Handheld Vision Based Counterfeit Microelectronics Detection

The worldwide shortage of integrated circuits is creating extra incentive for criminals to attempt to pass counterfeit microelectronics into the US supply chain. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) are charged with preventing counterfeit product from entering the country. Counterfeit integrated circuits (IC’s) and printed circuit boards (PCB’s) are not always easy to identify. There is an opportunity for computer vision-based inspection utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to aid with the identification and ultimate rejection of counterfeit microelectronics.The proposed system will include both the handheld device and the backend system support in the cloud. The handheld device will provide a powerful first level of analysis of the IC or PCB looking for counterfeit attributes of reworked parts, etc. The detection CNN (Convolution Neural Network) can be downloaded for specific parts or catalog of parts based on having good training images.The VCED handheld device will be specifically designed to identify counterfeit electronics specifically for the needs of CBP and DHS inspection agents. Onyx thinks that there is a wider market for this same capability for any companies that are purchasing volumes of ICs and PCBs. This will be a useful system for circuit board assembly companies to inspect IC’s prior to installing them on circuit boards.There are over 500 PCB assembly companies in the USA.There are thousands of companies that purchase completed PCBs could benefit by using the system in their incoming inspection.