Abstract: X-ray imaging techniques have been used for decades in the fight against counterfeit components. A key X-ray imaging technique allows operators to assess if the physical construction of a device matches the specifications of the original manufacturer. Another uses computer vision and artificial intelligence to determine if components in a group match each other (lot uniformity) to reject possible mixed batch created by the inclusion of counterfeited parts. The registration technique covered in this presentation leverages traditional X-ray imaging techniques to offer a different use case: anti-tampering. Mission critical applications must assure that components and devices are not altered once deployed. To properly assess that these parts have not been tampered, X-ray imaging is used to register the part at the point of departure. Thus, at any point in the lifecycle of the device, the current X-ray image can be compared to its original registration to determine if any tampering happened. A set of case studies will be presented to demonstrate this technique in electronic and mechanical devices.

Bio: Bill started his first company at 17 in Brazil, selling it a few years later to work for US Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). At Fermilab Bill led research in nuclear physics to build the equipment that discovered the Higgs Boson (and the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics). After 10 years at Fermilab, Bill was ready to get back to the entrepreneurial life. He moved from Chicago to sunny San Diego to start Creative Electron in his garage in 2008. Creative Electron is 10 years old now, and after the acquisition of FocalSpot in 2016, it became the largest US manufacturer of x-ray systems to the electronics industry. Creative Electron’s fast growth has been driven by its artificial intelligence expertise combined by a core competency in x-ray inspection. At Creative Electron, Bill leads the team of engineers and scientists who combine AI and x-rays to deliver the most intelligent x-ray machines in the market. Bill received his Associate’s degree in Electronics at 13 and went on to achieve a BS, MS, and PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Bill also has his MBA from University of Chicago. He is a recipient of the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and sits on the technical committees of SMTA International, SMTA Counterfeit Conference, and SMTA LED Conference, Components for Military and Space Electronics Conference, SPIE Photonics, and the IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium. He is a senior IEEE member. Bill is on the board of the SMTA, MiraCosta College, and Illinois Institute of Technology. Bill has written two books and over 150 technical publications. On their spare time, Bill’s family is putting together a 42,000-piece jigsaw puzzle.