Protected electronic integrated circuit chip

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10950559-B2
Application number	US-201916436747-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 10, 2019
Priority date	Jun 14, 2018
Publication date	Mar 16, 2021
Grant date	Mar 16, 2021

Abstract

An electronic integrated circuit chip includes a semiconductor substrate with a front side and a back side. A first reflective shield is positioned adjacent the front side of the semiconductor substrate and a second reflective shield is positioned adjacent the back side of the semiconductor substrate. Photons are emitted by a photon source to pass through the semiconductor substrate and bounce off the first and second reflective shields to reach a photon detector at the front side of the semiconductor substrate. The detected photons are processed in order to determine whether to issue an alert indicating the existence of an attack on the electronic integrated circuit chip.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electronic integrated circuit chip, comprising:
a semiconductor substrate;
a first shield adjacent a first side of the semiconductor substrate;
a second shield adjacent a second side of the semiconductor substrate opposite the first side; and
a first photon detector supported at the first side of the semiconductor substrate and located between the first and second shields.

2. The integrated circuit chip of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first shield and the second shield is metallic.

3. The integrated circuit chip of claim 1 , wherein the second side of the semiconductor substrate is a back side covered with the second shield, and the first side of the semiconductor substrate is a front side, and wherein the first photon detector located inside and on top of the front side.

4. The integrated circuit chip of claim 3 , wherein the first shield has a full surface located vertically above the first photon detector and extending horizontally in all directions from a position of the first photon detector along at least a first distance greater than a second distance separating said first shield from the front side of the semiconductor substrate.

5. The integrated circuit chip of claim 3 , wherein the second shield leaves a portion of the back side of the substrate exposed.

6. The integrated circuit chip of claim 5 , further comprising a second photon detector located inside and on top of the semiconductor substrate at a location aligned with said portion.

7. The integrated circuit chip of claim 1 , further comprising a photon source configured to emit photons towards a surface of the second shield facing the first detector.

8. The integrated circuit chip of claim 7 , wherein the photon source is a ring oscillator circuit.

9. The integrated circuit chip of claim 1 , wherein the first photon detector comprises a SPAD.

10. The integrated circuit chip of claim 1 , further comprising a circuit configured to measure a value representative of a number of photons detected by the first detector during a time period, detect a difference between the measured value and an expected value, and generate an alert if the difference exceeds a threshold.

11. An electronic integrated circuit chip, comprising:
a semiconductor substrate including a first side and a second side opposite the first side;
a first shield positioned above the first side of the semiconductor substrate;
a second shield positioned adjacent the second side of the semiconductor substrate;
a photon detector supported at the first side of the semiconductor substrate;
a photon source supported at the first side of the semiconductor substrate;
wherein said photon source is configured to emit photons to travel through the semiconductor substrate, reflect off the second shield, further travel through the semiconductor substrate; and reflect off the first shield towards the photon detector.

12. The integrated circuit chip of claim 11 , wherein the photon source is a ring oscillator circuit.

13. The integrated circuit chip of claim 11 , wherein the first photon detector comprises a SPAD.

14. The integrated circuit chip of claim 11 , further comprising a circuit coupled to the photon detector and configured to measure a value representative of a number of photons detected by the detector, determine a difference between the measured value and an expected value, and generate an alert if the difference exceeds a threshold.

15. The integrated circuit chip of claim 11 , wherein the second side is a back side of the semiconductor substrate, and the first side is a front side of the semiconductor substrate.

Assignees

• St Microelectronics Rousset
• St Microelectronics Res & Dev Ltd

Inventors

• Lisart Mathieu
• Rae Bruce

Classifications

• H10W42/405 Primary

  using active circuits · CPC title

• H10F55/255

  formed in, or on, a common substrate · CPC title

• G06F21/75

  by inhibiting the analysis of circuitry or operation · CPC title

• G06F21/86

  Secure or tamper-resistant housings · CPC title

• H01L23/576 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic