Abstract: Method of manufacturing a micromechanical component intended to cooperate with another micromechanical component, the method comprising the steps of providing a substrate, forming a mould on said substrate, said mould defining sidewalls arranged to delimit said micromechanical component, providing particles on at least said sidewalls, depositing a metal in said mould so as to form said micromechanical component, and liberating said micromechanical component from said mould and removing said particles.

Abstract: Method of manufacturing a photovoltaic cell, comprising the steps of: providing a photovoltaic conversion device; providing a transparent conductive oxide layer upon at least a first face of said photovoltaic conversion device; forming a self-assembled monolayer on said transparent conductive oxide layer, said self-assembled monolayer being based on molecules terminated by at least one group F which is chosen from: a phosphonic acid group, a P(O)O2?M+ group, a OPO3H2 group, or an OP(O)O2?M+ group, wherein M+ is a metal cation; patterning said self-assembled monolayer so as to define at least one plateable zone in which said transparent conductive oxide layer is exposed; plating a metal onto said at least one plateable zone.

Abstract: Method of manufacturing a micromechanical component intended to cooperate with another micromechanical component, the method comprising the steps of providing a substrate, forming a mould on said substrate, said mould defining sidewalls arranged to delimit said micromechanical component, providing particles on at least said sidewalls, depositing a metal in said mould so as to form said micromechanical component, and liberating said micromechanical component from said mould and removing said particles.

Abstract: Method of manufacturing a micromechanical component intended to cooperate with another micromechanical component, the method comprising the steps of providing a substrate, forming a mould on said substrate, said mould defining sidewalls arranged to delimit said micromechanical component, providing particles on at least said sidewalls, depositing a metal in said mould so as to form said micromechanical component, and liberating said micromechanical component from said mould and removing said particles.

Abstract: Method of manufacturing a micromechanical component intended to cooperate with another micromechanical component, the method comprising the steps of providing a substrate, forming a mould on said substrate, said mould defining sidewalls arranged to delimit said micromechanical component, providing particles on at least said sidewalls, depositing a metal in said mould so as to form said micromechanical component, and liberating said micromechanical component from said mould and removing said particles.

Abstract: A security device for the identification or authentication of valuable goods is described, including a thin material layer (22, 26) presenting a stochastic pattern including micro/submicrostructures, where the latter are arranged in blobs (2) each of which presents a complexity factor Cx = L 2 4 ? ? · A , where L is the perimeter of the blob and A its area, and wherein blobs having a Cx value greater than or equal to 2 cover at least 5%, preferably at least 15%, of the device surface. According to a preferred embodiment, the material layer may include a film including at least a first and a second polymers arranged respectively within a first and a second phases defining the micro/submicrostructures. Preferred processes of fabrication are also disclosed, as well as a method for securing a valuable good based on such a security device.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an isotropic zero-order diffractive color filter, to a method to manufacture an embossing tool and to a method to manufacture such a filter. The zero-order diffractive color filter comprises diffractive microstructures and a wave-guiding layer, wherein the diffractive microstructures possess a short range ordering over at least four times the period of the microstructures, and the diffractive microstructures possess a long range disordering over length scales of more than 100 ?m.

Abstract: A security device for the identification or authentication of valuable goods is described, including a thin material layer (22, 26) presenting a stochastic pattern including micro/submicrostructures, where the latter are arranged in blobs (2) each of which presents a complexity factor Cx = L 2 4 ? ? · A , where L is the perimeter of the blob and A its area, and wherein blobs having a Cx value greater than or equal to 2 cover at least 5%, preferably at least 15%, of the device surface. According to a preferred embodiment, the material layer may include a film including at least a first and a second polymers arranged respectively within a first and a second phases defining the micro/submicrostructures. Preferred processes of fabrication are also disclosed, as well as a method for securing a valuable good based on such a security device.

Abstract: A security device for the identification or authentication of goods is described. It comprises a stochastic pattern comprising structures having an average lateral structure size d and arranged such that an image of at least a part of the security device, when treated through 2D Fourier transformation and calculation of a corresponding Power Spectrum Density, may lead to a peak, in a spatial-frequency domain, having a position in this domain correlated to d and a size distribution value w which, when inverted, is correlated to a size distribution of the structures. The value w according to the invention is smaller than 2/d, so that when directing a coherent light beam on at least part of the structures a ring-shaped scattering speckle pattern is formed, on the basis of which d and w may be calculated to implement identification or authentication of the device.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an isotropic zero-order diffractive colour filter, to a method to manufacture an embossing tool and to a method to manufacture such a filter. The zero-order diffractive colour filter comprises diffractive microstructures and a wave-guiding layer, wherein the diffractive microstructures possess a short range ordering over at least four times the period of the microstructures, and the diffractive microstructures possess a long range disordering over length scales of more than 100 ?m.