SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PHYSICALLY DETECTING COUNTERFEIT ELECTRONICS

• US 20120226463A1
• Filed: 03/02/2012
• Published: 09/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokomis Inc.
• Original Assignee: Nokomis Inc.
• Inventors: KELLER, WALTER J. III, Freeman, Stephen Dorn, Galyardt, Jason
• Granted Patent: US 10,475,754 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/117
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/2837 Characterising or performance testing, e.g. of frequency response transient response G01R27/28
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/2839 using signal generators, power supplies or circuit analysers G01R31/2879 takes precedence; multimeters G01R15/12, network analysers G01R27/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/73 by creating or determining hardware identification, e.g. serial numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2223/6677 for antenna, e.g. antenna included within housing of semiconductor device antennas per se H01Q
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/576 using active circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/0002 Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/14 Integrated circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/19105 in a side-by-side arrangement on a common die mounting substrate

Abstract

A system for inspecting or screening electrically powered device includes a signal generator inputting a preselected signal into the electrically powered device. There is also an antenna array positioned at a pre-determined distance above the electrically powered device. Apparatus collects RF energy emitted by the electrically powered device in response to input of said preselected signal. The signature of the collected RF energy is compared with an RF energy signature of a genuine part. The comparison determines one of a genuine or a counterfeit condition of the electrically powered device.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

(a) means for injecting a preselected input into an electrically powered device; and

(b) means for determining a condition of the electrically powered device, said condition defined by an emission of RF energy in response to said preselected input.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said device is at least one of a discrete component, integrated circuit, circuit board, circuit board assembly, subsystem, system, electronic device and electrical device employing electronic components for operation.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said condition defines a genuine or a counterfeit device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said device is at least one of a semiconductor, and integrated circuit and wherein said preselected input injecting means includes a zero insertion force socket, whereby said at least one of semiconductor and integrated circuit is inserted into said zero insertion force socket.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein said preselected input is at least one of power and oscillator input and wherein said zero insertion force socket is preconfigured with said at least one of said power and said oscillator input.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein said preselected signal inputting means further includes source for generating said oscillator input.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said source is a small atomic frequency standard oscillator.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said means for determining said condition of the electrically powered device includes:

(a) a first means for collecting RF energy emitted from the electrically powered device;

(b) a second means for matching collected RF energy to a set of predetermined parameters; and

(c) a third means for determining if a match to said predetermined set of parameters is sufficient.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein said first means includes an automated mechanism for collecting said RF energy from at least one of a board on an automated manufacturing line, a circuit board component mounted on an apparatus that allows for at least one of input, output and power connections.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein said first means includes an automated mechanism for collecting the RF energy from the device.

11. The system of claim 10, where said automated mechanism includes a robotic arm.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein said automated mechanism includes an antenna array positioned a predetermined distance above said device, and wherein said device and said antenna array are mounted for movement relative to one another.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said antenna array includes an integrated Low Noise Amplifier.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein said antenna array is an electronically steered antenna array.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein said predetermined distance is between about one micrometer and about one centimeter and wherein said automatic mechanism includes an automatic sensor aiding in setting said predetermined distance.

16. A system for inspecting or screening electrically powered device, said system comprising:

(a) means for inputting a preselected signal into the electrically powered device;

(b) an antenna array;

(c) means for positioning said antenna array at a pre-determined distance above the electrically powered device;

(d) means for collecting RF energy emitted by the electrically powered device in response to injection of said preselected input;

(e) means for comparing a signature of said emitted RF energy with an RF energy signature of a genuine part; and

(f) means for determining one of a genuine or a counterfeit condition of the electrically powered device.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said means for comparing said signature includes at least one of Harmonic Analysis, Matched Filter, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), specifically multilayer perception (MLP) feed-forward ANN with back propagation (BP), Wavelet Decomposition, Autocorrelation, Spectral Feature Measurements or Statistics, Clustering or Phase Detrending.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein said means for processing digitized RF emissions to extract device signatures includes at least one of Discrete Fourier Transform, Fast Fourier Transform, Discrete Cosine Transform, Laplace Transform, Z Transform, Star Transform, Short-Time Fourier Transform, Cepstrum, Infinite Impulse Response Filter, Finite Impulse Response Filter, Cascaded integrator-comb filter, Elliptical Filter, Chebyshev Filter, Butterworth Filter, or Bessel Filter.

