A crystal grown to a recipe
Uniform sub-micron rare-earth crystals, each recipe with its own optical answer. Over 600 million distinct codes from one shelled design.
Intelligent Material® →Technology
NovaVera's Tag & Detect Platform.
Unclonable Intelligent Material® crystals, paired with proprietary readers built to recognize them, for authentication you can be certain of.
How it works
Embed. Verify.
The Tag & Detect platform runs on two principles. Intelligent Material® goes into the product while it is made, dispersed and bonded through the material rather than applied to its surface. Readers then measure its optical signature at parts-per-million to parts-per-trillion sensitivity, instantly and without damaging anything, in the field or in the lab.
Built into the material
Intelligent Material goes into any component of the product or its packaging: inks, fibers, polymers, films and metals. It becomes part of the item, inseparable from it, turning the whole product into a secure, authenticated asset.
Formats and inkjet →Read in an instant
NovaVera readers excite the crystals and decode their signature with proprietary algorithms, telling crystals apart even when several are combined in one multiplexed mark.
The readers →Formats and lifecycle
Give the product an identity when you make it.
The identity goes in as part of the material and lasts from raw material to the end of the product's life. That makes one investment useful to operations, quality, the supply chain and the brand.
Inks and coatingsInkjet, flexo, offset, varnish
PlasticsMasterbatch for molding and extrusion
FibersAdded with a process ingredient
Labels and hologramsOvert, covert and forensic in one01Process and concentration control
02Machine and line traceability
03Quality and failure analysis
04Supply-chain verification
05Brand protection and anti-counterfeit
06End-of-life sorting and recycling
Invisible inkjet · on the line you already run
Print the invisible. Two ways.
The same crystal ink prints a data-matrix code, serial number or logo that disappears in daylight, glows under UV and carries a covert crystal layer only our reader can confirm. Drop it into an HP45 cartridge, or run it continuously with UV curing, without ever touching the product.
Light
On the line
Method 1
HP45 thermal inkjet cartridges
Crystal ink in a standard HP45-format thermal cartridge. It drops into the coder already on your line or a desktop printer for samples. No new station, no new head.
- Demonstrated at 800 units a minute on pharmaceutical vials
- Crystals about 0.3 µm, small enough to jet without clogging. Conventional security phosphors are a micron and larger, too big for inkjet heads
- Two layers in one mark: a UV-visible code anyone with a flashlight can check, and a covert crystal only our reader can measure
- Data-matrix, QR, serial numbers, lot codes and logos
Best for: cartons, labels, vials, caps and paper, and pilot runs that start on a desk and move to the line unchanged.
Method 2
Print a sample on your product
Continuous, UV-cured, non-contact
A continuous inkjet head prints crystal ink across an air gap, and a UV LED lamp cures it a moment later. The head never touches the product, so it prints on almost any surface at line speed.
- Non-contact: curved, ribbed and uneven surfaces, filled containers and finished parts
- Any surface: glass, plastics, coated metal, cans, cartons and labels
- Cured in a flash: dry, durable and rub-resistant before the next station
- Runs continuously on moving lines, with the same crystal and the same reader
Best for: bottles, cans, glass and metal parts, and anywhere a cartridge printer cannot reach the surface.
Detect
A reader for every person in the chain.
NovaVera detection devices read the optical signature of Intelligent Material and decode it with proprietary algorithms, including multiplexed signatures that carry several crystals at once. Readings are non-destructive and instant, in the field or the lab, with no network needed.
By phone
Smartphone app
A phone excites the crystal and confirms it is there, then reads the QR code to check that unit against its record. No spectroscopy knowledge needed.
- Crystal present: yes or no
- QR for unit-level identity
- Built on US 12,130,232 B2
Used by Pharmacists, store staff, consumers
By reader
Handheld forensic reader
The handheld reader excites the crystals and measures their full optical signature: which crystal is present, how much, and whether it matches the lot.
- Identifies and quantifies
- Vial, syringe and flat-sample holders
- Works offline, on the spot
Used by Inspectors, customs, QA
On the line
Inline and imaging readers
Fixed readers and cameras sit on the production line, at receiving or in the lab: measuring dose, separating products, and capturing each item's LightMap™.
- Concentration and dose control
- Product and alloy sorting
- LightMap™ capture and signing
Used by Operations, recycling, lab
The reader · a chip, not an instrument
A phone-grade time-of-flight chip, tuned to our crystals.
