Integrated circuit authentication from a die material measurement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10429438-B1
Application number	US-201615221814-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 28, 2016
Priority date	Jul 28, 2016
Publication date	Oct 1, 2019
Grant date	Oct 1, 2019

Abstract

The various technologies presented herein relate to measuring a signal generated by a die-based test circuit incorporated into an IC, and utilizing the measured signal to authenticate the IC. The signal can be based upon a sensor response generated by the test circuit fabricated into the die, wherein the sensor response is based upon a property of the die material. The signal can be compared with a reference value obtained from one or more test circuit(s) respectively located on one or more reference dies, wherein the reference dies are respectively cut from different wafers, and the location at which the reference dies were cut is known. If the measured signal matches the reference value, the die is deemed to be from the same cut location as the dies from which the reference value was obtained. If the measured signal does not match the reference value, the die is not authenticated.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
an integrated circuit (IC) comprising:
a die sourced from a wafer;
a test circuit incorporated into the die, wherein when energized the test circuit is configured to generate a signal based upon a property of material forming the die, the material property is a function of a location of the die in the wafer from which the die was sourced; and
a label identifying the location of the die within the wafer; and

a test system configured to:
generate a test value based upon the signal generated at the test circuit;
compare the test value with a reference value to determine whether the test value is within a predefined range of the reference value, the reference value based upon measurements sourced from a plurality of dies each cut from a respective wafer, each of the plurality of dies being located in a position in its respective wafer that corresponds to the location of the die identified in the label and
responsive to determining that the test value is within the predefined range of the reference value, generate a notification that the die is sourced from the wafer location detailed in the label.

2. The system of claim 1 , the test system further configured to: responsive to determining that the test value is not within the predefined range of the reference value, generate a notification that the die is not sourced from the location identified in the label.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the test circuit includes at least one of a high resolution test circuit, a physical unclonable function, a ring oscillator, a resistor, a capacitor, a transistor, an inductor, a via, or a trace.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the IC is one of a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a processor, a microprocessor, a system on a ship (SoC), a programmable SoC, an application-specific standard product (ASSP), a programmable logic device (PLD), or a complex programmable logic device (CPLD).

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the die is formed from semiconductor material.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the label is provided by a manufacturer of the die.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein location information for the plurality of dies is provided by a manufacturer of the plurality of dies.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the manufacturer further provides fabricating conditions for each of the dies in the plurality of dies.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the label includes at least one of a manufacturer name or logo, a date of manufacture, a time of manufacture, a manufacturing location, an identifier of fabrication equipment utilized to fabricate the die, a part number, a part production batch number, a serial number, operator information, or a random sequence.

Assignees

• Nat Tech & Eng Solutions Sandia Llc

Inventors

• Zortman William A
• Helinski Ryan
• Hamlet Jason

Classifications

• H10P74/277

  Circuits for electrically characterising or monitoring manufacturing processes, e.g. circuits in tested chips or circuits in testing wafers · CPC title

• H10W46/403

  for non-wireless electrical read out · CPC title

• H10W46/401

  for identification or tracking · CPC title

• H10P74/207

  Electrical properties, e.g. testing or measuring of resistance, deep levels or capacitance-voltage characteristics · CPC title

• H10W46/00 Primary

  Marks applied to devices, e.g. for alignment or identification · CPC title