DARPA, IBM working on self-destructing CMOS chip

DARPA funds IBM development of a chip that is capable of self-destruction.

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I still remember watching The Terminator, where they needed to smash the chip inside of the Terminator's head in order to fully destroy it. Well, DARPA on its path for ultimate robotic takeover of the world, is working with IBM on a self-destructing chip - something out of a sci-fi movie.

DARPA, IBM working on self-destructing CMOS chip | TweakTown.com

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded a contract to IBM that will see the company develop a CMOS chip that will self-destruct on command. The project is called Vanishing Programmable Resources (VAPR), that will prevent expensive, next-gen, classified military systems - such as a Terminator - from being captured, and reverse engineered by the enemy.

DARPA states on the webpage for VAPR: "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".

The defense agency says that VAPR is a "broad agency agreement" program that was announced just last month, in order to fund multiple development efforts in order to create "electronic systems capable of physically disappearing in a controlled, triggerable manner...[with] 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".

The technology behind the self-destructing silicon uses a glass substrate that shatters when an attached "fuse or reactive metal layer" receives an external radio frequency signal. My question is, what if the enemy captures it and throws it into a faraday cage, or something similar?

NEWS SOURCE:arstechnica.com

Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

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