Method for forensic analysis of electronic components
OwnerFrederick F. Shaapur, Roger J. Grahaminventors
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Abstract
A physical inspection forensic methodology with an inherent reliable fallback option based on the extraction of quantifiable intrinsic manufacturer-specific process signatures present superficially and/or within the electronic component. The methodology will seek to extract such signatures cost-effectively through a tiered application of the most expedited and least intrusive approaches.
Claims11
A method of physically inspecting structural details of authentic integrated circuits (ICs) to a desired level of statistical certainty, among a plurality of levels of statistical certainty, to determine a unique signature of an IC, the method comprising:
- selecting a desired statistical certainty level of authenticity among a plurality of statistical certainty levels of authenticity for an IC;
- extracting structural details of an exterior of a set of ICs of the same type to determine a first level of structure details thereof, and if the first level of extracted structural details meets the selected level of statistical certainty, using the first level of structural details as a unique signature of the IC;
- otherwise
- extracting an external elemental composition of the set of ICs to determine a second level of structure details thereof, and if the second level of extracted structure details meets the selected level of statistical certainty, using the second level of structural details as the unique signature of the IC;
- otherwise
- extracting a configuration of an internal lead frame of the set of ICs to determine a third level of structure details thereof, and if the third level of extracted structure details meets the selected level of statistical certainty, using the third of structural details as the unique signature of the IC;
- and
- extracting global interconnections of the set of ICs to determine a fourth level of structural details thereof, and if the fourth level of extracted structure details meets the selected level of statistical certainty, using the fourth level of structural details as a unique signature of the IC;
- otherwise
- extracting a structural detail of a cross section of the set of ICs below the global level to determine a fifth level of structural details thereof, and if the fifth level of extracted structure details meets the selected level of statistical certainty, using the fifth level of structural details as a unique signature of the IC.
A method of inspecting structural details of authentic integrated circuit (IC) chips to a desired level of statistical certainty, to determine a unique structural identification of an IC chip the method comprising:
- selecting a desired statistical certainty level of authenticity of an IC chip;
- extracting structural details of an exterior physical structure of a set of IC chips of the same type to determine a first level of structure details thereof, and if the first level of structural details meets the selected statistical certainty level of authenticity, using the first level of structural details as a unique identification of the IC chip;
- otherwise
- extracting, sub sequentially, structural details of a global level, an intermediate level and a local level of the set of IC chip to determine sub sequential levels of structural details thereof until one of sub sequential levels of the structural detail of the IC chip meets the selected statistical certainty level of authenticity, and then using the level of structural details that meets the selected statistical certainty level of authenticity as the unique identification of the IC chip,
- wherein the extracting structural details of a global level, an intermediate level and a local level of the set of IC chips includes extracting an internal microstructure thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.