Our new scientific article has just been published, focusing on research into indium antimonide (InSb) thin films fabricated using the Flash Evaporation Epitaxy (FEE) method. The study concerns InSb/GaAs heterostructures and focuses on the analysis of their structural uniformity as well as variations in electrical properties that arise despite well-controlled technological conditions.

In the article entitled Material-Based Uniqueness in InSb Thin Films: Flash Evaporation Epitaxy as a Tool for Secure Device Engineering, we demonstrate that although the fabricated layers exhibit good structural quality, a uniform chemical composition, and smooth surface morphology, their electrical parameters show measurable local variations. This effect arises from the intrinsic nature of the FEE process rather than from structural defects or significant stoichiometric deviations. The observed differences were analyzed in detail using Hall effect and sheet resistance measurements, complemented by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and atomic force microscopy (AFM).

An important outcome of the work is the demonstration that such “imperfect uniformity” does not have to be regarded as a drawback—on the contrary, it can represent a functional material feature. The proposed approach highlights the potential of exploiting the natural variability of electrical parameters in InSb thin films as a basis for Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs), opening new perspectives for applications in hardware security and device identification.
The publication fits well within current research on functional semiconductor materials and illustrates how phenomena typically considered technological limitations can be creatively leveraged in modern applications.

The full article is available >>> HERE <<<, and we are already working on the next one!