IBM signs contract to devlop Self-Destructing Computer Chips For DARPA

IBM has signed a new contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency -- better known as DARPA -- to bring its Vanishing Programmable Resources (VAPR) to reality, making self-destructing electronics a variable technology.

"The Vanishing Programmable Resources (VAPR) program seeks electronic systems capable of physically disappearing in a controlled, triggerable manner. These transient electronics should have performance comparable to commercial-off-the-shelf electronics, but with limited device persistence that can be programmed, adjusted in real-time, triggered, and/or be sensitive to the deployment environment," DARPA notes on its VAPR page.

Alicia Jackson, DARPA program manager, noted at the time that commercial off-the-shelf, or COTS, electronics made for everyday purchases are durable and last nearly forever. What they are looking for, however, is a way to make electronics that last precisely as long as they are needed.

"IBM plans is to utilise the property of strained glass substrates to shatter as the driving force to reduce attached CMOS chips into Si and SiO2 [silicon and silicon dioxide] powder," IBM explained.
"A trigger, such as a fuse or a reactive metal layer will be used to initiate shattering, in at least one location, on the glass substrate. An external RF signal will be required for this process to be initiated. IBM will explore various schemes to enhance glass shattering and techniques to transfer this into the attached Si CMOS devices."
"Large-area distributed networks of sensors that can decompose in the natural environment (ecoresorbable) may provide critical data for a specified duration, but no longer. Alternatively, devices that reabsorb into the body (bioresorbable) may aid in continuous health monitoring and treatment in the field," DARPA said.
"It is nearly impossible to track and recover every [electronic] device [on the battlefield], resulting in unintended accumulation in the environment and potential unauthorized use and compromise of intellectual property and technological advantage," DARPA states.

The technology being developed by IBM under a $3.45 million award will use a glass substrate that shatters when an attached “fuse or reactive metal layer” receives an external radio frequency signal. That sort of command self-destruct would make it possible to destroy electronics lost or abandoned on the battlefield over a large area, and it would prevent scenarios like the transfer of technology found in the helicopter abandoned during the SEAL Team strike on Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan.