate of the security device may be patterned with an embedded silicon dioxide material to increase the complexity of the contrasting pattern of emitted light.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the expected pattern is stored on the cellphone, and wherein the determining the captured pattern matches an expected pattern is comparing by the cellphone.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the expected pattern is stored on a node of a cloud computing system, and wherein the determining the captured pattern matches an expected pattern is performed by the node.