Parts authentication employing radio frequency identification

1. An ion implantation system comprising:

one or more components of the system;

one or more RFID tags individually associated with the one or more components, wherein the RFID tags include at least a part number and a serial number for the one or more components;

one or more tag readers that employ a wireless communication mechanism to communicate with the one or more RFID tags; and

a controller coupled to the tag readers that generates interrogatory signals, receives response signals from the one or more RFID tags, obtains authentication information from the received signals and selects a mode of operation for the system from a normal mode and a safe mode according to the obtained authentication information.

2. The ion implantation system of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication mechanism comprises inductive coupling.

3. The ion implantation system of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication mechanism comprises propagating electromagnetic waves.

4. The ion implantation system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more components comprise a chamber pump.

5. The ion implantation system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more components comprise a mass analyzer.

6. The ion implantation system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more components comprise a linear accelerator.

7. The ion implantation system of claim 1 , wherein the RFID tags comprise read only memory.

8. The ion implantation system of claim 1 , wherein the RFID tags comprise read/writable memory.

9. The ion implantation system of claim 1 , wherein the RFID tags comprise data buffers to temporarily hold incoming data following demodulation and outgoing data for modulation.

10. The ion implantation system of claim 1 , wherein the RFID tags are active and have power source allowing active operation.

11. The ion implantation system of claim 1 , wherein the controller tracks component usage information and provides the usage information to the one or more RFID tags via the interrogatory signals.

12. The ion implantation system of claim 1 , wherein the received signals comprise component information, tag information, and/or security information.

13. The ion implantation system of claim 12 , wherein the component information includes the part number, the serial number, date of manufacture, installation date, and service record.

14. The ion implantation system of claim 12 , wherein the tag information includes operating frequency and data rate.

15. The ion implantation system of claim 12 , wherein the security information includes encoding mechanisms, public keys, and/or private keys.

16. A method of selecting modes of operation comprising:

authenticating components within a system via RFID tags associated with the components;

analyzing non-authenticated components for compliance with system operational parameters;

analyzing non-authenticated and non-compliant components for operation of the system in a limited capacity;

operating in a safe mode on the non-authenticated and non compliant components being operable in the limited capacity; and

operating in a normal mode on the non-authenticated components being compliant.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising halting operation on the non-authenticated and non-compliant components being inoperable in a limited capacity.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein operating in the safe mode comprises operating with a subset of functions available in the normal mode.