CN115836332A

CN115836332A - Method and system for XRF marking and reading XRF mark of electronic system

Info

Publication number: CN115836332A
Application number: CN202180037034.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: N·塔尔; M·卡普林斯基; T·纳胡姆; H·萨德; D·加斯帕尔; R·达芙妮; C·纳克米亚斯; M·弗斯滕伯格; A·特拉赫特曼; H·阿龙; N·佑兰; T·吉斯列夫
Original assignee: Security Matters Ltd
Current assignee: Security Matters Ltd
Priority date: 2020-03-30
Filing date: 2021-03-24
Publication date: 2023-03-21
Also published as: EP4128177A1; AU2021249547A1; IL296775A; WO2021199025A1; CA3177856A1; JP2023520683A; KR20220163400A

Abstract

A method of producing an XRF-readable mark, an XRF-readable mark and an assembly comprising the XRF-readable mark are disclosed. The method comprises the following steps: providing an XRF marking composition having a particular relative concentration of one or more chemical elements; and a multilayer structure for making the XRF readable mark. The relative concentrations are selected such that, in response to irradiation of the XRF marking composition by the XRF excitation radiation, the XRF marking composition emits an XRF signal indicative of the predetermined XRF profile. The step of manufacturing the multilayer structure comprises: -realizing an attenuating layer having at least one element exhibiting a high absorbance against XRF excitation radiation and/or an XRF background; and effecting a marking layer comprising the XRF marking composition.

Description

Method and system for XRF marking and reading XRF mark of electronic system

Background and summary

The present invention is in the field of X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and particularly relates to XRF labeling of electronic systems.

The present invention provides a novel technique for tagging complementary (compatible) components of a composite system, such as an electronic system, with a unified tagging/encoding system/scheme, also referred to herein as an on-board-one-code (OBOC) encoding system/scheme.

More specifically, the invention provides for utilizing/employing elemental ids (physical indicia of components of an electronic system) embedded in elemental terms to provide brand protection and/or authentication of customized electronic devices, and/or to provide responsibility for electronic components in medical devices (and wearable medical devices in particular), and/or to provide bridging responsibility for coupling between virtual services or products and physical operating systems (e.g., coupling between personal data and smart clothing).

In various embodiments of the invention, the composite electronic system may be any system including an integrated circuit having a plurality of components, such as a circuit board (e.g., a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and/or a flexible circuit), and electronic components to be electronically coupled/mounted on the circuit board, such as other chips and transistors of a processor and/or controller and/or circuitry, data input/output/communication elements (e.g., RF and/or antenna modules), sensor modules (such as inertial sensors, cameras, microphones, and other sensors (such as temperature and/or pressure and/or magnetic field sensors), user interface modules (e.g., screens, keyboards), and/or other electronic components of the composite electronic system to be electronically connected to other components of the system (e.g., via the circuit board)) A product device (smart garment), whereby the health controller device may be adapted to monitor a user's condition (e.g., by utilizing appropriate sensors associated/connected thereto), and the smart wearable product may be configured to respond to signals from the health controller device to provide therapy to the user, for example, by releasing certain materials to the user's skin and/or applying pressure to one or more body parts of the user. Alternatively or additionally, the smart wearable device may function as a sensor that measures a measurable health parameter of the user (e.g., measures the body temperature and/or blood pressure and/or sweat rate and/or any other measurable health parameter of the user), and the health controller device may be responsive to a signal from the smart wearable device and configured and operative to initiate provision of therapy to the user, e.g., by issuing appropriate alerts (via communication with the user and/or other entity) and/or operating other therapy provider modules (such as a cardiac pacemaker, insulin injector and/or other therapy provider modules).

In general, a composite electronic system may include any number of complementary (compatible) components, all or some of which may be labeled with the OBOC encoding scheme of the present invention. However, for the sake of clarity and without limiting the scope of the invention, in the following description, only two (first and second) complementary (compatible) components of the system, which are labeled by the OBOC scheme of the present invention, are often discussed and illustrated.

According to the OBOC labeling technique of the present invention, at least two complementary/compatible components of a composite electronic system are labeled with respective XRF identifiable marker compositions (marking compositions) encoded to respectively carry/encode complementary XRF signatures (signatures), which may be similar and/or matched and/or corresponding XRF signatures readable by XRF techniques. The first and second complementary/compatible components labeled by XRF labeling of complementary (similar/matching/corresponding) signatures may include, for example: (i) An electronic circuit board of a composite system and at least one electronic component mounted thereon/connected thereto; and/or (ii) packaging of a composite electronic system (e.g., packaging of a chip) and integrated circuits (e.g., dies) thereof; and/or (iii) separate first and second modules/devices of the composite system (e.g., controller device and smart wearable garment), which may be connected to each other, either wired or wirelessly.

In this regard, it should be noted that the phrase similar signature as used herein specifically designates instances in which the XRF spectral responses of the XRF signatures of the two components of the composite system are similar in at least a predetermined portion of the XRF spectral responses (e.g., at least one spectral portion thereof), and/or they indicate similar signature compositions. To this end, similar XRF signatures may relate to similar concentrations of active XRF-responsive marker (marker) elements in the corresponding substrate (substrate) from which the corresponding XRF signal carrying the signature is emitted, but may have different actual XRF spectra due to the effect of the substrate (material and/or texture) to which the XRF signature is applied and/or due to the technique by which the signature is applied to the substrate. Phrase matching feature maps is used herein to specifically designate the case where matches between feature maps may be determined by processing XRF feature maps based on some predetermined formula/constraint to determine whether they are complementary (whether there is a match between them, e.g., without requiring correlation using external reference data). In this sense, similar feature maps are special cases of matching feature maps, where the matching constraint is the equality between them. Another way to determine a match between the feature maps (after converting them into numerical values) is to check, for example, whether their addition amounts to a predetermined checksum value. The phrase correspondence XRF signatures is used herein to specify cases in which correspondence between signatures may be verified by any suitable technique (e.g., using reference data defining correspondence between signatures, such as a look-up table (LUT)). For this reason, matching feature maps are typically a special case of corresponding feature maps, wherein the matching is determined according to a predetermined relationship between the feature maps, and therefore no external reference data need be used.

The marking technology and coding system of the present invention can be used to manufacture customized electronic devices (customics) and personalized electronic components. For example, a code embedded in a circuit in a smart garment (e.g., for medical use), as well as the garment itself, may be marked by a code associated with the individual. Such smart garments may be customized, for example, for a person with a condition (e.g., as a medical prescription), and XRF marking may be used to verify that the customized garment is provided to the correct person.

XRF marking can be used for the following purposes:

anti-counterfeiting measures, in which circuit boards and various components can be marked. In particular, XRF marking may be used to verify during assembly that the components to be assembled on the circuit board are "authentic" and were manufactured by the original manufacturer. This aspect of the invention may also provide authenticity and security measures for suppliers and end users. For example, upon receipt of the circuit board, a user may use the indicia to authenticate the source or type of the various components. In addition, the indicia allows a user to hand over possession of the circuit (e.g., for repair or upgrade) and has the ability to verify that the circuit has not been tampered with, e.g., a user can verify that no components have been replaced and that only authorized components have been installed. In addition, the marking may be used to verify that the component is assembled at the "correct" location on the circuit board.

Such indicia may be used by the component manufacturer to verify that the component is arriving at the "correct" destination in order to prevent unauthorized transactions of its components.

Supply chain management and supply chain diversion control, where the indicia may include information related to control of supply and production activities. For example, multiple marking compositions may be applied at different stages of production and/or supply, thereby providing an indication of the current stage of production.

The manufacturer of the smart garment (wearable device) can use such indicia of one or both of the garment (wearable) and the circuitry to determine that the electronic components to be assembled/attached to the garment are authentic and compatible. In particular, such a marking may be crucial in smart wearables used for medical purposes (see e.g. US 2016/0022982), where both the garment and the circuit board typically have special characteristics (the garment may e.g. comprise electrically conductive wires) and must be of high quality.

The marking composition may be applied to the circuit board and the component at a single location or alternatively at different facilities. For example, XRF marking of components of a PCB may be applied at the facilities of an authorized manufacturer. These markings can be read at the assembly facility of the circuit board to verify the origin of the assembly.

The entire circuit and its components may be labeled with the same composition/same XRF signature/code word. Alternatively, the various parts or components may be marked by different codewords of the same XRF signature/code. For example, the XRF signature of a component may include a prefix containing information associated with the circuit board as a whole (e.g., indicating the type of circuit, date of assembly, destination or customer to which the circuit is to be sent), and a suffix including information associated with the component (type of component, manufacturer, date of manufacture, etc.).

The coding system associated with the markers may also include positioning markers in different locations on the circuit board and/or on the individual components, such that the configuration of the positions of the markers constitutes part of the code. That is, the specific location of the marker will be incorporated into the codeword associated with the marker. In other words, in some embodiments of the invention, a method/system for reading indicia (e.g., an XRF reader) includes an operating device (e.g., an imager and/or an image recognition device) for identifying and determining a location of indicia on a marked component (on a marked circuit board), and for determining a code word read from the indicia based on both (i) an XRF signal obtained from the indicia and (ii) the location of the indicia on the marked component.

For purposes of controlling the supply chain (e.g., controlling unauthorized supply chain diversion), multiple marking compositions (each having different XRF signatures) may be applied to the circuit board at multiple locations along the supply chain or assembly line, such that reading the XRF signatures provides information related to the assembly of the circuit.

The XRF marking composition applied to the circuit board or components thereof does not interfere with the electrical or magnetic properties of the circuit board or components thereof. Moreover, the XRF marking composition can be configured such that it does not alter the appearance of the circuit board such that other legend markings and logos are not affected by the application of the marking composition (e.g., it can be transparent itself and/or it can be invisibly embedded into the marked matrix material of the assembly).

The marking composition may be applied to a flexible circuit that may be included in wearable products and smart clothing used for medical purposes, fitness and exercise, and fashion and lifestyle. For example, smart shoes that measure biomechanical data, smart clothing that is conditioned to external temperature, and/or clothing that includes sensors that measure biometric indicators such as heart rate, skin moisture, and skin temperature. Smart garments may also be used for therapeutic purposes, such as delivering an electric shock to the heart in the case of cardiac arrest.

Smart apparel may include specialized materials and fabrics (e.g., breathable fabrics or fabrics including conductive threads) and may be manufactured by different manufacturers.

In this case, the marking composition may be applied to both the flexible circuit (e.g., flexible circuit board) and the fabric, thereby authenticating both components. Additionally, the marking may be used for quality control and control of the supply chain, wherein only the web and associated circuitry marked by a suitable XRF signature or code may be assembled/combined together.

Thus, according to a broad aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic system comprising a plurality of components including at least a first electronic component and a second electronic component. The first electronic assembly includes a first XRF marking composition configured to emit a first XRF signal having a first XRF signature in response to irradiation of the first XRF marking composition by XRF excitation radiation. The second electronic assembly includes a second XRF marking composition configured to emit a second XRF signal having a second XRF signature in response to irradiation of the second XRF marking composition by the XRF excitation radiation. The first and second XRF marks are each configured such that the first XRF signature of the first electronic component corresponds to the second XRF signature of the second electronic component, thereby enabling verification that the first and second electronic components are each compatible components of the electronic system.

According to another broad aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for verifying compatibility of components of an electronic system comprising at least a first electronic component and a second electronic component. The method comprises the following steps:

-providing a first component and a second component speculatively associated with an electronic system;

-irradiating the first and second assemblies with XRF excitation radiation;

-detecting one or more XRF response signals emitted from the first and second components in response to said irradiating;

-processing the one or more XRF response signals to identify a first XRF signature associated with a first XRF marked composition on the first component and a second XRF signature associated with a second XRF marked composition on the second component, respectively;

-after identifying a first XRF signature and a second XRF signature, processing the first signature and the second signature to determine a correspondence therebetween, and verifying compatibility of the first component and the second component with an electronic system based on the correspondence.

It should be noted that in various embodiments and implementations of the present invention, the marked components of the system may each include a different substrate to which XRF marking is applied. Thus, it may be necessary to calibrate XRF measurements performed on different components of different substrates.

Thus, according to yet another broad aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for calibrating XRF measurements of XRF marks applied to one or more matrix materials. The method comprises performing the steps of:

-providing a plurality of samples comprising samples of various XRF marker compositions of various matrix materials and different concentrations of XRF marker elements on said various matrix materials;

-interrogating said plurality of samples of a particular matrix material by an XRF analyzer to determine, for each sample, a Count Per Second (CPS) value indicative of photons of a particular energy range associated with the XRF marker element;

-determining and storing calibration data XRF for measurements of XRF marker applied to said matrix material, whereby said calibration data comprises data correlating predetermined/a priori known concentrations of XRF marker elements in said plurality of samples with corresponding CPS obtained from the respective sample. In this case, the calibration data can be used to determine the code word of the label based on the CPS obtained from each sample.

Alternatively or additionally, the calibration process may comprise: the method comprises determining an XRF response spectrum (e.g. CPS) obtained from a sample of a predetermined substrate (e.g. of known material and possibly known texture) to which a certain predetermined marking composition has been applied, and recording the XRF response as a code word associated with the marked substrate, i.e. the predetermined substrate is marked by the predetermined marking composition. In this case, the XRF response spectrum itself (possibly together with additional information such as the location of the mark on the object being marked) may represent the code word associated with the predetermined mark when it is on/in the predetermined substrate. That is, in this case, the code words are not related to and do not directly indicate the concentration/relative concentration of the marking elements, but are also related to and influenced by the properties of the substrate and the marking application technique, i.e. a unique XRF signature is formed by the combined response of the marked substrate to a predetermined "read" (excitation) radiation. For example, a large number of similar objects/substrates (i.e., objects produced by the same technology and having the same or very similar material composition and layout) may be associated with (identifiable by) the same reference/calibration XRF signature. After applying a mark to one of the objects (or test objects) and reading the XRF response from that object, such signatures are determined to be stored for use as reference signatures.

Moreover, in some implementations, the method further comprises: performing an SNR optimization step by: applying XRF interrogations with different XRF parameters to the plurality of samples to determine an optimized set of XRF parameters that optimizes the SNR of XRF measurements of the matrix material, and optionally storing the optimized set of XRF parameters in calibration data.

According to a further embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an XRF reader comprising: an XRF analyzer for interrogating the object and detecting XRF response signals indicative of a spectral XRF signature of a marking composition applied to the object; and a signature calibration module associated with calibration data indicative of a correspondence between a spectral XRF signature and a concentration of XRF marking elements of the object including the XRF marking elements. A signature calibration module is adapted to utilize the spectral XRF signature to determine a concentration of XRF marking elements in the object based on calibration data.

According to yet another broad aspect of the present invention, there is provided an XRF-readable mark (mark) comprising an XRF mark composition having specific relative concentrations of one or more chemical/atomic elements (typically a plurality of chemical/atomic elements); the relative concentrations are selected such that, in response to irradiation of the XRF marking composition by XRF excitation radiation, the XRF marking composition emits XRF signals indicative of a predetermined XRF signature associated with the XRF readable mark. The XRF-readable marker is configured and operatively placed on a substrate (e.g., an XRF-responsive substrate associated with emission of XRF background clutter in response to the irradiation by XRF excitation radiation). The XRF readable indicia comprises:

-an attenuation/mask layer comprising at least one element exhibiting an absorbance (absorbance) for at least one of: the XRF excitation radiation and the XRF background clutter; and

-a marking layer comprising the XRF marking composition; and the XRF-readable indicia is designated for placement on the substrate such that the attenuation/masking layer of the XRF-readable indicia is interposed (i.e., interposed/located) between the substrate and the marking layer of the XRF-readable indicia.

In some embodiments, the predetermined XRF signature of the XRF-readable mark is characterized by one or more spectral peaks above a certain threshold in said response to the irradiation, wherein said one or more spectral peaks comprise at least one spectral peak contributed by the XRF marking composition of the marking layer. For example, the one or more spectral peaks may include at least one spectral peak contributed by one or more elements of the attenuating layer.

In some embodiments, the predetermined XRF signature is characterized by one or more spectral peaks above a particular threshold in response to the irradiation. The XRF background clutter from the XRF-responsive substrate further comprises at least one spectral peak above a certain threshold, and the attenuation/masking layer eliminates or at least suppresses the intensity of the at least one spectral peak of the XRF background clutter, thereby enabling reading of the predetermined XRF signature of the XRF-readable mark when placed over the substrate.

In some embodiments, the attenuating layer is configured to extend over an area larger than an area of the marker layer.

In some embodiments, the attenuating layer is such that μ is satisfied _s ρ x ≧ 1/2, where ρ is the area density (area density) (also known as area or column density) of the attenuating layer, μ _s Is the average mass absorption coefficient of the atomic elemental composition of the attenuating layer. In some embodiments, the attenuating layer is such that μ is satisfied _s The parameter of rho x is more than or equal to 1.

According to some embodiments, the at least one element in the attenuating layer that exhibits absorbance has an atomic number of at least 45. For example, the at least one element exhibiting absorbance may include lead (Pb).

In some embodiments, the at least one element in the attenuating layer that exhibits absorbance is associated with a substantial XRF response in at least one spectral region (spectral region). To this end, the substantial XRF response may be part of a predetermined XRF profile of the XRF readable indicia.

According to yet another broad aspect of the invention, there is provided an assembly (e.g., an object or an electronic assembly) comprising:

-a matrix material; and

-an XRF-readable symbol configured to emit an XRF signal having an XRF signature indicative of the assembly in response to illumination of the XRF-readable symbol by XRF excitation radiation;

the substrate may be an XRF-responsive substrate comprising metallic atomic elements, and may be associated with emission of an XRF background signal in response to irradiation of the substrate by XRF excitation radiation. Thus, the XRF-readable symbol may be configured as a multilayer XRF marker (comprising a marking layer and an attenuating layer) as described above and in more detail below, and placed over the surface of the substrate such that the attenuating layer of the XRF-readable symbol is interposed between the surface of the substrate and the marking layer of the XRF-readable symbol.

According to yet another broad aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic system comprising a plurality of components including at least a first component and a second component, wherein:

-the first component comprises a first XRF-readable mark configured to emit a first XRF signal having a first XRF signature in response to irradiation of the first XRF-readable mark by XRF excitation radiation;

-the second component comprises a second XRF-readable mark configured to emit a second XRF signal having a second XRF signature in response to irradiation of the second XRF-readable mark by XRF excitation radiation; and is

The first and second XRF-readable indicia are each configured such that the first XRF signature of the first electronic component corresponds to the second XRF signature of the second electronic component, thereby enabling verification that the first and second components are each compatible components of the electronic system.

At least one of the components (e.g., the first component) is a component configured as defined above, including: a matrix material; and a multilayer XRF-readable mark disposed over the surface of the substrate such that the attenuation/mask layer of the multilayer XRF-readable mark is interposed between the surface of the substrate and the indicia layer of the multilayer XRF-readable mark.

In an additional broad aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of producing an XRF readable mark. The method comprises the following steps:

A. providing an XRF marking composition having a particular relative concentration of one or more (typically a plurality of) chemical elements, wherein the relative concentrations are selected such that, in response to irradiation of the XRF marking composition by XRF excitation radiation, the XRF marking composition emits an XRF signal indicative of a predetermined XRF profile; and

B. a multi-layer structure for producing an XRF-readable symbol, wherein the step of producing comprises:

-realizing an attenuation/mask layer comprising at least one element exhibiting an absorbance for at least one of: XRF excitation radiation and XRF background; and

-realizing a marking layer comprising an XRF marking composition.

In some embodiments, the step of implementing the attenuating layer is configured such that the parameters of the attenuating layer satisfy μ _s ρ x ≧ 1/2, where x ρ is at least the areal density (also known as the areal or columnar density) of the attenuating layer, μ _s Is the average mass absorption coefficient of the atomic elemental composition of the attenuating layer. In some embodiments, the step of implementing the attenuating layer is such that the parameters of the attenuating layer satisfy μ _s ρx≥1。

In some embodiments, the method further comprises the steps of: an attenuation/mask layer (e.g., and a marker layer) is provided over a substrate (e.g., an XRF-responsive substrate associated with emission of XRF background clutter in response to the irradiation by XRF excitation radiation). The providing step interposes an attenuation/mask layer between the substrate and the indicia layer.

In some embodiments, the at least one element that exhibits absorbance has a higher atomic number than the elements of the matrix. In some embodiments, the at least one element that exhibits absorbance is lead (Pb).

In some embodiments, the step of implementing an attenuation/mask layer comprises applying a coating to at least a portion of the surface of the substrate. The coating may include at least one element that exhibits absorbance.

In some embodiments, the coating comprises a polymeric material embedded with one or more elements of high atomic number equal to or higher than 45.

In some embodiments, the high atomic number element comprises one or more metal elements. For example, the one or more metallic elements may be embedded in the polymeric material in such a way that: the oxide or salt form or organometallic compound comprising the material is dissolved in the polymeric material prior to coating. The high atomic number element may be dispersed or suspended in the polymeric material.

In some embodiments, the polymeric material may be a polyamide. The polymeric material may be applied to the surface by at least one of the following means: spraying, brushing, printing, injecting, and stamping. In some embodiments, the method further comprises curing the polymeric material by at least one of: heat, moisture, and UV radiation.

In some embodiments, the step of implementing an attenuation/mask layer comprises depositing the at least one element exhibiting absorbance on at least a portion of the surface of the substrate. For example, the deposition may be performed using at least one of CVD and PVD techniques. In some cases, the at least one element exhibiting absorbance is deposited in liquid, solid, or particulate form.

Drawings

For a better understanding of the subject matter disclosed herein and to illustrate how it may be carried into effect in practice, embodiments will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic system including a plurality of components marked with XRF marking compositions according to an embodiment of the present invention; fig. 2A-2D are block diagrams illustrating an electronic system configured according to various embodiments of the invention, including XRF marker compositions embedded/applied to various components thereof;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a method for verifying compatibility of components of an electronic system according to an embodiment of the invention;

4A-4C are flow diagrams of methods that may be performed for verifying compatibility of components of a system according to various embodiments of the invention;

fig. 5A is a schematic view of an XRF marker coupled to an object/assembly (e.g., an electronic assembly) including a substrate having a substantial XRF response;

FIG. 5B is a schematic, pictorial illustration of an XRF response from the object/assembly of FIG. 5A with an XRF marker;

fig. 5C is a flow chart of a calibration technique for use with an XRF analyzer that enables accurate measurement of the concentration of XRF-responsive marker material embedded/applied to various substrates.

FIG. 5D is a block diagram of an XRF verification reader configured in accordance with an embodiment of the invention for verifying compatibility of electronic components of an electronic system;

figure 6A is a schematic illustration of a multi-layered XRF marker coupled to an object/assembly (e.g., an electronic assembly) including a substrate having a substantial XRF response, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention; the multi-layer XRF marker includes an attenuating layer and a marking layer.

FIG. 6B is a schematic, pictorial illustration of the XRF response from the object/assembly of FIG. 5A with multiple layers of XRF markers;

FIG. 6C is a flow diagram of a method 600 for implementing a multi-layer XRF flag, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Referring to FIG. 1, a block diagram of an electronic system 100 is shown, the electronic system 100 including a plurality of components marked by XRF marks. In this particular example, an electronic system 100 is illustrated having two components C1 and C2 (hereinafter referred to as a first electronic component and a second electronic component), each of which is composed of a respective first XRF marker composition XRFM associated with an XRF signature ₁ And a second XRF labeling composition XRFM ₂ Is marked. It should be understood that more than two XRF flag marked components may generally be included in the system 100.

In various embodiments of the present invention, components C1 and C2 may comprise electronic systemsThe electronic components of the system 100, such as the circuit board and the electronic components mounted thereon, and/or the components C1 and C2 may comprise individual devices of the distributed electronic system 100, such as the control unit/device and the smart wearable device that together make up the system 100, and/or the components C1 and C2 may comprise electronic modules and their housings/packages/envelopes. Moreover, in various embodiments of the invention, a first XRF marking composition XRFM on component C1 ₁ And a second XRF marking composition XRFM on component C2 ₂ May be a flag indicating one or more of: branding of the respective components C1 and C2, manufacturing details of the components C1 and C2 (e.g., manufacturer, manufacturing location, manufacturing date, lot number, etc.), and/or an identification indicating the individual component (such as a serial number of the components C1 and C2). Thus, the XRF marking composition XRFM ₁ And XRFM ₂ Elemental identification of components (e.g., their serial numbers, brands, and/or manufactures) is provided.

It should be noted that in various embodiments of the present invention, XRF is marked with XRFM ₁ And XRFM ₂ Applied to (e.g., applied to and/or embedded/mixed within) different matrix materials in different components (e.g., one component may comprise a polymer matrix containing XRF markers, while another component may comprise natural fibers used as a matrix containing XRF markers). In this regard, the term matrix and/or matrix material is used herein to indicate a base material (e.g., media/matrix material) of a component of an electronic system to which the XRF marking composition is applied/embedded. Thus, the labeling compositions of different components of the system may comprise different promoters (promoters) and/or different binder (binder) materials, depending on the matrix to which the labeling compositions are to be applied in the different components.

In this example, the first electronic assembly C1 includes a first XRF marking composition XRFM ₁ The first XRF marking composition is configured to emit radiation having a first XRF pattern XRFS in response to irradiation of the first XRF marking composition by XRF excitation radiation ₁ The first XRF signal. The second electronic component C2 includes a second XRF marking composition XRFM ₂ The second XRF marking composition being configured to respond to being excited by XRFIrradiating the second XRF marking composition with radiation to emit a second XRF pattern SRFS ₂ The second XRF signal.

According to the invention, a first XRF marking composition XRFM ₁ And a second XRF labeling composition XRFM ₂ Are respectively configured such that a first XRF pattern XRFS obtained from the first electronic assembly C1 ₁ Corresponding to a second XRF pattern XRFS obtained from the second electronic assembly C2 ₂ . XRF labeling composition XRFM ₁ And XRFM ₂ Thereby providing an elemental identification code enabling verification that the first and second electronic components are respectively compatible components (e.g., complementary components) of the electronic system. The elemental identification, which may be used/facilitated for example for brand protection, customizing authentication of electronic devices, providing responsibility for electronic components in medical devices (e.g. in particular wearable medical devices), and providing bridging responsibility for coupling between virtual services or products and physical operating systems (e.g. coupling between personal data and smart clothing), is elemental in the sense that: it is based on a label associated with the element embedded in the components C1 and C2 (hereinafter also referred to as the active XRF element indicating the chemical element that emits X-ray fluorescence in response to irradiation thereof).

Fig. 1 also shows a table (table 1) illustrating complementary flags XRFM used to mark complementary/compatible components C1 and C2 of an electronic system 100 according to the invention ₁ And XRFM ₂ XRF pattern XRFS of ₁ And XRFS ₂ Possible relationships between them. In this regard, it should be understood that although only two components C1 and C2 are illustrated in this figure, the system 100 may include any number of multiple XRF labeled components with relationships between their labels similar to those illustrated in Table 1.

More specifically, in certain embodiments of the present invention, the XRF marking composition XRFS on respective components C1 and C2 of the system 100 ₁ And XRFS ₂ Is configured such that it is composed from the XRF marker in response to XRF excitation radiation (e.g., excitation radiation obtained by irradiating the system or components thereof with X-ray or gamma-ray radiation)A first XRF pattern XRFS of the object-emitted XRF signal ₁ And a second XRF pattern XRFS ₂ Based on XRF characteristic pattern XRFS ₁ And XRFS ₂ The match between them. More specifically, the XRF signature may be modified by utilizing/providing certain predetermined interrelationship conditions between XRF signatures (e.g., function (XRFs) ₁ ,XRFS ₂ )<Or = or>VALUE), in the presence of which there is an XRF signature XRFS ₁ And XRFS ₂ This condition should be satisfied. For example, as illustrated in line 2 of Table 1, condition Function (XRFS) ₁ ,XRFS ₂ ) Is a characteristic diagram XRFS ₁ 、XRFS ₂ Is equal to a certain cumulative characteristic map CXRFS, i.e. the following conditions should be satisfied in this example:

Function(XRFS ₁ ,XRFS ₂ )≡XRFS ₁ +XRFS ₂ ＝CXRFS。

in practice, other mutual conditions may also be used-e.g. differences XRFS between feature maps ₁ -XRFS ₂ Equal to a certain value, and/or characteristic pattern similarity XRFS ₁ ＝XRFS ₂ . The latter case (i.e. signature XRFS) ₁ And XRFS ₂ The similarity between them, which is a particular case of a match between them) is illustrated in line 1 of table 1.

It should be noted that the present invention is embodied in the form of a profile XRFS, among others ₁ And XRFS ₂ The correspondence between them is determined by matching them using predetermined conditions, such as similarities between feature maps, is advantageous in particular implementations where the components C1 and C2 are compatible/complementary (e.g., in-place means that the feature maps of the complementary components need not be correlated using external reference data, but rather only predetermined interrelationship conditions (e.g., similarities) that should be satisfied thereby) are provided). Thus, an XRF verification reader (e.g., as illustrated in fig. 5B) may be equipped with memory that stores predetermined conditions, and may utilize the conditions to check components of the system and determine in situ whether two or more components of the electronic system are complementary or compatible without requiring access to an external data source.

Alternatively or additionally, in an electronic system, a correspondence between the first XRF signature and the second XRF signature is determined based on REFERENCE data (e.g., a look-up table (LUT)) correlating the XRF signatures of the complementary/compatible components C1 and C2 of the system 100, such as the REFERENCE-LUT in table 1. This is illustrated in a clear manner in line 3 of table 1 in the figure. Indeed, in such a case, the reference data may also be included in the memory/storage of the XRF verification reader (e.g., as in the XRF verification reader of fig. 5B) to enable in-place verification operations, however, in such a case, the memory storage may need to be updated each time an additional component/system with a different complementary mark is issued.

It should be generally understood that the term XRF signature is used herein to indicate at least one portion/region of the spectral response of components (e.g., C1 and C2) of system 100 to XRF excitation radiation that is associated with at least a portion of the spectral band in which the XRF signal is expected (and not necessarily the entire XRF spectral band). Thus, the XRF signature of interest, XRFS, can be mapped ₁ And XRFS ₂ "hidden" in the XRFM from the XRF marker ₁ And XRFM ₂ At certain specified spectral regions of the overall XRF response obtained.

XRF marking according to the invention can be applied to a variety of substrates including metals, plastics and fabrics. The novel marking technique of the present invention is highly versatile, insensitive to the materials and structure of the object (component of system 100) to which it is marked, and thus allows for verification of the authenticity of many types or components of electrical system 100 (e.g., circuit boards, electronic components, and fabrics). According to some embodiments of the present invention, there is also provided a calibration technique and an XRF reading system, optionally utilising such calibration technique, enabling accurate reading of XRF marks of different types of substrate material applied to different components of the system. This is illustrated, for example, in fig. 5A and 5B, which are described further below. Thus, the XRF marking techniques of the present invention may be insensitive to the different substrates/materials of the components in system 100 to which the XRF marking may be applied.

XRF marking (also referred to as a marking composition) applied to a component (object) typically includes a low-concentration marking system, which typically includes multiple marker materials (referred to herein as "markers"). Each of the markers is XRF sensitive/responsive in the sense that it emits an X-ray response signal in response to interrogation (irradiation) by X-ray or gamma-ray radiation.

In certain embodiments of the present invention, using one or more of the marker compositions in the system 100 comprises: at least one XRF-sensitive label (which is also referred to herein as an XRF-responsive label element and/or an active XRF label), and at least one surface-binding material (which allows the label to be associated to at least a surface region of the object, such as a binder material and/or an adhesive (adhesive) material). In certain implementations, the concentration of the at least one marker is between 0.1ppm and 10,000ppm. In some embodiments, the composition is adapted to be applied to at least one region of a surface of a component (e.g., C1 or C2) of the electrical system 100.

In certain embodiments, the XRF marking composition used to mark one or more of components C1 and C2 includes at least one XRF sensitive marker, at least one surface-binding material, and may also include at least one adhesion promoter and at least one etchant. The concentration or amount of the marker and binding material within any of the marker compositions of the present invention may be set according to a preselected code, which may be measured by XRF analysis after the composition is applied to a component of the system. Typically, the marker composition may include one or more markers at a concentration in the range of 0.1ppm to 10,000ppm.

In some embodiments of the invention, the marker composition used for one or more of the components of the marking system 100 includes a plurality of XRF marker elements, each XRF marker element being present at a different concentration or form. This can be used to provide a unique signature of the marker composition, wherein the spectral features not only characterize the specific elements in the combination, but also their concentrations or relative concentrations.

Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments of the invention, each marker composition to be used is prepared with a certain (possibly unique) concentration of marker elements (which may be arbitrarily determined/set or even possibly not measured). The XRF response is then read from the indicia applied to a particular substrate and set as a codeword for the indicia on that substrate only after the marking composition is applied to a predetermined substrate (e.g., a sample substrate having a material and/or texture) by some application technique (e.g., CVD, PVD, and/or embedding, as described below). In this case, the concentration of the marker element is not determined a priori based on the preselected code, but rather the code is determined/measured a posteriori only after applying the marker composition (possibly including any concentration of marker element) to the sample matrix. In other words, the code word herein may be considered to be associated not only with the marking composition, but also with the substrate to which it is applied.

Thus, the concentration and/or relative concentration of the marking element may or may not be determined a priori based on the desired codeword of the marking, but in some cases, the codeword is determined a posteriori only after applying a marking composition having a particular (not necessarily known) concentration of the element to an object (e.g., a reference object/component) having a type/material similar to the type/material of the component to be marked with the marking composition. Then, during the calibration process, the XRF spectrum (signal/signature) of the marking composition after being applied to the marked object (e.g., reference object) is measured to determine the code word of the mark. This is because, in some implementations, the XRF spectrum/signature is affected not only by the concentration of the marking elements in the marking composition, but also by the material composition of the object itself being marked and/or the method of applying the marking composition to the object/assembly. Thus, it will be appreciated that in such implementations, the code words of the marking, while affected by the concentrations of the marker elements, may not indicate the concentrations of the marker elements, and may not consist of those concentrations, but may also be affected by additional factors, such as the material of the object being marked, the method of applying the marking to the object, and possibly also the location of the marking on the object, as described above. For this purpose, two different objects marked with the same marking composition can produce different code words.

The XRF marker in the marker combination (marker combination) or independent of other markers in the XRF marker composition may take the form of a metal, salt, oxide, polymer containing (in chemical or physical interaction) one or more XRF marking elements, organometallic compound, or complex comprising one or more of said XRF marking elements.

In some embodiments of the invention, the surface-binding material used in the compositions of the invention is a material that: which binds the label to the surface of the object or facilitates binding of the label to the surface of the object. The at least one surface-binding material may be a single material or a combination of materials, which independently or in combination allow the marker/marker combination or any other component of the marker composition to irreversibly associate to the surface region. The at least one surface-binding material is one or more of a binder material, an adhesive material, an adhesion promoter material, a polymer, and a prepolymer as known in the art. For example, in some implementations, the at least one surface-binding material is at least one binding agent and at least one adhesion promoter. Alternatively or additionally, in some implementations, the at least one surface-binding material is at least one binder material and/or at least one adhesion promoter that, independently of each other or in combination, promotes binding of the marker material or any component of the marker composition to the surface of the object.

The etchant (etchant) or etchant (etchingagent) is selected to cause surface modification to improve adhesion or general association (optionally irreversible) of the marking composition with the surface region of the object.

The following table (table 2) specifies possible chemical compositions of XRF marking that may be used to mark various components of electronic system 100 in accordance with the present invention.

It should be noted that further possible XRF marking compositions (including XRF marking compositions that may be particularly suitable for marking metal objects/substrates) are described, for example, in PCT application No. PCT/IL2017/050121, assigned to the assignee of the present application and incorporated herein by reference. Reference is now made to FIG. 2A, which illustrates an electronic system 100 configured in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that throughout the drawings of the present application, described herein and below, like reference numerals are used to designate like/identical elements/method operations having like configurations and/or functions.

In this example, the first component C1 of the system 100 is an electronic circuit board PCB (which may be a rigid or flexible circuit board), and the second component C2 is a component (e.g., an electronic component) associated with a specified location on the circuit board C1. Also illustrated in the figure are additional components C3 and C4 that may also be mounted/mountable on the first component C1 (circuit board PCB) and may or may not include XRF indicia.

In various implementations of system 100, the first marking composition XRFM ₁ Is embedded in/on the circuit board PCB by utilizing one or more of the following:

(a) First marking composition XRFM ₁ May be blended with a polymer comprising a solder mask applied to the circuit board PCB during the manufacture of the circuit board PCB. For example, XRF marker elements are embedded in epoxy and epoxy-acrylate polymer based solder masks, and/or in photoimageable solder mask (LPSM) ink, and/or in liquid photoimageable solder masks commonly referred to as LPI or LPISM; and/or embedded in a dry film photoimageable solder mask (DFSM).

(b) First marking composition XRFM ₁ May be blended with printing inks (e.g., logos/inscriptions, etc.) printed on the circuit board PCB. For example by mixing/embedding the XRF marker element with one or more of: as screen-printing or as liquidsA solid photopolymer or a UV curable polymer or a thermally curable polymer ink (such as an epoxy or urethane, or acrylate polymer) applied as an inkjet print. Alternatively, the marking applied to the surface of the circuit board may be an invisible composition.

(c) The marking composition may be dispensed or deposited onto the surface of the object by various additional techniques, such as printing (such as inkjet printing), embossing, spraying, injection, brushing, and air brushing.

(d) Alternatively or additionally, the marking composition may be applied to the surface of the circuit by a vacuum deposition method, wherein the deposition process is performed at a pressure well below atmospheric pressure or in vacuum (i.e., in a vacuum chamber). Preferably, the vacuum deposition process that can be used for such a marking technique utilizes Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) including various processes such as Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD), plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD), plasma Assisted CVD (PACVD), and Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). Alternatively or additionally, the process of depositing the marker material on the object includes Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD), wherein the vapor source is a solid or a liquid. PVD processes may use techniques such as sputtering, cathodic arc deposition, thermal evaporation, laser ablation used as a (solid) precursor to generate vapor, and electron beam deposition to generate deposited particles in the vapor phase.

(e) First marking composition XRFM ₁ May be blended with a compound that includes one or more under-fill bonding of components to the circuit board PCB. For example, XRF-tagged elements are blended with low viscosity epoxy polymer based underfill adhesives and/or with urethane polymers and/or with acrylate polymers.

(f) First marking composition XRFM ₁ May be blended with the encapsulated polymer of some components on the circuit board PCB. For example, XRF-labeled elements are combined with thermosetting electronic polymers (such as epoxy, polyimide, silicone, phenols, polyurethane) and/or thermoplastic polymers (such as polysulfone, polyethersulfone, nylon 66-polyamide, polyphenylene sulfide, PBT-paryleneButylene terephthalate, PET-polyethylene terephthalate). The marking composition may be blended during the melting process of the polymer (e.g., injection molding, compression molding, thermoforming).

(g) Marking composition XRFM ₁ May be embedded in a solder mask or in a cover layer or coating of a component of the circuit board PCB. For example, the cover or coating may include: thermoplastic polyurethanes, polyether polyurethanes, polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, polyvinyl acetate, epoxy resins, epoxy-acrylates, urethanes, acrylate-based polymers.

(h) Marking composition XRFM ₁ May be blended with a polymer applied to through-the-hole Vertical Interconnect Access (VIA) holes on a circuit board PCB. For example, XRF marker elements mixed in polymers based on low viscosity epoxy polymers or urethane polymers or acrylate polymers.

(i) The PCB may include a XRFM mounted thereon for carrying the marker composition ₁ And marking the composition XRFM ₁ May be included/carried on/at a special "dummy" component according to any of the above-described techniques.

In this embodiment, the second component C2 may be, for example, an electronic component, such as a chip, which may be mounted on a circuit board PCB. Second marking composition XRFM ₂ May be embedded in the electronic component C2 in one or more of the following:

(a) Second marking composition XRFM ₂ May be blended with a printing ink that is printed on the electronic component. Marking composition XRFM ₂ In this case the chemical composition of (a) may be similar to that described above in relation to XRFM ₁ The ink marking composition.

(b) Second marking composition XRFM ₂ May be blended with the encapsulated polymer of the second component C2. Marking composition XRFM ₂ In which case the chemical composition of (a) may be similar to the marking composition XRFM of the polymer applied to the PCB as described above ₁ 。

(c) Alternatively or additionally, the objectMemory composition XRFM ₂ It may also be blended with a polymer applied to through Vertical Interconnect Access (VIA) holes of the second component C2.

Reference is now made to FIG. 2B, which illustrates an electronic system 100 configured in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the first electronic component C1 is a printed circuit board PCB and the second component is an electronic component mountable at a designated location LC2 on the circuit board PCB. Here, the first XRF mark XRFM ₁ Spatially located at a designated location LC2 on the PCB where the second component C2 should be mounted on the circuit board PCB. Thus, XRFM is marked based on the first XRF ₁ First characteristic pattern XRFS ₁ And a second XRF mark XRFM ₂ Second characteristic pattern XRFS ₂ A correspondence (e.g., match or similarity) therebetween, which enables the circuit board PCB to be scanned with a scanning (e.g., spatially focused) XRF analyzer to identify the designated location LC2 for mounting the second component C2. This may be used to determine/verify the proper placement position LC2 of the second component C2 on the circuit board PCB.

Optionally, as also shown in FIG. 2B, a corresponding XRF marking composition XRFM is also utilized ₁₃ And XRFM ₁₄ To mark the designated locations LC3 and LC4 of the system 100 where additional components C3 and C4 are to be installed. Thus, components C3 and C4, also illustrated in the figures, also utilize XRFM, respectively corresponding to XRF marking compositions on the PCB ₁₃ And XRFM ₁₄ XRF-labeled composition XRFM of ₃₃ And XRFM ₄₄ To perform the marking. This thus enables the circuit board PCB to be scanned with the scanning XRF analyzer to determine/verify the proper placement of the components C2, C3 and C4 before or after their assembly/mounting on the PCB, thereby enabling the electronic system 100 to be assembled automatically and/or enabling Quality Assurance (QA) checks to be performed on the assembled system 100 to verify proper placement of compatible components in their proper locations.

Reference is now made to FIG. 2C, which illustrates an electronic system 100 in which an XRF marking composition XRFM is provided, in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention ₁ The first component C1 of the marking is an electronic component, consisting of an XRF marking composition XRFM ₂ The second component C2 of the tag being an electronic groupThe housing/encapsulation of the piece C1. The electronic component C1 may be located/enclosed within the enclosure C2 and, thus, in this figure, the enclosed area RG is illustrated as translucent to reveal the XRF mark XRFM of the electronic component C1 ₁ 。

For example, the electronic system 100 may in this case be a chip (e.g. an assembled chip), whereby the first component C1 may be a semiconductor die of the chip 100 and the second component C2 may be a package of the chip 100 encapsulating the die C1. Thus, for example, the package may be made of or may include a polymeric material, and the second XRF marking composition XRFM ₂ The XRF flag may be embedded in the polymer material of package C2 in the manner described above for embedding in the polymer, or it may be included/embedded in an underfill material between the die and the package. In this case, the first XRF marking composition XRFM ₁ May be embedded/included in the material of the electrical interconnects (e.g., indium bumps) and/or in the VIA hole filling material of die C1.

To this end, according to some embodiments of the invention, a first XRF marking composition XRFM is selected/configured ₁ And a second XRF labeling composition XRFM ₂ Such that they together emit a composite XRF signal (e.g., denoted CXRFS in fig. 1) comprising first and second XRF signals from both assemblies C1 and C2 in response to irradiation of the system by XRF excitation radiation. XRF labeling composition XRFM ₁ And XRFM ₂ (particularly the content of active XRF-responsive material therein) may be particularly selected/configured such that the composite XRF signal CXRFS is indicative of the first XRF profile XRFM ₁ And a second XRF pattern XRFM ₂ (i.e. the first XRF pattern XRFM may be distinguishably identified therein ₁ And a second XRF pattern XRFM ₂ ) And causing a first XRF pattern XRFM in the composite XRF signal CXRFS ₁ And a second XRF pattern XRFM ₂ Do not interfere with each other (e.g., so that they are complementary to each other). This may be for example by a first XRF-labelled composition XRFM ₁ And a second XRF labeling composition XRFM ₂ Wherein each of them has a specifically selected set of active XRF responses thereinMaterials are stressed such that their respective XRF profiles XRFS ₁ And XRFS ₂ Spectrum of (wavelength set { lambda) } of _i }) are mutually exclusive (e.g., do not emit at the same wavelength/have XRF spectral response peaks). This is illustrated, for example, in line 2 of Table 1 in FIG. 1, which shows a characteristic pattern XRFS with mutually exclusive spectral peaks ₁ And XRFS ₂ . Thus, the characteristic XRFS ₁ And XRFS ₂ Do not interfere with each other and can be read together to determine whether components C1 and C2 (e.g., internal component C1 and external component C2 that encapsulates it) are compatible components (e.g., and whether system 100 is trusted). In this regard, it should be noted that because of the use of XRF technology (which is typically based on the irradiation and detection of X-rays or gamma rays), it is possible to non-invasively determine whether a component is authentic without opening the enclosure/housing C2 (e.g., by irradiating the entire system with X-rays or gamma rays and detecting the composite XRF signal CXRFS emitted therefrom in response).

Reference is now made to FIG. 2D, which illustrates an electronic system 100 in accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the first and second electronic components C1 and C2 are typically first and second electronic devices, each associated with or comprising respective data storage means MEM1 and MEM2, and at least one of these electronic devices comprises or is associated with a pairing and activation controller ACTRL connectable to both the memory/data storage means MEM1 and MEM 2. The memory module may take the form of, for example, a computer memory module, flash memory, RFID module, and/or any other available data carrying/storage module device.

To this end, in this example, the first component C1 is a first electronic device comprising a first data storage module MEM1 (also referred to as memory hereinafter without loss of generality) capable of storing an XRFs signature indicating said first XRF signature ₁ And the second XRF pattern XRFS ₂ A first data portion of a correspondence therebetween. The second component C2 being a bagA second device comprising a second data storage module MEM2 capable of storing an indication of the first XRF pattern XRFS ₁ And a second XRF pattern XRFS ₂ A second data portion of a correspondence therebetween. In this regard, it should be noted that during the pairing operation (which may be performed, for example, at a factory where the first and second devices are paired and/or at a distributor/store where the first and/or second devices are sold/distributed) may include: reading XRF marks (e.g., XRFS of one of the devices) ₂ ) To store the XRF mark (or code corresponding thereto) in the memory MEM1 of the first device and the memory MEM2 of the second device. Thus, the introduction of an elemental ID code into the memories of the first and second devices enables elemental pairing between them based on the correspondence between their XRF flags. The pairing/activation controller ACTRL is configured and operable, before enabling the interoperation of the devices C1 and C2 (for example, when there is a wired or wireless connection between the first device C1 and the second device C2), to perform the following:

(i) Accessing a first data storage module MEM1 and a second data storage module MEM2 through a wired or wireless connection between a first device and a second device;

(ii) Retrieving a first data portion from a first memory MEM1 and a second data portion from a second memory MEM2; and

(iii) The first data portion and the second data portion are processed to determine whether the first component/device C1 is paired with the second component/device C2.

In this regard, the process of determining whether components/devices C1 and C2 are paired includes: the presence or absence is determined based on the correspondence between the codes stored in the memory MEM1 of the first device and the codes in the memory MEM2 of the second device. This provides an elemental identification that devices C1 and C2 are compatible and allowed to work together, based on the compatibility of the first XRF signature of the first device and the second XRF signature of the second device (as indicated by the reference data stored in memories MEM1 and MEM 2). To this end, the activation controller ACTRL provides/enables a conditional activation of the interoperation of the first device and the second device based on the pairing (elemental pairing) between the first device C1 and the second device C2.

In this particular example of fig. 2D, one of the devices, in particular the second component C2, is a smart wearable/garment device. For example, the electronic system 100 may be a healthcare system, wherein at least one of the first device C1 and the second device C2 is configured to monitor one or more conditions of a user using the system 100, and at least one of the first device C1 and the second device C2 is configured and operable to provide therapy to the user based on the monitored conditions. Indeed, in this case, since the healthcare system (monitoring characteristics and/or treatment characteristics) may be customized for the use of a specific user and may injure other users, it is advantageous to use an elemental pairing between the first device C1 and the second device C2, providing an intrinsic verification that the correct treatment device (e.g. garment C2) is connected to the correct monitoring device (e.g. C2) of the same user.

According to various embodiments of the present invention, the smart wearable device (garment) C2 may include one or more fabrics made of natural fibers and/or synthetic fibers.

In some embodiments, the fabric is made of/includes natural fibers, and the XRF marking composition may be included in a dye used to dye the natural fibers. Thus, the active XRF-responsive material may be added to the natural fibres of the fabric during the dyeing stage of fabric production.

Generally, natural fibers are dyed by utilizing mordants, wherein the term mordants is used herein for chemicals that typically have a metal with a valence of at least 2 or higher (which may also include other types of compounds as well). More specifically, mordants are mineral salts that incorporate dyes into fibers (dyes for natural fibers require the use of mordants to fix the pigment to the fabric and prevent the color from fading or washing off). Common mordants for natural dyes include, for example, one or more of the following: alum, potassium aluminum sulfate, tin and chalcanthite, chromium, potassium dichromate (potassium dichromate), chalcanthite, copper sulfate, ferrous sulfate, stannous chloride, sodium dithionite (sodium dithionite), sodium dithionite (sodium hydrosulfite), ammonium hydroxide, tartaric acid, glaserite, "sodium sulfate, lime, lye, sodium hydroxide, oxalic acid, tannic acid, urea (uria), vinegar, acetic acid, washing base, or sodium carbonate.

This provides a variety of potential XRF markers that can be used/included in various amounts in mordant materials used for dyeing of natural fibers to obtain a desired XRF signature of the fiber. To this end, in natural fabrics/fibers, the XRF marking composition (e.g., XRFM in the figure) ₂ ) May be included in a mordant for dyeing fabrics, and wherein the mordant composition is specifically selected to provide a desired XRF profile (e.g., XRFM in the figure) ₂ )。

Alternatively or additionally, the fabric may be made of a polymeric material, or may comprise synthetic fibres made of a polymeric material, such as: linear polyamides (Nylon 6-6,6-10,6, 7), cellulose acetate, lyocell (Lyocell), polyester-PET (e.g., dacron @) ^TM 、Terylene ^TM ) Lycra (Lycra), spandex (Spandex), aramid (Kevlar), and acrylic. In this case, the dyeing of the fibres/fabric is performed in the production of the fibres of the fabric (typically during the extrusion process). Thus, in this case, the XRF marking composition (e.g., XRFM) ₂ ) May be introduced into the fiber during the extrusion process (e.g., by blending the XRF marker element with other materials of the synthetic fiber).

Reference is now made to fig. 3, which is a flow diagram of a method 200 for verifying compatibility of components (e.g., C1 and C2) of an electronic system (e.g., 100) that includes at least two (first and second) components.

The method comprises the following operations:

operation 210 comprises: a first component C1 is provided that is speculatively associated with the electronic system 100.

Operation 220 includes: providing a second component C2 speculatively associated with electronic system 100;

operation 230 includes: the first and second assemblies C1, C2 are irradiated with XRF excitation radiation. In various implementations of the invention, irradiation of these components by XRF excitation radiation (e.g., by X-rays or gamma rays) may be performed by irradiating the individual components individually and/or by irradiating the two/more components together.

Operation 240 comprises: detecting one or more of the XRF response signals from the first and second assemblies C1, C2 emitted in response to irradiation of the first and second assemblies C1, C2 by XRF excitation radiation. In this regard, it should be noted that detection of XRF responses from multiple/two or more components may be performed individually for individual components or may be performed together for multiple components, depending on the expected detected XRF signatures (e.g., whether they are expected to interfere with each other). The one or more XRF response signals may then be processed to identify a first XRF pattern XRFS ₁ And a second XRF pattern XRFS ₂ The two characteristic patterns are respectively corresponding to the first XRF mark component XRFM on the first component C1 ₁ And a second XRF marking composition XRFM on the second component C2 ₂ And (4) associating. For example, the processing of the one or more XRF response signals at this stage may include specific signal-to-noise enhancement and background filtering to improve the SNR of the signal. Such SNR filtering may be performed, for example, by utilizing an XRF analyzer (reader/system) and/or a method for removing trend and/or periodic spectral components from detected XRF signals as described in PCT patent application No. PCT/IL2016/050340, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Moreover, processing the one or more XRF response signals at this stage may include filtering certain portions (spectral bands) of the detected signals to leave only the XRF signature XRFs for which interest should be found ₁ And XRFS ₂ Those spectral bands of (a). This provides for the identification/extraction of a signature XRFS from the detected XRF signal ₁ And XRFS ₂ And/or including two characteristic patterns XRFS ₁ And XRFS ₂ CXRFS, is the cumulative/composite profile of.

After identifying the first XRF pattern XRFS ₁ And a second XRF pattern XRFS ₂ Or the cumulative/composite profile CXRFS comprising both of them, an operation 250 is performed and comprises processing the identified profiles to determine whether there is a correspondence between them. The correspondence may be determined based on similarity between the feature maps, and/or based on matching between the feature maps according to predetermined conditions, and/or by utilizing reference data (e.g., a LUT) that associates the corresponding feature maps, as discussed in more detail above in table 1 in fig. 1. To this end, operation 250 of method 200 may optionally include: providing some predetermined condition indicative of a predetermined correlation between matching XRF signatures (e.g., they are complementary/corresponding signatures), and determining whether the first XRF signature and the second XRF signature satisfy the predetermined condition (which, as indicated above, enables in-situ verification that the first component and the second component are compatible while avoiding the need to use external reference data). For example, the predetermined condition may be that the first XRF signature and the second XRF signature are similar in at least one spectral region thereof, and wherein the processing may therefore comprise comparing the first XRF signature XRFs ₁ And a second XRF pattern XRFS ₂ Of the spectrum region. Alternatively or additionally, a correspondence between the first XRF signature and the second XRF signature may be determined based on reference data associating signatures of compatible components. In this case, the processing in 250 includes: the method may further include obtaining reference data (e.g., from memory and/or from an external source), and processing the first XRF signature and the second XRF signature against the reference data to determine whether an indication of correspondence between them is present in the reference data.

In the event that the conclusion in operation 250 is that the detected feature maps are not complementary, components C1 and C2 are thus determined to be incompatible with each other, and the method 200 may end, possibly providing/outputting an indication that the components are incompatible.

In the event that the conclusion in operation 250 is that the detected signatures are complementary, components C1 and C2 are thus determined to be compatible with each other and/or with electronic system 100. In such a case, operation 260 may optionally be performed to provide/output an appropriate indication of the compatibility of the components in system 100 (which in turn may be an indication that the system and/or components are authentic rather than counterfeit systems/components).

Accordingly, where components C1 and C2 are compatible with one another (e.g., may be suitably used together in system 100),

additional operations

270, 280, and/or 290 of method 200 may also optionally be performed. For example, operation 270 may optionally be performed to determine/verify the proper arrangement of first and second electronic components C1 and C2 in electronic system 100. This is described/illustrated above with reference to fig. 2B and is also described in more detail below with reference to fig. 4A. Alternatively or additionally, upon identifying that components C1 and C2 are compatible, operation 280 may be performed to assemble electronic system 100 (e.g., possibly based on the location/arrangement of the components as may be determined in optional operation 270). Still alternatively or additionally, upon identifying that the components C1 and C2 are compatible, operation 290 may be performed to pair the first electronic component C1 and the second electronic component C2 of the electronic system 100. This is described/illustrated above with reference to fig. 2D and is also described in more detail below with reference to fig. 4C.

Reference is now made to fig. 4A, which is a flow diagram of a method 200A for verifying compatibility of components (e.g., C1 and C2) of an electronic system (e.g., 100) and determining/verifying proper placement/arrangement of the components in the electronic system. The method 200A may be performed, for example, where the first component C1 is an electronic circuit board and the second component C2 is an electronic component associated with a designated location LC2 on the circuit board C1. It should be noted that the method 200A includes operations similar to those described above with reference to the method 200 of fig. 3, which are labeled with similar reference numerals in the flowchart 200A and are therefore not described in detail below.

Operation 230 of method 200A comprises: operation 232 of irradiating the first assembly C1 with XRF excitation radiation and operation 234 of irradiating the second assembly C2 with XRF excitation radiation. In this example, one of the components (e.g., the first component C1 that is a circuit board) may be illuminated with spatially scanned XRF excitation radiation in operation 232 to determine a location on the first component C1 (e.g., the location designated for the second component LC2, or the location of the indicated location LC 2).

In this case, the first XRF marking composition XRFM ₁ Is spatially located at the designated position LC2 (or a position indicative thereof) of the second component on the circuit board and is thus spatially located at said designated position of the second component on said circuit board.

In this embodiment, operation 240 for detecting an XRF response signal from a component of the system includes: for determining a first XRF signature XRFM ₁ Operation 242 at location LC2 on the first component C1 (PCB). This can be achieved, for example, by: after identifying the first XRF characteristic pattern XRFS ₁ (e.g., with the characteristic pattern XRFS from the second component C2 ₂ Corresponding/matched feature pattern), the state of the spatially-scanned XRF excitation radiation (position/angular orientation of the radiation beam) from the scanning XRF analyzer is monitored, and a first XRF signature XRFM is determined therefrom ₁ At location LC2 on the PCB. Thus, this position LC2 indicates the designated position of the second component C2 on the PCB/first component C1.

Thus, in this embodiment, the method 200A further includes an operation 270 that is performed to determine the proper placement (and proper placement location LC 2) of the second component C2 on the first component (circuit board) C1. In practice, identifying the designated location is based on a correspondence between a first profile obtained from the designated location LC2 and a second profile obtained from the second component. Optionally, the method 200A includes an operation 272: the second component C2 is assembled (e.g., automatically assembled) on the first component C1 at the appropriate placement location LC2. Optionally, alternatively or additionally, the method 200A includes an operation 274: quality Assurance (QA) is performed by verifying that the second component is properly assembled on the first component at the proper placement location. Indeed, in such a case, the component C2 may already be mounted on the designated location LC2, and therefore, the XRF signature XRFS ₁ And XRFS ₂ Can be obtained together, e.g. in an accumulation/composition comprising both of themAs in the signature CXRFS. This is described in more detail with reference to fig. 4B.

Fig. 4B is a flow diagram 200B of a method for determining whether two or more components C1 and C2 of the electronic system 100 that are located/connected together are compatible with each other, according to an embodiment of the invention. It should be noted that in general method 200B may be combined with method 200A (utilizing a scanning XRF analyzer as described above) for the purpose of performing QA and/or authenticity and/or forgery checks of the assembled electronic system. It should also be noted that where method 200B includes operations similar to those described above with reference to method 200 of fig. 3 and/or the method of fig. 4A, such operations are labeled with similar reference numbers in flowchart 200B and are not described in detail below.

Thus, in

operations

210 and 220 of method 200B, comprising: a first component C1 and a second component C2 are provided that are speculatively associated with and optionally assembled together with electronic system 100, whereby the first component has a first XRF signature and the second component has a second XRF signature. Optionally (228 in the figure), with the components C1 and C2 associated with the system 100 complementary, the first XRF signature of the first component and the second XRF signature of the second component should match and should also be configured to provide non-interfering XRF signals/signatures, respectively.

Operation 230 of method 200B of irradiating the first and second components with XRF excitation radiation includes: operation 236 of irradiating the first assembly and the second assembly together with XRF excitation radiation. Operation 240 in method 200B for detecting an XRF response signal indicative of the XRF signature of components C1 and C2 includes: in method 200B, a composite XRF response signal indicative of a superposition of the first XRF signature of the first assembly and the second XRF signature of the second assembly is detected. Accordingly, operations 250 in method 200B for determining whether there is a match between the first XRF signature and the second XRF signature include: an operation 252 for determining whether the first component and the second component are complementary is based on a match between the first XRF signature and the second XRF signature represented in the cumulative/composite XRF signature CXRFS (see, e.g., row 2 of table 1 in fig. 1).

This allows verification that the assembled components C1 and C2 are complementary and thereby allows authentication of the electronic system based on a match between the first XRF signature and the second XRF signature (as shown in operation 262). In this regard, the first component C1 may be an electronic component and the second component C2 may be a housing/package thereof. For example, the first component and the second component may form part of a chip assembly, as described above with reference to fig. 2C.

Reference is now made to fig. 4C, which illustrates a flow diagram 200C of a method for pairing between two components of an electronic system (e.g., providing elemental pairing between the components), which may only be performed if the components are compatible, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

It should also be noted that where method 200C includes operations similar to those described above with reference to method 200 of fig. 3 and/or with reference to the methods of fig. 4A and 4B, such operations are labeled with similar reference numerals in flowchart 200C and are not described in detail below. It should also be noted that the non-essential/optional operations of the method 200C (e.g., the operation 250 for verifying/determining whether the components C1 and C2 are compatible) are marked in the figure with dashed lines.

Method 200C includes an operation 290 that is performed in addition to one or more of operations 210-280 described above (some of which may be optional, as illustrated in the figure). Operation 290 is performed to pair a first electronic component C1 and a second electronic component C2 of the electronic system 100, the first electronic component C1 and the second electronic component C2 may be two electronic devices of a distributed electronic system. Operation 290 comprises: an XRF signature (e.g., XRFS) of a component (e.g., C2) of electronic system 100 is to be compared to ₂ ) The associated code (first data portion) is registered in an operation 292 of a data storage module (e.g., memory MEM 1) of another component (e.g., C1) of the system 100. Optionally, operation 290 also includes performing optional operation 294. This optional operation should be carried out, for example, in the following cases: the code (e.g., the second data portion) corresponding to the XRF signature of that particular component C2 is not stored in the data storage module (memory MEM 2) of that component C2 (e.g., typically such code (the first data portion)The second data portion) may have been stored in the memory of component C2 during manufacture). Optional operations 294 include: the code (second data portion) corresponding to the XRF signature of the particular component C2 is registered in the memory MEM2 of the particular component C2, or at least verified that such code (second data portion) is indeed registered/stored in the memory MEM 2.

Thus, operation 290 enables activation of electronic system 100 based on the particular identification of particular components of the system being connected together (identifying a connection between a particular component C2 and another component C1).

Method 200C, and in particular operation 290, may be performed, for example, to pair devices C1 and C2, such as those illustrated above in fig. 2D. In such an example, the first component C1 is a first electronic device that includes a memory for storing a first data portion (code) indicative of a correspondence between the first XRF signature and the second XRF signature. The second component C2 is a second device that includes a second memory capable of storing a second data portion (e.g., the same code or a corresponding code) indicative of a correspondence between the first XRF signature and the second XRF signature. At least one of said first device C1 and said second device C2 may comprise or be associated with a pairing/activation controller ACTRL configured and operable to obtain from the memories MEM1 and MEM 2a first data portion (code) and a second data portion (code) and to process these data portions to determine whether the first device and the second device are paired, thereby enabling conditional activation of the interoperation of the first device and the second device based on the pairing between the first device and the second device.

As indicated above, in various embodiments of the present invention, XRF may be marked with XRFM ₁ And XRFM ₂ Different matrix materials applied to (e.g., applied on and/or embedded/mixed in) different components of electronic system 100, and thus, different marking compositions of different components may be configured with or include different accelerators and/or different compositions depending on the matrix to which they are to be appliedThe binder material of (1). Indeed, when measuring XRF of different components of the system made of different substrates, different substrate materials and/or different binders and/or promoters used in different marking compositions may result in detection of different XRF background clutter. In addition, different textures and surface topologies (e.g., the surface of the substrate may be smooth, or may alternatively include indentations and/or protrusions) may also affect the measured XRF signal (e.g., due to variations in the angle between the radiation source, the surface of the substrate, and the detector). Thus, the XRF signal measured by the detector will include other components in addition to the XRF signature determined by the different substrates. Such differences in clutter and other components may affect the XRF signature emitted from the object as well as the identified/determined code words.

In this regard, fig. 5A and 5B are explained together. Fig. 5A is a block diagram illustrating an XRF marker mXRF having an XRF marking composition including active XRF element ME having a predetermined relative concentration, equipped with a component, such as an electronic component, having a matrix material SB, configured in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. It will be appreciated that in this example, the XRF marker mXRF may not necessarily be provided on the component in the form of a marker layer ML, but the marker composition ME may alternatively or additionally be coupled to the component in other ways, for example embedded in the material of the component or its matrix SB. The XRF marker mXRF and the component (or at least its substrate SB) together form an XRF-marked component C. In this particular non-limiting example, the XRF marker mXRF is illustrated as a layer ML of the XRF marker composition ME provided on a substrate SB of a component such as an electronic component, and these together form an XRF marked electronic component C. The substrate SB in this example is an XRF-responsive substrate associated with emission of significant XRF background clutter in response to said illumination of XRF excitation radiation. In general, the responsive matrix may be a metal matrix, or a matrix including a metal element, such a matrix may be a plastic or ceramic matrix including a metal element or a composition thereof therein. For illustrative purposes, the XRF excitation radiation R from the radiation source 412 and the corresponding XRF responses XRFs and XRFB from the layer ML and the substrate SB, respectively, of the XRF marker mXRF to the XRF detector 415 are illustrated in the figure. Fig. 5B is a graphical illustration schematically showing a spectral profile of: (i) A plot RSP of a spectral profile of the total XRF response from the XRF-labeled electronic component C to the detector 415; (ii) A plot XRFs of a spectral profile of an XRF response from layer ML of XRF marker mXRF to detector 415; and (iii) a plot XRFB of the spectral profile of the XRF response from the substrate SB of assembly C to the detector 415. These plots are provided in arbitrary units as the intensity INT (Y-axis) versus the spectrum (frequency-X-axis). As shown, the spectral profile of the total XRF response reaching detector 415 (which is the graph RSP) is approximately equal to the sum of the XRF responses from both the substrate SB and the XRF marker mXRF: RSP = XRFB + XRFS. The dashed horizontal lines in each of these graphs illustrate the threshold above which signal detection is considered a valid/trustworthy measurement. For clarity, in this particular non-limiting example, the detection threshold is illustrated as a horizontal line that is constant across the spectrum, however, it should be understood that in general implementations of the invention, the detection threshold may be spectrally dependent (the spectral region across the measurement may not be fixed), and may be determined based on various factors, such as the detected signal-to-noise/clutter ratio (SNR/SCR), background radiation during the measurement, and/or based on other factors, such as the trend and seasonal components of the XRF response, for example, as described in U.S. patent No.10,539,521, commonly assigned to the assignee of the present invention. As shown, in this example, the spectral profile of the total XRF response RSP includes 7 spectral peaks P1 through P7, with only the spectral peaks P1, P2, P4, P6, and P7 being above the threshold. It should be noted that the spectral peaks P1, P3, P6 and P7 are contributed by the XRF marker composition ME of the XRF marker mXRF. In this particular non-limiting embodiment, these peaks are contributed only by the XRF marker mXRF, and not by the substrate-however, it will be appreciated that this is not required and in general, the techniques of the present invention as detailed in fig. 5C and 5D below will also work when one or more peaks are contributed by both the substrate SB and the XRF response of the XRF marker mXRF. Spectral peaks P2, P4 and P5 (marked with a dotted line in the total response plot RSP) are contributed by the XRF response of the matrix SB.

To this end, the graph of FIG. 5B demonstrates a problem that arises in some cases where various components are marked by XRF marks. The resulting XRF signature (e.g. being the part of the total XRF response RSP above the threshold) may include not only contributions from the marking composition ME, but also contributions from the matrix/material SB of the marked component C itself, or contributions from different binder and/or promoter materials in the XRF marker mXRF. Thus, different assemblies C (e.g. comprising different respective matrix materials SB), or different assemblies (comprising different binder and/or promoter materials used to label the XRF marker mXRF of different assemblies) may produce different XRF profiles even if these different assemblies are labeled with similar marker compositions ME.

As shown in fig. 5C, the present invention provides a novel calibration technique/method 500A for calibrating an XRF analyzer. Advantageously, the technique/method 500A provides a simple way to determine calibration data for marking new types of substrates, while eliminating the need to perform specific calibrations for each type of substrate to account for the specific material composition and/or texture of the substrate and/or the technique used to mark the substrate. The calibration method may be used to calibrate an XRF analyzer to allow accurate measurement of an XRF signature of an XRF marker composition (e.g., XRFS) ₁ And XRFS ₂ ) These XRF marker compositions are embedded/located at different components (e.g., C1 and C2) of the system 100, possibly on different matrix materials of these components. This technique may be used in various implementations of the invention to facilitate XRF signatures XRFS for different components ₁ And XRFS ₂ And enables reliable comparisons to be made between them (e.g., using predetermined conditions and/or reference data as described above) to reliably determine whether the components are compatible. The calibration technique is described below with reference to fig. 5C. Advantageously, the calibration technique of FIG. 5C provides a simple way to determine calibration data for labeling a new type of substrate, without having to do soEach new type of substrate to be marked by the XRF marking of the present invention performs a specific calibration.

