Electromagnetic verification of integrated circuits

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10107855-B1
Application number	US-201414536474-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Nov 7, 2014
Priority date	Nov 7, 2014
Publication date	Oct 23, 2018
Grant date	Oct 23, 2018

Abstract

Apparatuses, systems, and methods for detecting changes to an IC are disclosed. In an example implementation, an apparatus includes an electromagnetic (EM) sensor. A high-resolution analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is configured to quantize a segment of the EM signal of an IC measured by the EM sensor. The quantized segment of the EM signal is unique to process-voltage-temperature (PVT) characteristics exhibited by the IC. The apparatus also includes a processing circuit configured to prompt the high-resolution ADC, via a control signal, to produce the quantized segment of the EM signal. The processing circuit determines a first signature from the quantized segment and retrieves a baseline signature corresponding to the IC from a data storage circuit. In response to the first signature being different from the baseline signature, the processing circuit indicates that a change to the IC is detected.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for detecting changes to an integrated circuit (IC), comprising:
an electromagnetic (EM) sensor configured to measure an EM signal emitted by a physically unclonable function (PUF) implemented on the IC while the IC is positioned in a designated location relative to the EM sensor;
a high-resolution analog-to-digital converter (ADC) coupled to the EM sensor and configured to, responsive to a control signal, produce a quantized segment of the EM signal, wherein the quantized segment of the EM signal is unique to process-voltage-temperature (PVT) characteristics exhibited by the PUF on the IC;
a data storage circuit configured with one or more baseline signatures determined from the IC; and
a processing circuit coupled to the high-resolution ADC and the data storage circuit, the processing circuit configured to perform a set of verification operations including:
prompting the high-resolution ADC, via the control signal, to produce the quantized segment of the EM signal;
determining a first signature from the quantized segment of the EM signal;
retrieving at least one of the one or more baseline signatures from the data storage circuit; and
indicating that a change to the IC is detected in response to the first signature being different from the at least one baseline signature.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to perform a statistical analysis on the quantized segment of the EM signal to remove environmental noise.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the processing circuit is further configured to perform the set of verification operations when operated in a testing mode; and
the processing circuit is further configured to, when operating in a baseline mode, perform a second set of operations including:
prompting the high-resolution ADC, via the control signal, to produce a second quantized segment of the EM signal;
determining the at least one baseline signature from the second quantized segment of the EM signal;
associating the at least one baseline signature with an identification number of the IC; and
storing the at least one baseline signature and the associated identification number in the data storage circuit.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the second set of operations further includes uploading the at least one baseline signature and the associated identification number to a database, via a network connection.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein:
the second set of operations includes, prior to prompting the high-resolution ADC to produce the second quantized segment of the EM signal, prompting the IC to perform a designated process; and
the set of verification operations includes, prior to prompting the high-resolution ADC to produce the quantized segment of the EM signal, prompting the IC to perform the designated process.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein prompting the IC to perform the designated process includes transmitting a control signal to the IC via an RFID interface.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein prompting the IC to perform the designated process includes providing a set of data values to respective inputs of the IC.

8. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to prompt the high-resolution ADC to produce the quantized segment of the EM signal during a boot sequence of the IC.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an alignment indicator configured to align with an alignment marker on the IC when the EM sensor is positioned in a designated testing location relative to the IC.

10. A method for detecting changes to an integrated circuit (IC), comprising:
positioning the IC in designated testing location relative an electromagnetic (EM) sensor;
measuring a segment of an EM signal emitted by a physically unclonable function (PUF) implemented on the IC;
quantizing the segment of the EM signal using a high-resolution analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to produce a quantized segment of the EM signal which is unique to process-voltage-temperature (PVT) characteristics exhibited by the PUF on the IC;
determining a first signature from the quantized segment of the EM signal;
retrieving at least one of one or more baseline signatures previously determined from the IC from a database; and
in response to the first signature being different from the at least one baseline signature, indicating that a change to the IC is detected.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
prior to the measuring a segment of the EM signal emitted by the IC, measuring a previous segment of the EM signal emitted by the IC;
quantizing the previous segment of the EM signal using the high-resolution ADC to produce a second quantized segment of the EM signal which is unique to the PVT characteristics exhibited by the IC;
determining the at least one baseline signature from the second quantized segment of the EM signal; and
storing the at least one baseline signature in the database.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising associating the at least one baseline signature with an identification number of the IC, wherein the storing the at least one baseline signature stores the identification number with the at least one baseline signature in the database.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising prior to measuring each of the segments of the EM signal, prompting the IC to perform a designated process.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein prompting the IC to perform the designated process includes transmitting a control signal to the IC via an RFID interface.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein prompting the IC to perform the designated process includes providing a set of data values to respective inputs of the IC.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the measuring the segment of the EM signal is performed during a boot sequence of the IC.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising performing a statistical analysis on the quantized segment of the EM signal to remove environmental noise.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein the IC is a programmable IC and further comprising:
supplementing a hardware descriptive language (HDL) user design to include a physically-uncloneable-function; and
programming the programmable IC to implement the HDL user design.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising modifying the HDL user design to increase emission of the EM signal by the programmable IC.

20. A system comprising:
a database;
a first device configured to:
determine a baseline signature for an integrated circuit (IC) from an electromagnetic (EM) signal emitted by a physically unclonable function (PUF) implemented on the IC, the baseline signature being unique to process-voltage-temperature (PVT) characteristics exhibited by the PUF on the IC positioned in a designated location relative to an EM sensor; and
upload the baseline signature to the database and associate the baseline signature with an identification number in the database; and

a second device configured to:
determine a second signature for the IC, the second signature being unique to PVT characteristics exhibited by the IC positioned in a designated location relative to an EM sensor;
retrieve the baseline signature from the database using the identification number of the IC; and

in response to the second signature being different from the baseline signature, indicating that a change to the IC is detected.

Assignees

• Xilinx Inc

Inventors

• Corbett John D
• Mcneil Steven E

Classifications

• G01R31/2851 Primary

  Testing of integrated circuits [IC] (G01R31/317 takes precedence; testing individual devices G01R31/26; testing printed circuits G01R31/2801) · CPC title

• G01R31/311 Primary

  of integrated circuits {(G01R31/31728 takes precedence)} · CPC title