Reading Intelligent Material does not need a lab instrument. It needs the same kind of tiny sensor phones use to measure distance, with two changes: a filter made for our crystals and a gate timed to their glow. The emitter can be swapped too, to any wavelength our crystals answer, or several emitters can share one chip.
Multizone eyes 8 × 8 single-photon zones
Some versions split the detector into 4 × 4 or 8 × 8 zones. Each zone counts photons on its own, so one chip can see several stripes, or a whole two-dimensional code, in a single look.
0 / 64 zones litwaiting for a code
The gate after every laser pulse
A stock chip listens for nanoseconds to measure distance. Ours waits until the laser echo is long gone, then listens from microseconds to milliseconds: the sweet spot where our crystals are still glowing and nothing else is.
Pick the lightThe emitter does not have to be 940 nm. Match it to the crystal, or put several on one die and fire them in sequence.
940 / 980 nmYtterbium antenna. The workhorse for upconverting codes.
808 nmNeodymium shells: a second channel 980 cannot see.
1550 nmErbium read directly, eye-safer and telecom-cheap.
UV or blue LEDEuropium and terbium downshifters.
Several on one chipFire 980 then 808 microseconds apart: the gated two-step that only the right crystal answers.
Built from the same class of part as commercial multizone time-of-flight sensors, such as STMicroelectronics' VL53 family (940 nm VCSEL, single-photon avalanche diode array, up to 8 × 8 zones). The bespoke filter, alternative or multiple emitters and microsecond-to-millisecond gating are IMS modifications; the ≈ $1 figure is an IMS cost target, not a vendor price.
Optical fingerprint
Ask the product more than one question.
Two materials can glow the same color and still be different. A reader asks several questions: which colors come back, how long the glow lasts after the light switches off, and how the glow changes as the light gets stronger. A genuine unit answers every question right. Try it on four samples.
Genuine1 / 1
Caught0 / 3
Every fake passes at least one question. Only all three together catch all three fakes. Schematic: a real reader asks more questions, and exactly which ones stays private.
Connect
Works on its own. Plugs into your systems.
The crystal answer never depends on a server. When you want more, the same reads feed serialization, track-and-trace and quality systems.
Offline by designA reader confirms the crystal on the spot, with no network and no database lookup.
Serialization & track-and-traceEvery scan checks that the QR is authentic and has not been seen before. Parent-child labels link each case to the units inside.
LightMap™ signed codesThe item's own crystal fingerprint is signed and printed in its barcode, so even item-level checks need no database.
Quality dataConcentration, dose and line readings flow into your process control and QA records.
Implementation
How deployment works.
NovaVera fits into the manufacturing and supply chain you already run. A typical engagement moves from technical evaluation to full production in about four months, in four structured, low-disruption steps, and you decide after each one whether to go on.
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01Weeks 1–2
Discovery & Fit Assessment
We evaluate your product substrates, manufacturing process and authentication requirements in a working session with our scientists. Most common materials (ink, fiber, plastic, film) are fully supported.
You getA written fit assessment, the recommended crystal and the detection method for your process.Decision pointgo on, adjust, or stop -
02Weeks 3–16
Material Integration & Pilot
Intelligent Material® goes into samples of your own ink, plastic, fiber or adhesive (3–6 weeks in our lab), then into your production line at low concentration. We validate signal consistency and detection accuracy before full deployment.
You getTest data on your own samples, then pilot batches read successfully on your line.Decision pointgo on, adjust, or stop -
03Alongside the pilot
Detection Workflow Setup
Readers, the phone app and tracking software are configured for your verification points: manufacturing, distribution or point of sale, based on your supply chain.
You getReaders in hand, checkpoints defined, and the people who check trained.Decision pointgo on, adjust, or stop -
04About 4 months from start
Production Rollout & Support
Full-scale production begins, with NovaVera providing ongoing technical support, calibration and platform updates as your program scales. Supply runs under a long-term solution contract or a short-term data-collection contract.
You getA supply agreement, a quality plan under our ISO 9001 system, and a named team.
A fraction of a cent per item. The crystal works at parts-per-million loadings in an ink, plastic, fiber or adhesive you already use. Safety and technical data sheets are available under NDA.
Start with a fit assessment
See it working
Serialization, smartphones and Intelligent ID.
The reader can be the device already in your pocket: near-infrared excitation and a mobile optical sensor turn a smartphone-class device into a reader (US 12,130,232 B2). The identity becomes one more authentication factor, built into the object itself.
Defend product integrity.
NovaVera works with central banks, pharmaceutical manufacturers, brand owners and more, from the first sample to full production. Tell us what you need to protect. We reply within two business days.