Reference is now made to fig. 5C, which is a flow chart of a method 500A of performing multi-matrix calibration of an XRF analyzer, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.

Method 500A provides for obtaining optimal calibration of the XRF analyzer, enabling accurate identification of one or more XRF-tagged elements/materials that can be deposited on various substrates (e.g., media) by various deposition methods such as those illustrated in table 2 and/or paragraphs (a) through (i) above.

In general, calibration method 500 provides for generating calibration data (e.g., in the form of or indicative of a curve/plot) that relates counts collected over a period of time (e.g., counts Per Second (CPS)) of X-ray photons within a range of energies received from a component (e.g., C1) of electronic system 100 to a concentration of a corresponding XRF marker element/material included in the component (e.g., C1) that emits XRF within the same energy range, and is effectively independent of a substrate in the component in which the XRF marker is deposited. In other words, the method 500A provides for converting the CPS of one or more peaks of the XRF emitted x-ray spectrum received from the component to the concentration of the XRF-labeling element in the component (typically measured in terms of particles per million (ppm)) without substantial concern for the substrate of the component to which the XRF-labeling composition is applied and/or regardless of the type of additional material (e.g., binder/accelerator) used in the XRF-labeling composition to bind the XRF-labeling element to the particular substrate of the particular component and the type of substrate. This facilitates the use of the techniques of the present invention with various types of components of electronic systems, and embedding XRF markers at different matrices.

Calibration method 500A is performed by utilizing a plurality of samples (also referred to herein as standards) in which one or more XRF-labeled elements are present at various known concentrations in various media or matrices (where, typically, there are multiple samples having multiple concentrations for each matrix type). The standard/sample is then interrogated using an XRF analyzer. That is, the standards/samples are irradiated with x-ray or gamma-ray radiation and secondary radiation arriving in response from the standards/samples is measured, thereby receiving the CPS value for each of the samples/samples respectively associated with a known concentration of XRF-labelled elements. The reference calibration data used to calibrate the XRF signal is then based on data acquired from the standard sample. The pair (CPS value, concentration) represents a point in the CPS versus concentration (PPM) plane, and a calibration curve is generated by fitting a curve to the set of measurement points (e.g., by a least squares method that generates a "best" linear curve).

Typically, the sample/standard is made of known materials containing different concentrations of XRF marker elements, and the calibration is intended to be used to find the concentration of XRF marker elements in media of the type used in the sample/standard (e.g. metal, polymer, fabric). Thus, calibration is performed while using each type of media/substrate in the assembly of interest that may include XRF marking. This is because each matrix generates different background x-ray radiation, and therefore calibration (calibration curve) with a set of samples/standards of the matrix is generally not suitable for measurements taken with other types of matrices. More specifically, method 500A includes performing operations 520 through 540 for a plurality of different matrix (e.g., media) materials to which XRF marking is to be applied by various binding techniques:

-operation 520 comprises: a plurality of samples/standards of a plurality of matrix materials are provided, wherein for each matrix there may be a plurality of samples with XRF marking compositions having different predetermined concentrations of XRF marking elements.

Operation 530 comprises: interrogating the plurality of samples/standards through the XRF analyzer to determine a Count Per Second (CPS) value for each standard/sample having a predetermined concentration of XRF marker elements, wherein CPS indicates photons of a particular energy range corresponding to the XRF emission of those marker elements that are reached from the standard/sample in response to the interrogation; and

operation 540 comprises: XRF calibration data is generated using data indicative of predetermined concentrations (CNCTRs) of active XRF marker elements in the various standards/Samples (CNCTRs), and corresponding CPS obtained from the respective samples/standards, respectively, for calibrating XRF measurements/signatures of XRF markers applied to the various substrates. XRF calibration data includes data correlating different concentrations of XRF marker in a sample/standard with the corresponding CPS obtained from that sample/standard. Thus, the XRF calibration data allows for calibration of the spectral response determination of the XRF signatures (representing those signatures) in terms of the concentration of XRF marking elements located at the substrate.

Thus, according to various embodiments of the present invention, an XRF reader system configured to perform XRF measurements on XRF marks on different substrates may be provided with calibration data obtained by method 500A above, and may be configured to use the calibration data to convert/transform XRF signatures obtained from XRF marks on different substrates to a common basis (e.g., a signature material concentration basis, rather than the spectral basis on which the signatures were originally obtained from an XRF analyzer). This therefore allows accurate and reliable processing and/or comparison of XRF marks applied to different components made of different substrates (e.g. comparison between XRF marks of components and/or between them and reference data).

It should be noted that optionally, in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, operation 530 performed to interrogate the plurality of samples/standards with an XRF analyzer includes an SNR optimization step 535 performed to optimize/determine the parameters of XRF excitation radiation that should be emitted during XRF interrogation in order to optimize the SNR of XRF signatures read from the standards/samples. The SNR optimization step 535 may include, for example, the following:

(I) XRF measurements are applied to the plurality of samples to measure XRF spectra (spectra of secondary x-ray radiation arriving from each sample in response to x-ray or gamma-ray radiation) arriving from each sample.

(II) processing the XRF spectra arriving from each sample to determine the XRF signature of the sample/standard-by identifying the peak (or peaks) associated with the XRF marker element for each spectrum.

(III) evaluating the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the XRF profile of the samples/standards, and selecting a sample/standard from the samples/standards having a moderate ("average") SNR. For example, the sample/standard whose SNR is closest to the average SNR of all standards is selected, and/or alternatively, the standard whose SNR is less close (closer than a preselected distance) to one of the extremes (best or worst) is randomly selected.

(IV) changing XRF measurement parameters (e.g., XRF tube voltage, XRF tube current, XRF filter, and distance from the standard) to optimize the SNR of the XRF profile from the selected standard/sample.

(V) then, operation 530 is performed as described above to interrogate/measure XRF spectra (signatures) of all standards/samples for all substrates, but with the selected/optimized XRF measurement parameters.

(VI) optionally, discarding spectral measurements of standards whose SNR is below a preselected value.

After performing operation 530 in a manner that optimizes the SNR, the method further continues to operation 540 to obtain calibration data/curves.

Thus, the calibration data for the different substrates obtained in operation 540 indicates that: the fit between the XRF signature measured in terms of CPS versus wavelength/energy (λ) and the XRF signature in terms of concentration of XRF-labelled elements in different matrices, as exemplified in table 3 above. Optionally, the calibration data may also include data indicative of XRF measurement parameters (e.g., XRF tube voltage, XRF tube current, XRF filter, and distance from the standard) that were obtained in operation 535 and that should be used to measure XRF responses from different substrates.

Reference is now made to fig. 5D, which is a block diagram of an XRF verification reader 400 for verifying compatibility of components of an electronic system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

XRF verification reader 400 includes an XRF analyzer 410 adapted to perform XRF measurements on different components (e.g., C1 and C2) of an electronic system (e.g., 100) and to provide an XRF signature XRFs indicative of XRF signatures obtained from XRF markings on the components ₁ And XRFS ₂ The data of (1). XRF verification reader 400 also includes an XRF signature correspondence data provider 430 and an XRF signature correspondence processor 440, which together may be used to determine an XRF signature XRFs obtained from XRF analyzer 410 ₁ And XRFS ₂ Whether they correspond to each other, and in this case, issues an indication IND that the components (e.g., C1 and C2) measured XRF marking by XRF analyzer 410 are compatible, or otherwise issues an indication IND that the components are not compatible.

In certain embodiments, the XRF signature correspondence data provider 430 includes a data storage facility (e.g., memory) that stores data, such as directives, to determine different XRF signatures XRFs ₁ And XRFS ₂ Predetermined condition data of predetermined conditions of a match therebetween, and/or storing reference data, such as a LUT associated with a corresponding XRF signature. Alternatively or additionally, in certain embodiments, the XRF signature correspondence data provider 430 comprises a communication utility, for example adapted to communicate with a remote data source to obtain reference data indicative of correspondence between XRF signatures.

Accordingly, the XRF signature correspondence processor 440 may be directly or indirectly coupled to the XRF analyzer 410 to receive the indication XRF signature XRFs from the XRF analyzer ₁ And XRFS ₂ And may also be connected to a feature map correspondence data provider 430 to receive data/conditions indicative of correspondences/matches between feature maps. An XRF signature correspondence processor 430 processes the XRF signature XRFS based on the correspondence data ₁ And XRFS ₂ And determining whether they correspond according to any of the techniques described above.

XRF analyzer 410 generally includes: an interrogating radiation emitter 411 comprising an X-ray and/or gamma-ray radiation source 412 for emitting interrogating radiation towards the inspected object/assembly; and an XRF detector 415, the XRF detector 415 may include a spectrometer 416 adapted to detect an XRF radiation response from the interrogated object and may obtain data indicative of the spectral composition of the object.

XRF analyzer 410 may also include one or more filters 417 for filtering detected XRF responses. These filters may include a spectral filter 418 for filtering out less relevant spectral components from the response, leaving only the spectral regions in the detected XRF signature where the XRF response of interest from the interrogated object/component is expected. Moreover, the filter 417 may include a trend and/or periodic filter 419 (e.g., such as the filter described in PCT patent application No. PCT/IL2016/050340, which is incorporated herein by reference) that is operative to enhance the SNR of the XRF signal/signature by removing trend and/or periodic spectral components from the XRF signal/signature.

In some embodiments, interrogating radiation emitter 411 includes a radiation beam scanner 413, which radiation beam scanner 413 is configured and operable to spatially direct and/or focus an interrogating radiation beam output from radiation source 412 to scan an interrogated object (e.g., electronic system 100) with the radiation beam and thereby provide data indicative of locations (e.g., LC1 and LC2 in fig. 2B) where various components of the system can be assembled.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the XRF verification reader 400 further comprises an XRF signature calibration module 420 and a calibration data provider 425 that are operable together to calibrate an XRF signature XRFs, which may be obtained from XRF marks embedded/applied to different components made of/comprising different matrix materials ₁ And XRFS ₂ . The calibration data provider 425 may be, for example, a storage facility/memory for XRF calibration data for different substrates. The calibration data may be similar to the calibration data obtained by method 500A above, for example, and may include: indicating XRF signature XRFS ₁ And XRFS ₂ And matrix-specific curve fitting (e.g., curve fitting) data between the spectral curve (obtained from the CPS versus wavelength/energy) and the concentration of XRF-labeling elements in the XRF-labeling composition from which the XRF signature XRFs is obtained for assemblies C1 and C2 ₁ And XRFS ₂ Of (2) a substrate. Accordingly, the XRF profile calibration module 420 may utilize the calibration data to calibrate the XRFS ₁ And XRFS ₂ Conversion from the spectral basis to the corresponding XRF pattern XRFMC ₁ And XRFMC ₂ The XRF signatures are expressed based on the concentration of XRF marker in the marking composition from which the XRF signature was obtained for marking the corresponding substrate. This allows comparison of XRF labeling of different components and/or formation of different matrices.

Optionally, the calibration data from the calibration data provider 425 further comprises: data indicative of the XRF measurement parameters (e.g., XRF tube voltage, XRF tube current, XRF filter, and distance from the standard) obtained in operation 535 above. Accordingly, the interrogating radiation emitter 411 may optionally include an interrogation controller 414 configured and operable to receive reference data relating to XRF measurement parameters corresponding to the substrate of the component to which the XRF interrogation is to be applied, and to adjust the emission characteristics of the radiation emitter accordingly, thereby to calibrate the radiation emission of the interrogated component in which the XRF marking is located.

It should be understood that the XRF signature calibration module 420 and the calibration data provider 425 are both optional and may be eliminated. For example, as discussed above, in some cases, the code words of the XRF signature do not indicate the concentration of XRF marking elements in the marking composition, but are associated with the XRF signature read from the marked object/component as a whole (including the marking composition) and the effects of the substrate of the component to which the marking composition is applied and the effects of the method of application of the marking. In this case, it may not be necessary to determine the concentration of the marker element, but rather, the XRF signature from the assembly itself may represent the code word of the marker. Thus, in this case, the calibration module may be eliminated, and the XRF signature correspondence data provider 430 and XRF signature correspondence processor 440 may be relied upon to determine the XRF signature XRFS ₁ And XRFS ₂ (which may be obtained from the same marking composition applied to different components/substrates) correspond to each other.

Thus, the technique of the present invention described above with reference to fig. 5A to 5D demonstrates how the problem of stray/background XRF radiation emanating from the substrate/material SB can be addressed in accordance with the present invention by appropriate processing/analysis of the XRF response signal RSP emanating from the assembly C and XRF marker.

According to embodiments of the present invention, an alternative solution to similar problems is provided by utilizing a novel XRF marker configuration (referred to herein as a multi-layered XRF marker). In this regard, fig. 6A and 6B are illustrated together, which schematically illustrate how the above-identified problem of spurious/background XRF radiation emanating from the substrate/material SB of an assembly C (or other material of an electronic assembly implementing an XRF-tagged composition ME) implementing an XRF-tagged composition ME may be mitigated by a multi-layered XRF tag mXRF configured in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. It is to be understood that the XRF tagging discussed with reference to the above embodiments (e.g., XRFM) ₁ 、XRFM ₂ 、XRFM ₁₃ 、XRFM ₁₄ 、XRFM ₃₃ 、XRFM ₃₄ ) Any of the XRF marks in (a) may be configured and operable in accordance with the present invention as a multi-layer XRF readable symbol as described above and described and illustrated in more detail below.

