University of Connecticut

Advanced Physical Inspection Methods for Counterfeit IC Detection

Oct 12, 2021 | Sina Shahbazmohamadi, Domenic Forte, and Mark Tehranipoor

The remarkable increase in counterfeit parts (a factor of 4 since 2009) [1] is a huge reliability and security concern in various industries ranging from automotive electronics to sensitive military applications increasing the possibility of premature failure in critical systems [2-5]. Counterfeit parts can also incur a great financial loss to legitimate electronics companies [6]. The issue is even more alarming as the counterfeiters use more sophisticated methods making counterfeit detection a much harder task [7-8]. Therefore, it is reasonable to develop more advanced counterfeit detection methods targeting a more efficient detection of sophisticated counterfeited parts....

Analyzing the Impact of X-ray Tomography on the Reliability of Integrated Circuits

Mar 18, 2021 | Halit Dogan, Md Mahbub Alam, Navid Asadizanjani, Sina Shahbazmohamadi, Domenic Forte and Mark Tehranipoor

X-ray tomography is a promising technique that can provide micron level, internal structure, and three dimensional (3D) information of an integrated circuit (IC) component without the need for serial sectioning or decapsulation. This is especially useful for counterfeit IC detection as demonstrated by recent work. Although the components remain physically intact during tomography, the effect of radiation on the electrical functionality is not yet fully investigated. In this paper we analyze the impact of X-ray tomography on the reliability of ICs with different fabrication technologies....

Electrochemical Sensors For Nitrogen Species: A Review

Feb 17, 2021 | Heejeong Ryua, Dorian Thompson, Yuankai Huang, BaikunLi, Yu Leia

This review provides an overview of electrochemical sensors for nitrogen species, especially, ammonium, nitrate, and nitrite. Due to the extensive anthropogenic activities, the concentration of nitrogen species has been dramatically increased in the environment. In particular, fertilizers containing ammonium and nitrate have been extensively used in agriculture where as nitrite-included additives or preservatives have been used in food industry. Since excessive nitrogen species have an adverse effect to environment and human health such as eutrophication and methemoglobinemia (blue baby syndrome), efforts have been made to develop efficient monitoring methods. On that account, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for nitrate and nitrite to be 10mg/L nitrate-N and 1mg/L nitrite-N in drinking water, respectively. Typical analytical methods for nitrogen species are chromatography or spectrometry. However, these methods require expensive instrumentations, skilled operator, and considerable sample pretreatment and analysis time. As an alternative approach, electrochemical sensors have been explored to monitor nitrogen species owing to its simplicity, superior sensitivity, versatility, rapidity, field applicability, and selectivity. In this review, electrochemical based detection methods for nitrogen species especially ammonium, nitrate and nitrite are systematically discussed, including the fundamentals of electrochemical techniques, sensing mechanisms, and the performance of each sensor. doi.org/10.1016/j.snr.2020.100022...