Multi-modal printed circuit board netlist extraction with x-ray and optical imaging

Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are indispensable components that enable the functionality of modern electronics applications. Ranging from various densities and uniqueness by design, the attack surfaces of these devices are vast and complex. In secure/critical domains like medical, automotive, and defense, the authenticity of these devices is critical to mitigate losses in trust and security. Not only does their complexity and responsibility in a hardware system pose an issue, but the globalization of their supply chain further emphasizes the necessity of methods to validate their designs. In this paper, the authors propose a novel framework for furthering PCB trust by addressing pitfalls in verifying the connectivity design of PCBs. Incorporating data from both imaging modalities into a cohesive model framework aims to address the shortfalls of single-modality autonomous netlist approaches.