Decoy security based on stress-engineered substrates

A method, comprising:

• applying energy to a stress-engineered substrate having at least one functional device disposed thereon, the functional device comprising one or more integrated circuits that store data;
• the applied energy creating an initial fracture in the stress-engineered substrate;
• the initial fracture generating propagating fractures in the stress-engineered substrate;
• the propagating fractures fragmenting the substrate and the functional device;
• and
• obscuring at least one of a functional characteristic and a physical characteristic of the functional device after the functional device fragments using fragments of a decoy device, wherein:
• the decoy device includes one or more integrated circuits that are identical or similar to the integrated circuits of the functional device and store different data from the data stored in the integrated circuits of the functional device.

A system, comprising:

• a stress-engineered substrate comprising at least one tensile stress layer having a residual tensile stress and at least one compressive stress layer having a residual compressive stress and being mechanically coupled to the at least one tensile stress layer such that the at least one tensile stress layer and the at least one compressive stress layer are self-equilibrating;
• an energy source coupled to the stress-engineered substrate;
• at least one functional device disposed on the stress-engineered substrate, the stress-engineered substrate configured to fracture in response to energy generated by the energy source and applied to the stress-engineered substrate wherein fracturing the stress-engineered substrate also fractures the functional device;
• at least one decoy device configured to obscure at least one of one or more physical characteristics of the functional device and one or more functional characteristics of the functional device after the fracturing of the functional device;
• and
• a second stress-engineered substrate, wherein the decoy device is disposed on the second stress-engineered substrate and the second stress-engineered substrate is configured to fracture in response to energy applied to the second stress-engineered substrate, wherein fracturing the second stress-engineered substrate also fractures the decoy device.

A system, comprising:

• a stress-engineered substrate comprising at least one tensile stress layer having a residual tensile stress and at least one compressive stress layer having a residual compressive stress and being mechanically coupled to the at least one tensile stress layer such that the at least one tensile stress layer and the at least one compressive stress layer are self-equilibrating;
• an energy source coupled to the stress-engineered substrate;
• at least one functional device disposed on the stress-engineered substrate, the stress-engineered substrate configured to fracture in response to energy generated by the energy source and applied to the stress-engineered substrate wherein fracturing the stress-engineered substrate also fractures the functional device;
• and
• at least one decoy device configured to obscure at least one of one or more physical characteristics of the functional device and one or more functional characteristics of the functional device after the fracturing of the functional device, wherein the decoy device is not disposed on the stress-engineered substrate and is pre-fragmented.