TRUSTED MICROELECTRONICS & PASSIVE RF INJECTION SPECTROMETRY
Challenge
Enabling access to state-of-the-art microelectronic technology while preventing the entry of counterfeits, clones, and malicious hardware into the DoD supply chain is a critical aspect of the National Defense Strategy (NDS). More than 15 percent of DoD parts are counterfeit.
The trusted foundry approach attempted to meet this need, but ultimately fell short. Stringent and costly compliance requirements left the majority of the nation’s commercial innovators unable or unwilling to participate and, ultimately, limited the DoD’s ability to procure and adopt technologies. Further, this approach also provided a somewhat false sense of security, leaving the DoD vulnerable to insider threats, while also failing to target problems related to sustainment of legacy systems, which are at higher risk of being counterfeited. In both cases, the Warfighter is put at risk through costly rework due to failed acceptance tests or system failure in theatre.
A key challenge lies in developing and fielding technologies capable of accurately, efficiently, and non-destructively evaluating microelectronics to deliver quantifiable trust.
Solution
Using the scattering response to radio frequency (RF), CircuitSeer collects of millions of data points per chip, effectively looking at the DNA, not just the fingerprint, of integrated circuits (ICs). This approach has been proven to distinguish between manufacturers, data/lot codes, wear and aging, and residual states.
In May 2021, ARA’s CircuitSeer technology showed capability for meeting this challenge by detecting four out of five variants of compromised ICs in a government-led blind study, demonstrating an order of magnitude improvement in detecting modified chips designed to represent counterfeit, cloned, or damaged ICs in the DoD supply chain. This achievement is unprecedented and confirms that, with additional research and development, CircuitSeer will be capable of quickly, accurately, and non-destructively evaluating ICs to detect counterfeits and clones. Insertion of such technology into the DoD’s processes for trusted microelectronics would result in quantifiable trust prior to installation of chips into weapon systems. This would:
- Prevent in-theatre catastrophes and reduce vulnerabilities due to faulty equipment.
- Identify counterfeits early, thus preventing further infiltration into the supply chain.
- Reduce costs associated with recalling and investigating equipment and systems due to suspect counterfeits.
While CircuitSeer shows tremendous applicability for clone and counterfeit detection today, there is an incredible amount of untapped potential. ARA is continuing development of CircuitSeer in collaboration with the DoD and industry partners.
