Counterfeit Electronics Detection and Avoidance

Abstract

Counterfeit electronic components are electronic parts that are misrepresented in terms of their authenticity, class, and/or quality. Due to their substandard specifications and quality, they represent a significant danger if incorporated into safety- and mission-critical systems such as military/defense, space and aircraft navigation, life support, etc. Counterfeit electronics can also infringe the legitimate producer's trademark rights, impact the market reputation of semiconductor and electronics companies, harm the world economy, and finance criminals. Reports of counterfeits have grown over the last several decades because of critical infrastructure’s reliance on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components and obsolete components as well as the rate at which electronics are being discarded. Unfortunately, this problem has shown no signs of slowing down. In fact, experts have warned that counterfeit electronics will be exacerbated by the reduction in precious metal imports and the pandemic-induced chip shortage.

This comprehensive lecture covers the following: (1) Counterfeit electronic part sources, motivation, and risks; (2) Counterfeit IC type taxonomy (recycled, remarked, overproduced, cloned, etc.); (3) Counterfeit defect taxonomy (procedural, mechanical, environmental, and electrical); (4) Counterfeit detection taxonomy (physical, electrical, design-for-anti-counterfeit); (5) Basic parametric/functional tests for counterfeit component detection; (6) More advanced detection approaches that explicitly target counterfeit SoCs, memories (SRAM, DRAM, and Flash), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and AMS ICs; (7) Design-for-anti-counterfeit primitives such as physical unclonable functions (PUFs) and silicon odometers, and their benefits; (8) International standards and commercially available tools; (9) Barriers to the adoption of counterfeit detection tests and avoidance circuits; and (10) Future directions in research, infrastructure, standards, and policy-making to improve the accuracy, cost, scalability, and adoption of counterfeit mitigation techniques.

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