Decorative & Security Features

Smart Material Solutions (SMS) can create eye-catching decorative and security features by encoding custom images, logos, and designs at the nanoscale. Using roll-to-roll nanoimprint lithography (R2R NIL), SMS can produce large-area films of images formed by surface geometry rather than pigments or inks.

This capability unlocks new possibilities for luxury brands, apparel, watches, packaging, and other premium products, while simultaneously enabling brand authentication and anti-counterfeiting features that are extremely difficult to replicate.

The video on the right shows custom image patterning and R2R NIL processing at SMS. The images below highlight examples of decorative and functional patterns produced using this approach.

Overt & Covert Features

The ability to locally vary nanoscale geometry to create structural color enables eye-catching decorative patterns that also enhance brand security by enabling both overt and covert optical effects within the same film:

• Overt features arise from controlled diffractive and plasmonic interactions, producing angle-dependent color shifts, iridescence, and high-contrast visual patterns.

• Covert features include microscopic logos, authentication marks, and encoded diffractive elements that require magnification or specific illumination conditions to detect.