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Sandia Technology logo A quarterly research and development magazine

Summer 2007
Volume 9, No. 2

SANDIA TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE

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news notes





Discouraging counterfeiters

Hongyou Fan
Hongyou Fan works with nanocrystalline pigments that could be used to print patterns that would fluoresce differently in varying lighting conditions. Photo by Randy Montoya

Tomorrow’s U.S. currency may feature 21st-century materials and technology to help deter counterfeiting. A National Academies committee recently recommended several new features — ranging from color-changing inks to nanoengineered materials — that would change the look, feel, and reproducibility of future banknotes. Some of the group’s recommendations may show up in a new $100 bill due out in the next few years.

Sandia materials scientist Liz Holm served on the committee, sponsored by the National Research Council’s Board on Manufacturing and Engineering Design. Holm works on computer simulations to understand the behavior of materials in a variety of applications. Her time was funded in part by the LDRD program.

The committee submitted several recommendations in two categories to the Department of the Treasury. Features in the first category could be fully developed and ready for use in a banknote within seven years. Because the most common counterfeiting threat today is digital reproduction of paper money using scanners and inkjet printers, the group’s proposals focus on features that can’t be successfully scanned.

Liz Holm
Liz Holm served on a National Academies committee that proposed ways to deter counterfeiting of U.S. currency. Photo by Randy Montoya

Features in the second category would likely take longer to incorporate, including revolutionary options that would dramatically shift currency away from the ink-on-paper paradigm. The ideas include altering the look and feel of the bill (including analog printed patterns that create visual artifacts when digitally reproduced), adding a see-through registration feature, and incorporating holograms and visual effects.

Patterns using metametric ink could be used to change the color of the money in different lighting conditions. Adding a pattern of small holes in the paper using a laser, a technique called microperforation, also could make reproduction difficult.

Nanotechnology offers some counterfeitprotection concepts that would be difficult for the casual counterfeiter to duplicate, Holm says. For instance, nanocrystal pigments could be used to provide unique color and spectral characteristics in an ink format that could be used to form images on the currency.

Long-term changes include bills created from genetically engineered cotton, or solar chips implanted in bills to power electronic features — like a twinkling eye in a bill’s portrait.

“It’ll be exciting to see what changes are incorporated in future notes based on the recommendations the committee provided,” Holm says.

Technical contact: Liz Holm, (505) 844-7669, eaholm@sandia.gov
Media contact: Michael Padilla, (505) 284-5325, mjpadil@sandia.gov