X-ray obscuration film and related techniques

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9087617-B2
Application number	US-201414325670-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 8, 2014
Priority date	Mar 14, 2013
Publication date	Jul 21, 2015
Grant date	Jul 21, 2015

Abstract

An X-ray obscuration (XRO) film comprising one or more metallic wire mesh layers and an adjacent layer of indium foil having portions which extend into openings of the wire mesh and in contact with metallic portions thereof. The XRO film can be capable of absorbing at least a portion of X-ray energy thereby creating an interference pattern when the XRO film is coupled with an electronic circuit and placed between an X-ray source and an X-ray detector and subjected to radiographic inspection. The interference pattern can create sufficient visual static to effectively obscure circuit lines in the electronic circuit when subjected to radiographic inspection techniques. The XRO film can be substantially thinner than existing solutions for preventing X-ray inspection with an exemplary embodiment being no more than 5 mils thick. The metallic XRO film can also provide electromagnetic shielding and/or heat dissipation for electronic circuits.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An obscured electronic device comprising:
an electronic circuit including a plurality of circuit lines; and
an obscuration film coupled to the electronic circuit, the obscuration film comprising
a wire mesh, and
an adjacent layer of material having portions which extend into openings of the wire mesh and in contact with portions thereof,

wherein the obscuration film is configured to absorb at least a portion of electromagnetic radiation energy and to create an interference pattern obscuring the plurality of circuit lines of the electronic circuit when the device is placed between an electromagnetic radiation source and an electromagnetic radiation detector.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the material comprises indium, and the wire mesh comprises copper.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the obscuration film is less than 10 mils thick.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the interference pattern is a moiré interference pattern.

5. An obscuration film comprising:
a first metallic wire mesh; and
a second metallic wire mesh,
wherein the obscuration film is configured to absorb at least a portion of electromagnetic radiation energy and to create an optically created interference pattern when the obscuration film is placed between an electromagnetic radiation source and an electromagnetic radiation detector.

6. An obscuration film comprising:
a first metallic wire mesh;
a second metallic wire mesh;
a third metallic wire mesh; and
a layer of material having portions which extend into openings of at least one of the first metallic wire mesh, the second metallic wire mesh, or the third metallic wire mesh and in contact with metallic portions thereof,
wherein the obscuration film is configured to absorb at least a portion of electromagnetic radiation energy and to create an interference pattern when the obscuration film is placed between an electromagnetic radiation source and an electromagnetic radiation detector.

7. The obscuration film of claim 6 , wherein the first metallic wire mesh, the second metallic wire mesh, and the third metallic wire mesh each comprises a copper wire mesh.

8. An obscuration film comprising:
a first metallic wire mesh; and
a second metallic wire mesh,
wherein the obscuration film is configured to absorb at least a portion of electromagnetic radiation energy and to create an interference pattern when the obscuration film is placed between an electromagnetic radiation source and an electromagnetic radiation detector,
wherein the obscuration film is less than 10 mils thick.

9. An obscuration film comprising:
a first metallic wire mesh; and
a second metallic wire mesh,
wherein the obscuration film is configured to absorb at least a portion of electromagnetic radiation energy and to create an interference pattern when the obscuration film is placed between an electromagnetic radiation source and an electromagnetic radiation detector,
wherein the first wire mesh and the second wire mesh each comprise copper wire mesh.

10. The obscuration film of claim 8 , wherein the obscuration film is no more than 5 mils thick.

11. The obscuration film of claim 5 , wherein the interference pattern is a moiré interference pattern.

12. The obscuration film of claim 5 , wherein the obscuration film is configured to be moldable to conform to an electronic device.

13. An obscuration film comprising:
a first metallic wire mesh; and
a second metallic wire mesh,
wherein the obscuration film is configured to absorb at least a portion of electromagnetic radiation energy and to create an interference pattern when the obscuration film is placed between an electromagnetic radiation source and an electromagnetic radiation detector,
wherein the first metallic wire mesh has a first mesh size and the second metallic wire mesh has a second mesh size, the first mesh size being different than the second mesh size.

14. A method of obscuring circuit lines in an electronic circuit, the method comprising:
providing an electronic circuit;
providing an obscuration film comprising a first metallic wire mesh and a second metallic wire mesh, wherein the obscuration film is configured to absorb at least a portion of electromagnetic radiation energy and to create an optically created interference pattern when the obscuration film is placed between an electromagnetic radiation source and an electromagnetic radiation detector; and
coupling the obscuration film to the electronic circuit.

15. A method of obscuring circuit lines in an electronic circuit, the method comprising:
providing an electronic circuit;
providing an obscuration film comprising a first metallic wire mesh and a second metallic wire mesh, wherein the obscuration film is configured to absorb at least a portion of electromagnetic radiation energy and to create an interference pattern when the obscuration film is placed between an electromagnetic radiation source and an electromagnetic radiation detector; and
coupling the obscuration film to the electronic circuit,
the obscuration film further comprising:
a third metallic wire mesh; and
a layer of material having portions which extend into openings of at least one of the first metallic wire mesh, the second metallic wire mesh, or the third metallic wire mesh and in contact with metallic portions thereof.

16. A method of obscuring circuit lines in an electronic circuit, the method comprising:
providing an electronic circuit;
providing an obscuration film comprising a first metallic wire mesh and a second metallic wire mesh, wherein the obscuration film is configured to absorb at least a portion of electromagnetic radiation energy and to create an interference pattern when the obscuration film is placed between an electromagnetic radiation source and an electromagnetic radiation detector; and
coupling the obscuration film to the electronic circuit,
wherein the obscuration film is less than 10 mils thick.

17. A method of obscuring circuit lines in an electronic circuit, the method comprising:
providing an electronic circuit;
providing an obscuration film comprising a first metallic wire mesh and a second metallic wire mesh, wherein the obscuration film is configured to absorb at least a portion of electromagnetic radiation energy and to create an interference pattern when the obscuration film is placed between an electromagnetic radiation source and an electromagnetic radiation detector; and
coupling the obscuration film to the electronic circuit,
wherein the first wire mesh and the second wire mesh each comprise copper wire mesh.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the obscuration film is no more than 5 mils thick.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein the interference pattern is a moiré interference pattern.

20. A method of obscuring circuit lines in an electronic circuit, the method comprising:
providing an electronic circuit;
providing an obscuration film comprising a first metallic wire mesh and a second metallic wire mesh, wherein the obscuration film is configured to absorb at least a portion of electromagnetic radiation energy and to create an interference pattern when the obscuration film is placed between an electromagnetic radiation source and an electromagnetic radiation detector; and
coupling the obscuration film to the electronic circuit,
wherein the obscuration film is configured to be moldable to conform to the electronic circuit.

Assignees

• Lockheed Corp

Inventors

• Gonya Stephen
• Iannon Jesse

Classifications

• H10W42/40

  protecting against tampering, e.g. unauthorised inspection or reverse engineering · CPC title

• H10W42/20

  protecting against electromagnetic or particle radiation, e.g. light, X-rays, gamma-rays or electrons · CPC title

• H01L2924/0002

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H05K2201/0715

  provided by an outer layer of PCB · CPC title

• H05K1/02 Primary

  Details · CPC title