Integrated circuit with electromagnetic energy anomaly detection and processing

• US 9,887,721 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2015
• Issued: 02/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokomis Inc.
• Original Assignee: Nokomis Inc.
• Inventors: Keller, III, Walter J, Pathak, Bogdan A.
• Primary Examiner(s): MULLEN, THOMAS J
• Application Number:
  US14/703,139
• Publication Number:
  US 20160112083A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,009 Days
• Field of Search: 340 58, 3405721
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/44 Program or device authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/76 in application-specific integrated circuits [ASIC] or field-programmable devices, e.g. field-programmable gate arrays [FPGA] or programmable logic devices [PLD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/87 by means of encapsulation, e.g. for integrated circuits
• 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 23/66 High-frequency adaptations
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/26 for superheterodyne receivers multiple frequency-changing H03D7/16

Abstract

An integrated circuit includes an antenna, a die manufactured from a semiconducting material, an RF energy collection and processing means disposed on or within said die and including at least a receiver and a processing means, an input configured to supply power to said RF energy collection and processing means and an output for operative communication by said RF energy collection and processing means. The integrated circuit is configurable and operable to provide at least one of electromagnetic emission anomaly detection, tamper detection, anti-tamper monitoring, degradation monitoring, health monitoring, counterfeit detection, software changes monitoring, firmware changes monitoring and monitoring of other RF energy anomalies.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

at least one electronic component;

an antenna; and

an integrated circuit comprising;

a die manufactured from a semiconducting material,

a radio frequency (RF) energy collection and processing apparatus integrated into said die and coupled to said antenna, said RF energy collection and processing apparatus comprising;

an emission detection apparatus receiving a spectral emission(s) of RF energy emitted, external to said integrated circuit, from said at least one electronic component when said device is supplied with a power signal and/or an oscillating signal, and

means for comparing and matching the received RF energy emission(s) to a set of parameters identified for a baseline configuration of a genuine electronic component, said means comprising;

at least one processor coupled to said emission detection apparatus, and

algorithms operatively associated with said at least one processor and causing said at least one processor to process a signature(s) of said received RF energy emission(s) and determine a state(s) of said at least one electronic component attributable to said signature(s) of said received RF energy emission(s).

2. The device of claim 1, wherein said oscillating signal is one of a monotonic oscillating signal, a multi-tone signal, a modulating oscillating signal and a modulated oscillating signal.

3. The device of claim 1, further comprising an oscillator source sweeping across a selected frequency band, said sweeping occurring in a continuous or discretized manner.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein said RF energy is emitted from integrated circuit dies, wire bonds, semiconductor traces, board traces, wires, cables, a structural capacitive coupling or a structural inductive coupling.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein said emission detection apparatus includes a receiver being at least one of a heterodyne receiver, superheterodyne receiver, a wideband crystal video receiver, a tuned Radio frequency crystal video receiver, a narrowband scanning superheterodyne receiver, a channelized receiver, a microscan receiver, an acousto-optic receiver, a cryogenically cooled receiver and a tuner.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein said RF energy collection and processing apparatus has a noise figure of at least one of less than 5, less than 1, less than 0.5 and less than 0.1.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein said emission detection apparatus applies Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) in excess of one million points to said spectral emission(s), thereby improving its sensitivity.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein said oscillating signal is supplied by at least one of a temperature compensated Crystal Oscillator (TCXO), microcomputer compensated Crystal Oscillators (MXCO), Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillator (OCXO), small atomic frequency standards (Rubidium (Rb) and Rubidium oscillators (RbXO)), and high performance atomic standards.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein said at least one processor further performs a Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) on said emission(s).

