STONY BROOK, NY -- SMT Corp. will begin marking chips with a novel DNA material said to be impervious to counterfeiting.

The component distributor is teaming with Applied DNA Sciences, the inventor of the process, as part of an anti-counterfeiting pilot program sponsored by the US Department of Defense.

Under the program, SMT will use the APDN's technology to mark individual packaging with genomic DNA to verify the downstream inspection integrity of components it resells. The process creates a set of unique markers (called taggants) that can be read only by the desired party. These taggants can be applied at the foundry, or later, depending on where in the supply chain the weak link is considered to be. The DNA codes will certify that a part or other chips in the same lot has passed SMT's rigorous testing. This new system of parts assurance, raised to a forensic level by DNA marking, will be a first in the electronics industry.

SMT also will join an 18-month, second-phase pilot program sponsored by the Defense Logistics Agency, part of the DoD. The pilot is demonstrating the technology at commercial scale.

The US Senate on Nov. 29 passed a bill that would require military suppliers deploy counterfeit detection and avoidance systems such as the one under pilot.  The bill is pending US House approval.

Ed.: For more on the technology, see this interview with Applied DNA.