19. A system for inspecting or screening for counterfeits of at least one of an integrated circuit and a device employing the integrated circuit, said system comprising:

(a) a precision input generation source configured for driving at least one of a signal input and clock input of the integrated circuit;

(b) means for collecting RF energy emitted by the integrated circuit in response to said precision signal generation source; and

(c) means for determining one of a genuine or a counterfeit condition of the at least one of the integrated circuit and device employing the integrated circuit.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said apparatus includes an antenna array and wherein said RF collection means is coupled to said antenna array.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said RF collection means is mounted in close proximity to the at least one of a genuine integrated circuit and a genuine device employing the integrated circuit.

23. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said RF collection means has a sensitivity of better than −

152 dBm.

20. An apparatus for detecting at least one of counterfeited integrated circuit and a counterfeited device employing the integrated circuit, said apparatus comprising:

(a) a high precision input source configured to generate a high precision input for driving at least one of a signal input and a clock input of a powered at least one of the integrated circuit and device employing the integrated circuit, said high precision signal having a frequency thereof being consistent with input requirements of the at least one of the integrated circuit and device employing the integrated circuit;

(b) an RF collection means positioned in close proximity to the semiconductor, said RF collection means configured to receive emissions radiated by the at least one of the integrated circuit and device employing the integrated circuit driven with said precision signal; and

(c) a processor coupled to said RF collection means, said processor configured to process a signature of said radiated emission and compare said radiated emission signature against at least one emission signature predetermined for said semiconductor, whereby a resulting match of said comparison defines at least one of a genuine integrated circuit and a genuine device employing the integrated circuit.

24. A method for differentiating between a counterfeit and genuine semiconductor based device, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) generating, with a high precision input source, a high precision input;

(b) injecting said input into a semiconductor in at least one of a clock input and a signal input;

(c) collecting, with an RF collection means, emissions given off by said semiconductor based device in response to said signal injected in step (b);

(d) comparing characteristics of said RF emissions, collected in step (c), against baseline RF characteristics of a genuine semiconductor based device; and

(e) determining, based on said comparison, said one of said counterfeit and genuine semiconductor based device.

25. The method of claim 24, further including the step of repeating steps (a) through (c) with different frequency settings on said high precision input injected into said semiconductor based device and the step of comparing RF data collections of at least two measured responses to improve counterfeit inspection.

26. The method of claim 24, further including the step of repeating steps (a) through (c) with different frequency amplitude settings on said input injected into said semiconductor based device and the step of comparing RF data collections of at least two measured responses to improve counterfeit inspection.

27. The method of claim 24, further including the step of repeating steps (a) through (c) with different relative phases between two or more inputs injected into said semiconductor based device and the step of comparing RF data collections of at least two measured responses to improve counterfeit inspection.

28. The method of claim 24, further including the step of repeating steps (a) through (c) with different frequency settings on the input injected into at least two inputs on the semiconductor based device and comparing RF collection data for each input injected individually to expected signature and injection into all inputs simultaneously.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein said step of determining said genuine semiconductor based device includes the step of analyzing at least one of frequency locations of emissions components, phases of emissions, cross-modulation and inter-modulation components generated by the internal circuitry, shape of any individual emission, quality factors of any individual emissions or timing characteristics of emissions.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein said step (d) includes the step of using at least one automated algorithm.

31. The method of claim 24, further including the step of establishing said baseline RF characteristics representative of said genuine semiconductor based device.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein said step of establishing said baseline RF characteristics includes the step of large scale comparison of spectral emissions and the step of reducing said large scale comparison to a single scalar value.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein said step of establishing said baseline RF characteristics includes the step of obtaining local spectral power density statistics.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein said step of obtaining local spectral power density statistics includes the step of sampling a plurality of semiconductor based devices and discriminating said plurality of semiconductor based devices based on localized statistical feature measured on each of emissions common between sampled semiconductor based devices.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein said statistical features includes at least one of Emission Frequency Location, Emission Peak Magnitude, Emission Phase Noise, Emission Symmetry, Skewness, and Emission Local Noise Floor.

36. The method of claim 24, wherein said step of comparing said characteristics of said RF emissions includes the step of obtaining discrete wavelet transform coefficient statistics.

37. The method of claim 24, wherein said step of comparing said characteristics of said RF emissions includes the step of obtaining relative phase measurement.

38. The method of claim 24, wherein said step of comparing said characteristics of said RF emissions includes the step of performing clustering analysis.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein said step of performing said clustering analysis includes the step of using a Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering (HAC) algorithm.

40. The method of claim 38, wherein said step of performing said clustering analysis includes the step of using at least one of a clustering algorithm and a Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering (HAC) algorithm.