Fig. 6A is a block diagram illustrating a multilayer XRF marker mXRFM configured according to an embodiment of the invention. The multi-layer XRF readable mark mxrf to be implemented with the assembly/object C is shown on a substrate/material SB such as an electronic assembly (i.e., fig. 6 also illustrates an electronic assembly C that includes the multi-layer XRF readable mark mxrf). The multilayer XRF readable indicia mXRFM according to this embodiment of the invention is configured and operable to reduce (reduce/attenuate or substantially eliminate) XRF clutter/background XRFC emitted by the substrate SB while still emitting XRF signals XRFs (e.g. for use as a signature of an assembly/object). For purposes of illustration, fig. 6 shows a radiation source 412 that emits XRF excitation radiation R, and an XRF detector 415 that is capable of detecting the XRF response emitted in response to the excitation radiation R. In this regard, the XRF response includes the XRF signal/signature XRFs emitted by the active XRF element ME of the XRF readable indicia mxfm and the clutter/background XRF response XRFC emitted by other substrates/materials of the electronic assembly C. It will be appreciated that the radiation source 412 and the XRF detector 415, as well as the radiation and XRF signals/clutter (R, XRFs and XRFC) and also the electronic component C or its matrix/material SB, are not part of the multilayer XRF readable mark mXRFM and are shown in the figures for illustrative purposes. Also illustratively, the thickness of the arrows in the figures used to illustrate the excitation radiation R and XRF signals/clutter are chosen to illustratively indicate how the intensity of these radiation and XRF responses varies during passage through the respective layers of the multilayer XRF readable mark mxrf.

In this example, the substrate SB of the object/assembly C is an XRF-responsive substrate associated with emitting significant XRF background clutter in response to said illumination of XRF excitation radiation. For example, the XRF-responsive matrix may be a metal matrix, or a matrix comprising a metallic element, such a matrix may be a plastic or ceramic matrix comprising a metallic element or a composition thereof. Typically, the metallic elements of the matrix are associated with a significant XRF response that, if not attenuated, may interfere with or prevent accurate measurement of the XRF response of the marking composition of the XRF-readable indicia in some implementations. As shown, according to some embodiments of the invention, the multilayer XRF readable mark mxrf comprises:

a. an attenuation/mask layer AL comprising one or more materials HAE exhibiting absorbance for at least one of: (i) XRF excitation radiation R; and (ii) an XRF response-i.e., background XRF clutter XRFC at least as a response from the substrate; and

b. a marking layer ML comprising an XRF marking composition ME having specific active XRF elements/materials of a type and relative concentration selected to emit an XRF signal XRFs having a characteristic XRF signature indicative of the XRF signature mxrf (i.e. a signature indicative of the component C on which the XRF signature is to be implemented) in response to irradiation by XRF excitation radiation.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the XRF-readable mark mxrf is implemented with the assembly C such that the XRF-readable mark mxrf is placed on top of the surface S of the particular substrate/material SB of the assembly C, such that the attenuating/masking layer AL of the multilayer XRF-readable mark mxrf is interposed between (i.e. located between) the surface S of the substrate SB and the marking layer ML of the XRF-readable mark.

Thus, the attenuating layer AL may attenuate the portion of the excitation X-ray or gamma-ray radiation R that propagates to the substrate (as well as attenuate XRF emissions from the marking layer that are directed to the substrate), thereby reducing the amount of XRF excitation radiation that reaches the substrate, and attenuate the XRF response XRFC from the substrate (this is the background clutter with respect to the XRF signal/signature XRFs for the XRF marker mXRFS to be identified). This mechanism is illustrated in the figure by the reduction of the thickness of the arrows of the excitation radiation R during its passage through the attenuation layer AL. Alternatively or additionally, when XRFC background clutter from the substrate SB propagates along a propagation path through the attenuation layer AL to the detector 115, the attenuation layer AL may also attenuate the XRF response XRFC emitted by the substrate SB (which is the background clutter) by absorbing all or a substantial portion of the XRFC background clutter. This mechanism is illustrated in the figure by a reduction in the thickness of the arrows of the XRF response clutter XRFC emitted by the substrate SB during its passage through the attenuation layer AL. Providing one or both of the mechanisms described above allows the attenuating layer AL to effectively reduce the intensity of the background clutter XRFC from the substrate reaching the detector 115.

In general, the attenuation of an X-ray beam of a given wavelength (or equivalently, an XRF response) after traveling a distance X within the medium of the attenuating layer AL (hereinafter referred to as the attenuating medium) is given by:

I＝I ₀ exp(-μ _s ρx)

where I is the intensity after passing through the attenuating medium, I ₀ Is the initial intensity of the radiation (prior to passing through the medium), and ρ is the density of the sample (grams/cm) ³ I.e., mass per unit volume), and μ _s Is the mass absorption coefficient of the sample as a whole (e.g. in cm) ² In grams). Sample mass absorption coefficient mu _s Given by the sum of:

wherein, mu _i Is the mass absorption coefficient (e.g., in cm) of a particular element in the medium ² In units of/g), C _i (percentages) are the relative concentrations of the elements of the index in the medium. Thus, the sum μ _s Denotes the relative concentration C of all materials/atomic elements present in the medium under consideration _i The average mass absorption coefficient of the medium in the case of (2). For this reason ρ × x is the average areal density of the attenuating medium.

Thus, the attenuated portion of the XRF response from substrate SB (i.e., the portion reduced by attenuating layer AL) is F _Response ＝1-exp(-μ _s ρ x). In practical implementations of the invention, it is desirable to achieve attenuation F of about 60% or more of the XRF response from the substrate _Response (e.g., more preferably, an attenuating layer is used that provides 75% or even more than 90% higher attenuation).

Thus, to obtain an attenuation of at least 60%, the attenuation layer is configured such that μ _s ρ x is not less than 1. I.e. the thickness x of the attenuating layer AL times its density ρ times the average mass absorption coefficient μ _s Equal to or greater than 1.

It should also be noted that the attenuating layer increases the distance between the emitter and the responsive matrix and the distance between the responsive matrix and the detector. Thus, even if the attenuating layer is composed of a light material, the attenuating layer will generally reduce the signal XRFC from the XRF-responsive matrix at the detector. This mechanism of reducing the signal XRFC of the responsive matrix SB with a thick attenuating layer is more effective for lower energy XRFC signals from the XRF responsive matrix (e.g., for XRFC responses with photon energies of up to 5Kev to 10Kev emitted by lighter materials present in the XRF responsive matrix). Also, the attenuation by this mechanism depends on the thickness of the attenuating layer (greater attenuation is achieved by thicker layers), so in some embodiments of the present invention that utilize this mechanism, the attenuating layer is implemented at a relatively high thickness x (e.g., a thickness x of hundreds of microns).

Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments of the invention, the attenuating layer need not be so thick because of the relatively high atomic number (i.e., having a relatively high mass absorption coefficient μ) _i ) May provide for excitation of XRF radiation R and/or from the substrate SBThe XRF response is sufficiently absorptive for XRFC, and may also provide sufficient attenuation for radiation/XRF responses for photons having energies above 10Kev in energy.

Fig. 6B is a graphical illustration schematically showing a spectral profile of: (i) A plot RSP of a spectral profile of the total XRF response from the XRF-labeled electronic component C to the detector 415; (ii) A plot XRFs of a spectral profile of an XRF response from layer ML of the multilayer XRF marker mxffm to the detector 415; (iii) A graph ATN of a spectral profile of an XRF response from the attenuating layers AL of the multilayer XRF marker mXRFM to the detector 415; and (iv) a plot XRFC of the spectral profile of the XRF response (background clutter) from the substrate SB of assembly C (this response is attenuated by the attenuation layer AL, as shown by the reduced peaks in the dotted and dashed portion of the overall XRF response plot RSP). A graph is provided in arbitrary units as the intensity INT (Y-axis) versus the spectrum SPCT (frequency-X-axis). As shown, the spectral profile of the total XRF response reaching detector 415 (which is plot RSP) is approximately equal to the sum of the XRF response from both the attenuating layers AL and the XRF marker mxxrfm plus a substantially reduced portion (fraction F) of the background XRF clutter XRFC from the substrate SB: RSP = XRFB + XRFS + (1-F) × XRFC. The horizontal dashed line in each of these graphs schematically illustrates the detection threshold above which signal detection is considered a valid/trustworthy measure. The detection threshold may be set based on a number of factors, including signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and/or signal-to-noise ratio (SCR) and/or background radiation intensity in the corresponding spectral region, as well as the required accuracy of the measurement. For clarity, in this particular non-limiting example, the detection threshold is illustrated as a horizontal line that is constant across the spectrum, however, it should be understood that in a general implementation of the invention, the detection threshold may be spectrally dependent (the spectral region across the measurement may not be fixed) and may be determined based on various factors, such as the tendency and seasonal component of the XRF response, as described, for example, in PCT application U.S. patent No.10,539,521, commonly assigned to the assignee of the present invention. As will be explained further below, the reduced portion (portion F) of the background XRF clutter XRFC from the substrate SB depends on the type of the one or more materials HAE exhibiting high XRF absorbance in the attenuating layer AL of the multilayer XRF marker mxfm and their concentration and thickness of the attenuating layer AL. The concentration of material HAE exhibiting high XRF absorbance and the thickness of the attenuating layer AL define the area/column density of these materials HAE in the attenuating layer AL. Generally, the higher the area/column density of these XRF absorbing materials HAE in the attenuating layer AL, the greater the portion F of the background XRF response from the matrix XRFC that is absorbed/reduced by the attenuating layer AL.

As shown, in this example, the spectral profile of the total XRF response RSP includes 7 spectral peaks P1 through P7, with only the spectral peaks P1, P3, P6, and P7 being above the detection threshold. It should be noted that the spectral peaks P1, P3, P6 and P7 are contributed by the XRF marker composition ME of the multilayer XRF marker mXRFM. The spectral peak P3 is not only contributed by the XRF marker composition, but also by the XRF response ATN of the attenuating layer AL (see, e.g., ATN-C in the figure for the portion of peak P3 contributed by the attenuating layer, MRK-C for the portion of peak P3 contributed by the marker layer ML). It should be noted that in this particular example, without contribution from either of the attenuating layer AL and the marker layer ML, the spectral peak P3 will still remain below the detection threshold and thus will not be part of the XRF signature of the multi-layer XRF marker mXRFM. To this end, in this particular example, the attenuating layer also forms part of the XRF signature of the multilayer XRF marker mxrf (since without the attenuating layer the XRF signature would be different-e.g. without the peak P3). However, this is not necessarily so in other implementations of the multilayer XRF marker mXRFM, and in some cases, one or more spectral peaks contributed by the attenuating layer AL and/or the marking layer ML, or both, may be below or above a detection threshold, as the case may be. The spectral peak P7 is contributed not only by the XRF marker composition, but also by the XRF response of the matrix SB XRFC (see, e.g., SBT-C in the figure indicating the portion of peak P7 contributed by the matrix SB layer, MK-C indicating the portion of peak P7 contributed by the marker layer ML). It should be noted that in this particular example, the fact that the contribution SBT-C to peak P7 by matrix SB is significantly reduced (see the height of the contribution SBT-C compared to the corresponding peak in graph XRFC) provides that the height of peak P7 in the total response signal RSP is substantially unaffected by matrix SB. This in turn increases the achievable resolution with which XRF signatures can be resolved from the total response signal RSP obtained from different substrates, allowing the height/intensity of peaks in the total response signal RSP to be used as an indicator of the XRF signature embedded in the response signal RSP, and thus enabling the encoding of a wide variety of signatures in an XRF response signal, even with XRF markers placed on different substrates.

Spectral peaks P2, P4 and P5 (marked with a dotted line in the total response plot RSP) are contributed by the XRF response (background clutter) XRFC of the substrate SB. Comparing these peaks between the plot XRFC and the plot RSP of the total XRF response reaching the detector 415, we can appreciate that these peaks are reduced by a substantial portion F or even eliminated completely before reaching the detector due to the attenuating layer AL. To this end, the multi-layer XRF marker mxfm provides a novel technique for masking the XRF response of the a priori unknown substrate/material SB of the object/component C to be marked by the multi-layer XRF marker mxfm. To achieve this masking, an attenuating layer AL is introduced in the multi-layer XRF marker mxxrfm to be interposed between the substrate/material SB of the object/assembly C and the marker layer ML of the marker. In some embodiments, attenuating layer AL has only a small and insignificant XRF response, in which case its function is primarily to mask the XRF response of substrate SB to reduce it by at least some portion F (which may typically be spectrally related) in at least some spectral domain of interest for determining the XRF signature of the mark mxrf. In some embodiments, as illustrated in fig. 6B, the attenuation layer AL, with or without the marker layer ML, also contributes to the peak (e.g., P3) in the XRF spectral response above the measured detection threshold, and thus also to the XRF signature of the multilayer XRF marker mXRFM.

To this end, the graph of FIG. 6B demonstrates how the problems caused by XRF marker labeling of various components with XRF-responsive substrates can be addressed by utilizing the multi-layered XRF marker mXRFM of the present invention. The resulting XRF signature (e.g. being the part of the total XRF response RSP above the detection threshold) may comprise contributions from the marker composition ME, and possibly from the attenuating layer AL (which is known a priori), while the possibly unknown XRF contribution from the matrix/material SB of the marked component C is masked and reduced. Thus, with this technique, different assemblies C (e.g., including different respective matrix materials SB) may be labeled with similar multi-layered XRF labels to produce similar XRF signatures.

Returning to fig. 6A, it should be noted that in some embodiments, the multilayer XRF marker mxxrfm is fabricated/configured such that the attenuating layer AL extends over an area greater than the area of the marking layer ML (e.g., as shown to the left of the XRF marker mxxrfm in the figure), such that the attenuating layer may also attenuate excited XRF radiation R that does not reach the substrate SB through the marking layer ML and/or attenuate XRF responses XRFC from the substrate SB that are not directed to the detector through the marking layer ML.

