Parts authentication employing radio frequency identification

• US 20060164246A1
• Filed: 01/26/2005
• Published: 07/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Axcelis Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Axcelis Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Ghosh, Debabrata
• Granted Patent: US 7,239,242 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/00 Methods or arrangements for effecting co-operative working between equipments covered by two or more of main groups G06K1/00 - G06K15/00, e.g. automatic card files incorporating conveying and reading operations

Abstract

The present invention facilitates operation of systems by managing and authenticating components, including parts and subsystems, present within a system. The present invention includes RFID tags individually associated with the components of the system. The RFID tags generally include at least a part number and a serial number for the components. One or more readers are present and communicate with the RFID tags via a wireless communication medium. A controller generates interrogatory signals, receives response signals from the RFID tags, and employs the received response signals to authenticate the components.

Claims

1. An ion implantation system comprising:

one or more components of the system;

one or more RFID tags individually associated with the one or more components, wherein the RFID tags include at least a part number and a serial number for the one or more components;

one or more tag readers that employ a wireless communication mechanism to communicate with the one or more RFID tags; and

a controller coupled to the tag readers that generates interrogatory signals, receives response signals from the one or more RFID tags, and authenticates the one or more components.

2. The ion implantation system of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication mechanism comprises inductive coupling.

3. The ion implantation system of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication mechanism comprises propagating electromagnetic waves

4. The ion implantation system of claim 1, wherein the one or more components comprise a chamber pump.

5. The ion implantation system of claim 1, wherein the one or more components comprise a mass analyzer.

6. The ion implantation system of claim 1, wherein the one or more components comprise a linear accelerator.

7. The ion implantation system of claim 1, wherein the RFID tags comprise read only memory.

8. The ion implantation system of claim 1, wherein the RFID tags comprise read/writable memory.

9. The ion implantation system of claim 1, wherein the RFID tags comprise data buffers to temporarily hold incoming data following demodulation and outgoing data for modulation.

10. The ion implantation system of claim 1, wherein the RFID tags are active and have power source allowing active operation.

11. The ion implantation system of claim 1, wherein the controller obtains authentication information from the received signals and selects a mode of operation according to the obtained authentication information.

12. The ion implantation system of claim 1, wherein the controller tracks component usage information and provides the usage information to the one or more RFID tags via the interrogatory signals.

13. The ion implantation system of claim 1, wherein the received signals comprise component information, tag information, and/or security information.

14. The ion implantation system of claim 13, wherein the component information includes the part number, the serial number, date of manufacture, installation date, and service record.

15. The ion implantation system of claim 13, wherein the tag information includes operating frequency and data rate.

16. The ion implantation system of claim 13, wherein the security information includes encoding mechanisms, public keys, and/or private keys.

17. A method of tracking components within a system comprising:

obtaining identification response signals from RFID tags associated with components of the system;

generating a list of components present within the system according to the obtained identification response signals;

tracking performance of the system during operation;

correlating the tracked performance with the list of components present; and

identifying faulty components according to the correlation.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising generating an identification request signal prior to obtaining the identification response signals.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising comparing the list of components present with a previous list of components present to determine newly installed components.

20. A method of selecting modes of operation comprising:

authenticating components within a system via RFID tags associated with the components;

analyzing non-authenticated components for compliance with system operational parameters;

analyzing non-authenticated and non-compliant components for operation of the system in a limited capacity;

operating in a safe mode on the non-authenticated and non compliant components being operable in the limited capacity; and

operating in a normal mode on the non-authenticated components being compliant.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising halting operation on the non-authenticated and non-compliant components being inoperable in a limited capacity.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein operating in the safe mode comprises operating with a subset of functions available in the normal mode.