Advance manufacturing monitoring and diagnostic tool

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9797993-B2
Application number	US-201314141653-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 27, 2013
Priority date	Nov 19, 2008
Publication date	Oct 24, 2017
Grant date	Oct 24, 2017

Abstract

A device and a method for monitoring and analysis utilize unintended electromagnetic emissions of electrically powered components, devices or systems. The emissions are received at the antenna and a receiver. A processor processes and measures change or changes in a signature of the unintended electromagnetic emissions. The measurement are analyzed to both record a baseline score for future measurements and to be used in determining status and/or health of the analyzed system or component.

First claim

We claim:

1. A device comprising:
an antenna,
a receiver configured, in combination with said antenna, to receive at least one emission of an electromagnetic energy, said at least one electromagnetic emission being given off by at least one electrical device,
at least one processor, and
wherein said device is configured to passively measure and process a change or changes in a signature of the at least one electromagnetic emission.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is configured to monitor said at least one electrical device by measuring and processing more than one electromagnetic emission given off by the at least one electrical device.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device comprises an analog to digital converter.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is configured to monitor a health of at least one of the at least one electrical device and an electronic system.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is configured to diagnose defects in the at least one electrical device.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is configured to predict a degradation of at least one of the at least one electrical device and a component thereof.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is configured to assess a health of the at least one electrical device in a real time manner.

8. The electromagnetic emission measurement device of claim 1 , wherein said device is used in stand-alone measurements to assess a health of the at least one electrical device in a real-time manner.

9. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is configured to focus on a specified component and subcomponent.

10. The device of claim 1 , wherein aid device is configured to measure the at least one electromagnetic emission for an extended period of time in at least two periodic measurements.

11. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is configured to assess changes in said signature over time.

12. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is a diagnostic tool and wherein said receiver is configured to monitor frequency bands above microwave frequencies.

13. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is further configured to analyze and identify signature characteristics of the at least one electrical device for measurement, analysis and diagnosis of a condition of the at least one electrical device.

14. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is configured to monitor an RFID system.

15. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is configured to monitoring and analyze of health of a ground based electrical systems that employ electronic components.

16. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is configured to provide intermittent or continuous health monitoring of a manufacturing or non-manufacturing equipment so as to facilitate efficient maintenance thereof.

17. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is a mobile device configured to monitor electrical or electronic manufacturing equipment.

18. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is configured as a permanently fixed device to monitor electrical or electronic manufacturing equipment.

19. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is used for quality control related to products developed in a manufacturing facility.

20. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is configured to quality control materials to be incorporated into a manufactured product.

21. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is configured to assure that all subcomponents and subassemblies for construction into a manufactured product are correctly identified or assembled.

22. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is configured to identify improperly constructed products.

23. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is configured to assure that quality of each subcomponent and subassembly for construction into a manufactured product meets a predetermined quality standard.

24. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is configured to diagnose inconsistencies in a semiconductor.

25. The device of claim 24 , wherein said device is configured to diagnose said inconsistencies in said semiconductor integrated within at least one of a microcontroller and a microprocessor.

26. The device of claim 24 , wherein said device is configured to diagnose said inconsistencies in said semiconductor installed within at least one circuit board.

27. The device of claim 24 , wherein said device is configured to diagnose said inconsistencies during a manufacturing process.

28. The device of claim 24 , wherein said device is configured to diagnose said inconsistencies during manufacturing of a semiconductor.

29. The device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one electrical device is at least two semiconductors and wherein said device is configured to diagnose inconsistencies between individual semiconductors.

30. The device of claim 29 , wherein said device is configured to diagnose said inconsistencies between the at least two semiconductors integrated within at least one of a microcontroller and a microprocessor.

31. The device of claim 29 , wherein said device is configured to diagnose said inconsistencies between the at least two semiconductors that form integrated circuits.

32. The device of claim 29 , wherein said device is configured to diagnose said inconsistencies between individual semiconductors for a quality control of components to be installed on a manufacturing line within at least one circuit board.

33. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a housing sized to be held by a hand of a user, wherein said antenna and said receiver are disposed within said housing.

34. The device of claim 1 , wherein said at least one electrical device comprises at least one semiconductor device, wherein said at least one electromagnetic emission comprises an unintended electromagnetic emission and wherein said device is configured to assess at least one of a health, defect, inconsistency and degradation of the at least one semiconductor device either during manufacturing of the at least one semiconductor device, during manufacturing of an assembly containing the at least one semiconductor device or during a quality control inspection.

35. The device of claim 1 , wherein said device is configured to monitor a level of a degradation of the at least one electrical device.

36. The device of claim 1 , wherein said at least one processor comprises a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) processor configured to conduct an initial processing of a targeted analog signal and wherein said at least one processor further comprises a general purpose processor (GPU) coupled to said FPGA processor and configured to perform higher level processing of said analog signal, said higher level processing including at least one of comparing said signal to a predetermined signature, accessing a non-volatile memory provided within said device so as to store historical records, and interfacing with a user of said device.

37. The device of claim 36 , wherein said FPGA processor is further configured to transform a digital waveform of the emitted spectrum from the at least one electrical device to a frequency domain of interest.

38. The device of

Assignees

• Pauly Gerald W
• Keller Iii Walter J
• Nokomis Inc

Inventors

• Pauly Gerald W
• Keller Iii Walter J

Classifications

• G01R31/2642

  Testing semiconductor operation lifetime or reliability, e.g. by accelerated life tests · CPC title

• G01R31/01

  Subjecting similar articles in turn to test, e.g. "go/no-go" tests in mass production; Testing objects at points as they pass through a testing station (testing of cables continuously passing the testing apparatus G01R31/59; testing dielectric strength or breakdown voltage G01R31/12) · CPC title

• G01R31/26

  Testing of individual semiconductor devices (testing of photovoltaic devices H02S50/10; testing or measuring during manufacture or treatment {H10P74/00}) · CPC title

• G01R31/31703

  Comparison aspects, e.g. signature analysis, comparators (concerning scan tests G01R31/318566; concerning testers G01R31/3193) · CPC title

• G01R31/265

  Contactless testing {(of circuits, also in wafer-form G01R31/302)} · CPC title