10. The device of claim 1, wherein said at least one processor executes a large scale comparison between said spectral emission(s), then reduces said large scale comparison between said spectral emission(s) to narrowband comparisons and then reduces said narrowband comparisons to a single scalar value to establish said baseline configuration.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein said antenna is of at least one type selected from stacked loop, fractal, irregular loop, array of dipoles, parabolic antenna shape structure, Vivaldi antenna, equiangular spiral, skewed spiral, micromachined horn and waveguide structure.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein said at least one processor further calculates discrete wavelet transform coefficients to comparing and matching of said signature(s) of said received RF energy emission(s) to RF emission signature characteristics for the genuine electronic component.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein said at least one processor analyzes, during processing of said received RF energy emission(s), at least one of frequency locations of components of said received RF energy emission(s), phases of said received RF energy emission(s), cross-modulation and inter-modulation components of said received RF energy emission(s), a shape of said received RF energy emission(s), and quality factors of said received RF energy emission(s) or timing characteristics of said received RF energy emission(s);

and discerns the state of each of said at least one electronic component as being a genuine electronic component or a counterfeit electronic component, based on the analysis.

14. The device of claim 1, wherein said baseline configuration comprises at least one of local spectral power density statistics, Emission Frequency Location, Emission Peak Magnitude, Emission Phase Noise, Emission Symmetry, Emission Skewness, and Emission Local Noise Floor.

15. An apparatus for detecting a state(s) of an electrical device, said apparatus comprising:

an antenna;

an integrated circuit comprising;

a die manufactured from a semiconducting material,

a radio frequency (RF) energy collection and processing apparatus integrated into said die and coupled to said antenna, said RF energy collection and processing apparatus comprising;

a receiver receiving an emission(s) of RF energy emitted, external to said integrated circuit, from the electrical device when the electrical device is energized with a signal, and

means for comparing and matching a received RF energy emission(s) to a set of parameters identified for a baseline configuration of a genuine electrical device, said means comprising;

at least one processor coupled to said receiver, and

algorithms operatively associated with said at least one processor and causing said at least one processor to process a signature(s) of said received RF energy emission(s) and determine a state(s) of the electrical device attributable to said signature(s) of said received RF energy emission(s).

16. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising a robotic arm having a tip that is positioned, during operation of said apparatus, at a distance above a surface of the electrical device.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said antenna is an antenna array mounted on said tip and wherein said antenna array comprises a low noise amplifier (LNA).

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said tip with said antenna array and said LNA is of interchangeable type.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said robotic arm is operable to change an orientation of said antenna.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising a sensor coupled to said apparatus for setting said distance between about one micrometer and about one centimeter from the surface of the electrical device.

21. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said antenna is mounted stationary and wherein the electrical device is mounted for a movement beneath said antenna.

22. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said antenna is an antenna array with a pattern of antenna elements, wherein each antenna element is weighted to enhance a gain on at least one area of the electrical device in order to inspect at least one part within said at least one area and held by the electrical device.

23. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising an illumination source illuminating the electrical device with RF energy being at least one of a single frequency monotonic RF energy, a multi-tone RE energy, and a complex modulated RF energy to amplify and/or alter characteristics of the RF energy radiated from the electrical device and received at said emission detection apparatus.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein said illumination source introduces free field EM field signals having corresponding strengths at select frequencies of said emission(s).

25. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said received RF energy emission(s) is converted from an analog form into a digital form.

26. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said signal is at least two oscillatory signal inputs energizing the electrical device, said at least one processor compares emission(s) of RF energy emitted by the electrical device in a response to each of said at least two oscillatory signal inputs individually with emission(s) of RF energy emitted by the electrical device in a response to said at least two oscillatory signal inputs in a combination with each other.

27. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising a fixture having the electrical device mounted thereon, wherein said signal is one of a power signal, an oscillating signal and a combination thereof and wherein said apparatus further comprises a connection between the electrical device and said fixture, said fixture providing said signal via said connection.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein said connection comprises two surface level contacts and wherein the device is temporarily secured on said fixture during operation of said apparatus.

29. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said integrated circuit is configured as a system on a chip.

30. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said algorithms further cause said at least one processor to match processed signature(s) to an expected signature and determine the state(s) the electrical device as being a poor quality electrical device or a counterfeit electrical device.

31. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said antenna is a conformal antenna.

32. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the electrical device is a printed circuit board (PCB) assembly, the state(s) being indicative of a software and/or hardware anomaly within the PCB assembly.

33. The device of claim 32, wherein said at least one processor performs successive low-pass and high-pass filtering operations to decompose the received RF energy emission(s).