A new method of examining microelectronics will help the Department of the Air Force (DAF) achieve greater confidence in the integrity and reliability of the products it purchases.
Senior electronics engineer Dr. Jamin McCue, the Design Assurance Research Lead at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Sensors Directorate (RY), and Mr. Christian Eakins, the Verification and Validation Research Lead in RY, recently received a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patent is related to “multi-tone analysis” technology, which can help DAF detect counterfeit microelectronics components. Dr. McCue and Mr. Eakins received assistance from other RY researchers as well as contract partners in conducting this work, and these stakeholders were also included in the patent issuance.
As Dr. McCue and Mr. Eakins noted, DAF makes extensive use of microelectronics components in items ranging from aircraft to guided munitions systems – the F-35 strike fighter, for example, is essentially a “computer with wings,” as its design includes thousands of microelectronics parts. During operation, these items experience wide variation in temperature, environment, and other such contextual factors, which must not be allowed to affect their performance. They are therefore designed and manufactured accordingly.
The complexity of modern global supply chains has, however, created a pressing problem for DAF to confront. Between 60 and 70% of the world’s top-performing microelectronics devices are produced in Taiwan. When DAF purchases such devices, they pass through the hands of multiple distributors before reaching their destination in the United States. Firms in other countries, however, produce parts that look like authentic components but are of far lower quality. In these circumstances, there is ample opportunity for entities nested within complicated supply chains to mislabel parts, making those parts appear genuine and authentic when they are, in fact, not.
The problem is especially acute regarding mature and/or legacy components used to sustain older platforms. Because poor-quality parts may underperform when surrounding conditions are not ideal, such counterfeiting could significantly impact mission success.
The innovation developed by Dr. McCue and Mr. Eakins aims to curtail this problem. Building on previous work conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, their technology uses multi-tone analysis to test the integrity of parts. As the inventors explained, it is possible to “inject” an electronic signal made up of a multiplicity of tones into ports located on the exteriors of a microelectronics part. The item will then, in turn, emit a pattern of tones in response.
Some parts are “linear,” as they will emit a pattern of tones identical to that which was initially injected. However, other parts – like transistors and diodes – are “nonlinear,” as they will emit a pattern of tones different from that which was injected. The fact that nonlinear parts create distinct tonal responses provides an opportunity for stakeholders to assess item integrity. By comparing the pattern of emitted tones to baselines derived from parts known to be genuine, stakeholders can, with a high degree of confidence, determine whether a given item is real or counterfeit. If a given item is found to be fake, stakeholders can then determine appropriate actions to be taken, which, depending on the perceived egregiousness of the offense, may include contacting the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) to initiate an inquiry.
Furthermore, Dr. McCue and Mr. Eakins noted that scientists and engineers are just beginning to understand the nature of these tones. Conducting these kinds of measurements could potentially have many other applications beyond simply detecting counterfeit products, and research into these possibilities is ongoing. As Dr. McCue and Mr. Eakins stated, these possibilities offer fertile and “exciting” ground for further exploration and discovery.
Dr. McCue and Mr. Eakins’s patent application was facilitated by RY’s Office of Research and Technology Application (ORTA). DAF ORTAs protect DAF’s interests in new discoveries achieved in DAF research laboratories. DAF ORTAs work with DAF scientists and engineers to navigate the patent application and issuance process, ensuring that DAF’s intellectual property interests are preserved. After patent issuance, many technologies are licensed to external entities for further development, and DAF ORTAs also facilitate this process. DAF ORTAs coordinate their activities with the DAF Technology Transfer and Transition (T3) Program Office, which oversees individual ORTAs and performs ORTA functions for DAF laboratories lacking a designated ORTA.
United States Patent and Trademark Office Patent #12,436,191