41. The method of claim 24, wherein said step of comparing said characteristics of said RF emissions includes the step of obtaining discrete wavelet transform coefficient statistics.

42. The method of claim 24, wherein said step of comparing said characteristics of said RF emissions includes the step of at least one of obtaining relative phase measurement and comparing phase measurement to anticipated phase measurements.

43. The method of claim 24, further including the step of repeating steps (a) through (c) with identical settings on said high precision input injected into said semiconductor based device and the step of combining, through averaging or other mathematical transform, RF data collections of at least two measured responses to improve counterfeit inspection.

44. The method of claim 24, further including the step of repeating steps (a) through (c) with identical settings on said high precision input injected into said semiconductor based device and the step of integrating RF energy across a bandwidth of at least 10 kHz.

45. The method of claim 24, further including the step of repeating steps (a) through (c) with identical settings on said high precision input injected into said semiconductor based device and the step of using wideband RF emissions to inform further inspection and comparison of RF emission signatures observed in narrow-band RF emission responses.

46. The method of claim 24, further including the step of repeating steps (a) through (c) with identical settings on said high precision input injected into said semiconductor based device and the step of using narrow-band RF emissions to inform further inspection and comparison of RF emission signatures observed in wideband RF emission responses. A method for at least one of inspecting and screening at least one of an integrated circuit and a device employing said integrated circuit for counterfeit or genuine condition thereof, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) providing at least an RF energy collection means;

(b) positioning said RF energy collection means in close proximity to said integrated circuit;

(c) providing a precision signal source;

(d) injecting, with said precision signal source, a signal of a first frequency into said integrated circuit;

(e) collecting, with said RF energy collection means, first emissions radiated by said integrated circuit in response to said signal of said first frequency injected in step (d);

(f) injecting, with said precision signal source, a signal of a second frequency into said integrated circuit;

(g) collecting, with said RF energy collection means, a second emissions radiated by said integrated circuit in response to said signal of said second frequency generated in step (f);

(h) generating representative signatures of said first and second emissions;

(i) determining deviation between said first emission signature and at least one of predetermined emission signature for said integrated circuit;

(j) determining deviation between said second emission signature and at least one of predetermined emission signature for said integrated circuit; and

(k) detecting, based on said deviation of at least one of first emission signature and second emission signature, said one of said counterfeit and genuine condition of said integrated circuit.

47. An apparatus for at least one of inspecting or screening semiconductor devices for counterfeits comprising a precision signal source and an RF collection apparatus including an antenna, a receiver, and a processor, wherein said apparatus is configured to characterize any semiconductor in a powered state and responsive to a signal generated by said precision signal source and injected into said semiconductor devices.

48. An apparatus for at least one of detecting, inspecting and screening at least one counterfeit semiconductor based device installed on a printed circuit board assembly, said apparatus comprising:

(a) a robotic arm;

(b) a mechanism for a precision manipulation of said robotic arm over different locations of a printed circuit board;

(c) a high precision signal source generating a high precision input for injection into the printed circuit board assembly;

(d) an antenna array including a low noise amplifier integrated therewithin;

(e) an RF collection means connected to said antenna array, said RF collection means providing sensitivity being sufficient to receive emission radiated by said at least one powered semiconductor based device with at least one said precision input; and

(f) a computational means coupled to said RF collection means and configured to at least one of inspect or screen at least one semiconductor based device on at least one printed circuit board.

49. The apparatus of claim 48, further including an active illumination source configured to illuminates the semiconductor based device that is at least one of detected, inspected or screened with free field RF energy to further enhance the emissions signature of the semiconductor based device.

50. The apparatus of claim 48, wherein said antenna array, said RF collection means and said computational means are mounted on a semiconducting die substrate and being mounted on a tip of said robotic arm.

51. The apparatus of claim 48, wherein said high precision input is a multi-tone input injection configured for aiding in developing cross-modulated and intermodulated responses that translate into unique signatures for counterfeit versus genuine devices.

52. A system for inspecting or screening for counterfeits of an electrical or electronic device, said system comprising:

(a) a precision signal generation source configured for inputting one and only one oscillating signal into the electrical or electronic device;

(b) means for collecting RF energy emitted by the integrated circuit in response to said oscillating signal; and

(c) means for determining one of a genuine or a counterfeit condition of the electrical or electronic device.

53. The apparatus for electronically steering detection of counterfeits including an antenna and low noise amplifier mounted within an integrated circuit.