The core component of Veratag's secure identification and authentication system is a MEMS-based microchip that we call a MEMflake™. MEMflakes™ are a lot like conventional RFID chips in many ways, except that the information they convey to a reader or scanning device is much more difficult to steal, copy, compromise, or otherwise tamper with. MEMflakes™ are best thought of as microchip-based biometrics. Each MEMflakes™ chip contains a unique identification code that cannot be duplicated, imitated, or erased.

Depending upon the application, MEMflakes™ can be laminated in a ID card or credit card, can be incorporated into a USB-like stick, co-fabricated with conventional CMOS microchips, embedded in objects or materials, and other similar form factors. We currently have a variety of prototype systems available for demonstration, most of which resemble conventional RFID systems.

 The reader architecture is basically the same whether the stimulation/detection system is direct electrical, rf coupled, or optical. A stimulation module is employed that excites the resonant frequencies of the MEMflakes™ (the biometric-like "code"), a detection module is used to determine how the chip is behaving, and a data acqusition module gathers the information and passes it to the signal processing system. This system extracts information from the detected signal and post-processes the data to remove noise and distortions due to temperature and other effects. This information is then sent to a low cost, high performance pattern matching system (either resident in the reader or over a network to a distant location) to quickly determine matches to previously stored MEMflake™ signatures. If a match is found, the software application unique to the situation determines the subsequent sequence of events.