As described above, the reduced fraction F of the XRF response XRFC (e.g., reduced by either (i) by the exciting XRF radiation R attenuated to the substrate SB, and/or (ii) by the XRF response XRFC attenuated from the substrate SB) depends on the areal/columnar density of the one or more elements HAE in the attenuating layer ML that exhibit high absorbance, as well as the type of these elements. Higher atomic number elements generally have better absorbance for exciting XRF radiation R (i.e., for X-rays or gamma rays), and also have better absorbance for XRF response. Thus, in some embodiments of the invention, at least one element in the attenuating layer that exhibits absorbance has an atomic number of at least 13 (which is particularly suitable for attenuating relatively low energy XRFC signals XRFC from the substrate, e.g., photon energies up to 5 Kev); in another example, the element has an atomic number of at least 22 (this embodiment is particularly suitable for attenuating moderate energy XRF signals XRFC from the substrate, e.g., photon energies up to 10 Kev); in yet another example, the atomic number is at least 45 (this embodiment is suitable for attenuating higher energy XRFC signals XRFC from the substrate, e.g., photon energies up to 30 Kev). For example, the at least one element exhibiting high absorbance may be lead (Pb) having an atomic number of 82, which therefore also absorbs very high energy XRF photons (e.g., photon energies up to 50 Kev).

In some embodimentsThe attenuating layer AL is configured to provide a sufficiently reduced fraction F of the XRF response from the substrate, of the order of magnitude, F

XRF from the matrix responded to 60% of the intensity of XRFC. In case the multilayer XRF marker mxxrfm is intended/designed to be arranged on the assembly C such that the portion of the XRF excitation radiation R reaching the substrate SB will pass through the attenuating layer AL, the attenuated portion of the XRF excitation radiation R reaching the substrate will also be F _Excitation ＝[1-exp(-μ _s ρx)]. These two attenuations F _excitation And F _Response The cumulative effect of (2) generally produces a greater than F alone _Response The total reduction fraction F. Thus, in some embodiments of the invention, the attenuating layer may be configured to satisfy μ _s A parameter ρ x ≧ 1/2 (where x is the thickness of the attenuation layer AL, ρ is the density of the attenuation layer, μ _s Is the average mass absorption coefficient of the attenuating layer). In such a configuration, at least 60% of the total reduction F is obtained, whereby the total reduction F is the attenuation F by the excited XRF radiation R reaching the substrate _Excitation And attenuation of XRF response from the substrate F _Response Both contribute.

It should be noted that the total thickness x of the attenuating layer AL may depend on the method of application. In an example, a high absorbance element (i.e., an element of high atomic number) may be blended in a polymer coating applied to the responsive layer. The attenuating layer may have a thickness of no more than a few hundred microns.

In another example, the thickness will be no more than 10 microns or even less than 10 microns while still providing sufficient face/pillar density ρ x of these elements and causing the attenuating layer to produce sufficiently high reduced fraction F for XRF response from substrate SB. As indicated above, in some embodiments, the at least one elemental HAE exhibiting absorbance in the attenuating layer AL is associated with a substantial XRF response. For example, the intensity of the response of the attenuating layer may be 10% higher than the intensity of the marking layer; in another example, the intensity of the response of the elements in the attenuating layer may be comparable to (e.g., on the same order of magnitude as) the intensity of the marking layer in at least one of the spectral regions of the XRF signature of the XRF readable mark mXRFM. Thus, the attenuating layer AL may also contribute to the XRF signature of the XRF readable mark mxxrfm.

Fig. 6A also shows an assembly C comprising a substrate material SB and a multilayer XRF readable mark mXRFM provided over the surface of the substrate SB. As indicated above, in this case, the substrate SB may be an XRF-responsive substrate, the material of which comprises a metallic element (typically, the metallic element is associated with an XRF background that is significantly emitted in response to irradiation thereof by XRF excitation radiation). Thus, a multilayer XRF-readable mark mxrf according to the invention is placed over the surface S of the substrate SB such that the attenuation/masking layer of the XRF-readable mark is between the surface S of the substrate and the marking layer ML of the XRF-readable mark.

Some embodiments of the present invention provide an electronic system comprising at least a first component and a second component, wherein the first component comprises a first XRF-readable indicia and the second component comprises a second XRF-readable indicia. The first and second XRF-readable indicia are each configured such that the first XRF signature of the first electronic component corresponds to the second XRF signature of the second electronic component, thereby enabling verification that the first and second components are each compatible components of the electronic system. In some embodiments, at least the first component is an electronic component having the XRF-responsive matrix described above. Thus, the first XRF-readable symbol may be configured as a multi-layer XRF symbol configured in accordance with the techniques of the present invention, and placed over the surface of substrate SB of the first assembly such that its attenuating/masking layer is interposed between the surface of the substrate and its marking layer. In some embodiments, two or all components of an electronic system are labeled with a multi-layer XRF signature mxrf (e.g., whether their substrates are associated with significant XRF responses). This avoids the need to measure/characterize the XRF response of the matrix of the assembly and facilitates direct implementation of XRF labeling.

Reference is now made to FIG. 6C, which is a flow diagram illustrating a method 600 for implementing a multi-layer XRF flag mXRFM, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The method comprises the following steps:

610-providing an XRF marking composition AE having a specific relative concentration of one or more chemical elements, wherein the relative concentration is selected such that, in response to irradiation of the XRF marking composition by XRF excitation radiation, the XRF marking composition emits XRF signals indicative of a predetermined XRF profile; and

fabricating a multilayer structure of an XRF readable mark by performing the following: the manufacturing steps include:

620-implementing an attenuation/mask layer AL comprising at least one element exhibiting an absorbance for at least one of: XRF excitation radiation and XRF background; and

630-implementing a marking layer ML comprising an XRF marking composition AE. The marker layer ML is implemented over at least a portion of the attenuation/mask layer AL, and need not be implemented directly on top of the attenuation/mask layer AL (e.g., it may be spaced apart from the marker layer ML by one or more additional layers).

Optionally, the method comprises step 640: an attenuation/mask layer AL is provided over the object/assembly's XRF-responsive substrate SB. The step of equipping the attenuation/mask layer AL may be performed together with the implementation of the attenuation/mask layer AL (i.e. the layer is implemented directly on the substrate), or after the implementation of the attenuation/mask layer AL (e.g. before or after the implementation of the marking layer ML). Alternatively, the attenuating layer may be provided to cover the entire surface (or surfaces) of the substrate SB, or alternatively, the attenuating layer may be applied locally so that only preselected regions of the substrate SB are coated.

In some embodiments, the step of implementing the attenuation/mask layer is performed by: a coating is applied to at least a portion of the surface S of the substrate SB and utilizes a coating comprising at least one elemental HAE exhibiting high XRF/X-ray/gamma-ray absorbance. The coating may for example comprise a polymeric material (the atomic number of which may be chosen to be at least 13 or more preferably equal to or greater than 22 or even more preferably equal to or greater than 45) embedded with one or more HAE elements. In some cases, a high atomic number HAE element includes one or more metal elements. In some implementations, the one or more metallic elements are embedded in the polymeric material by dissolving oxide or salt forms or organometallic compounds including these elements in the polymeric material prior to the coating. In some implementations, the HAE elements are dispersed or suspended in the polymeric material. The polymer material may be, for example, polyamide. The polymeric material may be applied to the surface S of the substrate SB by any one or more of the following means: spraying, brushing, printing, injecting, and stamping. In some cases, the method further comprises curing the polymeric material by at least one of: heat, moisture, and UV radiation.

Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments, the attenuation/mask layer is achieved by depositing the one or more elemental HAEs exhibiting absorbance on at least a portion of the surface S of the substrate SB. The deposition may be performed, for example, by using CVD or PVD techniques. The HAE elements can be deposited in liquid, solid or particulate form.

Claims

1. An XRF-readable symbol, the XRF-readable symbol comprising:

an XRF-labelled composition having a specific relative concentration of one or more (typically a plurality of) chemical elements; the relative concentrations being selected such that, in response to irradiation of the XRF marking composition by XRF excitation radiation, the XRF marking composition emits XRF signals indicative of a predetermined XRF signature associated with the XRF readable mark;

wherein the XRF-readable indicia is configured and operatively disposed on an XRF-responsive substrate associated with emission of XRF background clutter in response to the illumination of the XRF excitation radiation; and is

Wherein the XRF readable indicia comprises:

-an attenuation/mask layer comprising at least one element exhibiting absorbance for at least one of: the XRF excitation radiation and the XRF background clutter; and

-a marking layer comprising the XRF marking composition; and is provided with

Wherein the XRF-readable indicia is designated for placement on the substrate such that the attenuation/mask layer of the XRF-readable indicia is interposed between the substrate and the indicia layer of the XRF-readable indicia.

2. The XRF-readable symbol according to claim 1 wherein said predetermined XRF signature is characterized by one or more spectral peaks above a certain threshold of said response to irradiation; and wherein the one or more spectral peaks include at least one spectral peak contributed by the XRF marking composition of the marking layer.

3. The XRF-readable marker according to claim 2 wherein said one or more spectral peaks comprises at least one spectral peak contributed by one or more elements of said attenuating layer.

4. The XRF-readable symbol according to claim 1 wherein said predetermined XRF signature is characterized by one or more spectral peaks above a certain threshold of said response to irradiation; and wherein the XRF background clutter from the XRF-responsive substrate includes at least one spectral peak above the particular threshold without the attenuation/mask layer, and the attenuation/mask layer at least suppresses an intensity of the at least one spectral peak of the XRF background clutter, thereby enabling reading of the predetermined XRF signature of the XRF-readable mark when placed over the substrate.

5. The XRF readable marker according to claim 1 wherein said attenuating layer extends over an area larger than the area of said marker layer.

6. The XRF readable marker according to claim 1 wherein said attenuating layer is of a thickness satisfying μ _s Is configured by a parameter of rho x ≧ 1/2, where x rho is at least the area density of the attenuation layer, μ _s Is said attenuating layerAverage mass absorption coefficient of atomic element composition.

7. The XRF readable marker according to claim 6 wherein said attenuating layer is of the order of μ _s The parameter of rho x is more than or equal to 1.

8. The XRF-readable marker according to claim 6 wherein the at least one element of the attenuating layer exhibiting said absorbance has an atomic number of at least 45.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one element exhibiting the absorbance comprises lead (Pb).

10. The XRF-readable marker according to claim 1, wherein the at least one element of the attenuating layer exhibiting said absorbance is associated with a substantial XRF response in at least one spectral region, and wherein said substantial XRF response is part of the predetermined XRF signature of the XRF-readable marker.

11. An assembly, the assembly comprising:

a matrix material; and

an XRF-readable mark configured to emit an XRF signal having an XRF signature indicative of the assembly in response to illumination of the XRF-readable mark by XRF excitation radiation;

wherein the substrate is an XRF-responsive substrate comprising metallic atomic elements and is associated with emission of an XRF background signal in response to irradiation of the substrate by the XRF excitation radiation; and is wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the XRF-readable indicia configured according to claim 1 and disposed over a surface of the substrate such that the attenuation/masking layer of the XRF-readable indicia is interposed between the surface of the substrate and the marking layer of the XRF-readable indicia.

12. The assembly of claim 11, wherein the at least one element exhibiting the absorbance has a higher atomic number than an element of the matrix.

13. An electronic system, the electronic system comprising:

a plurality of components including at least a first component and a second component, wherein:

the first assembly comprises a substrate material and a first XRF-readable mark configured to emit a first XRF signal having a first XRF signature in response to irradiation of the first XRF-readable mark by XRF excitation radiation, wherein the substrate is an XRF-responsive substrate comprising elemental metal and is associated with emission of XRF background signals in response to irradiation of the substrate by the XRF excitation radiation; and wherein the XRF-readable indicia is configured according to claim 1 and is placed over a surface of the substrate such that the attenuation/masking layer of the XRF-readable indicia is interposed between the surface of the substrate and the marking layer of the XRF-readable indicia;

the second component comprises a second XRF-readable mark configured to emit a second XRF signal having a second XRF signature in response to irradiation of the second XRF-readable mark by XRF excitation radiation; and is provided with

Wherein the first and second XRF-readable indicia are each configured such that the first XRF signature of the first component corresponds to the second XRF signature of the second electronic component, thereby enabling verification that the first and second components are each compatible components of the electronic system.

14. A method of producing an XRF readable symbol, the method comprising the steps of:

providing an XRF marking composition having a particular relative concentration of one or more chemical elements, whereby said relative concentrations are selected such that, in response to irradiation of said XRF marking composition by XRF excitation radiation, said XRF marking composition emits an XRF signal indicative of a predetermined XRF profile; and

-manufacturing a multilayer structure of the XRF-readable symbol, the manufacturing step comprising:

-implementing an attenuating layer comprising at least one element exhibiting an absorbance for at least one of: XRF excitation radiation and XRF background; and

-implementing a marking layer comprising the XRF marking composition.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of implementing an attenuating layer is configured such that a parameter of the attenuating layer satisfies μ £ _s ρ x is not less than 1/2, where x ρ is at least the area density of the attenuation layer, μ _s Is the average mass absorption coefficient of the atomic elemental composition of the attenuating layer.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of implementing an attenuating layer is such that the parameters of the attenuating layer satisfy μ _s ρx≥1。

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising the steps of: providing the attenuation layer and the marker layer over an XRF-responsive substrate associated with emission of XRF background clutter in response to the illumination of XRF excitation radiation; wherein the equipping step interposes the attenuation/mask layer between the substrate and the marker layer.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least one element exhibiting the absorbance has a higher atomic number than an element of the matrix.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of implementing an attenuating layer comprises: applying a coating to at least a portion of a surface of a substrate, whereby the coating comprises the at least one element that exhibits the absorbance.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the coating comprises a polymer material embedded with one or more elements of high atomic number equal to or higher than 45.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the high atomic number element comprises one or more metal elements.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the one or more metallic elements are embedded in the polymeric material by dissolving an oxide or salt form or organometallic compound comprising the material in the polymeric material prior to the coating.

23. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of implementing an attenuating layer comprises: depositing the at least one element exhibiting the absorbance on at least a portion of a surface of a substrate, and wherein the depositing is effected as at least one of:

-the depositing comprises at least one of CVD and PVD; and

-said at least one element exhibiting said absorbance is deposited in liquid, solid or particulate form.