One of GIS’ specialties is finding prior art. In fact, when looking for prior art on specific patent reads, our success rate is over 80%.

Over the years GIS has developed a methodology that differs from other search companies in being both efficient and delivering only the information you need. For many search companies, the deliverable is enormous amounts of references that you have to sort through yourself. Other companies will first conduct a database search, turning up a large number of documents that they examine for you. However, the large number of documents that must be reviewed can eat through your budget without providing the “best reference needed”.

GIS uses a very selective approach. Starting with a “field of use” search, a small number of specific and relevant documents are identified and this path of research is further followed. This may in turn uncover new documents, which may lead to further documents. The end result is one or a handful of relevant prior art references as well as the search path taken. You receive a small, manageable number with the text of interest identified. The process is quick and efficient, and having the search path documented, it is easy to continue the search at a later date if necessary.

Often, before you come to GIS for prior art searches, you will have done some searching on your own. To take this into account, we will keep you up to date on our progress in order that we may combine our knowledge with yours to ensure that the same searching is not repeated unnecessarily. It also gives you the option of shortening or extending the search time based on the results discovered to gain the maximum benefit from your limited budget.  

Modern Multi-Chip Modules (MCM) can cause all manner of problems for signal probing. Jet-etching is a tried and true method for gaining access to critical signals while leaving the components in the package operational. But what options does an Engineer have when jet-etching is not feasible?

In the figure above we see an example of a complex MCM that was recently tested at GIS. The MCM device’s construction can be described as a pair of two-die MCMs that are mounted face-to-face together within the same package. This construction gives it a complex vertically stacked arrangement in which the top-most PCB effectively blocks probing attempts from above. In addition, the uppermost component of the module is an integrated PCB that is very vulnerable to acids and thus frustrates attempts at exposing probe-points using Jet-Etching.