Ultrahigh resolution dynamic IC chip activity detection for hardware security

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11041809-B2
Application number	US-201615766845-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 7, 2016
Priority date	Oct 8, 2015
Publication date	Jun 22, 2021
Grant date	Jun 22, 2021

Abstract

A system and method for detecting dynamic electromagnetic emission of an integrated circuit (IC) chip is provided. One embodiment of the method, includes exciting nitro vacancy (NV) centers of a diamond slide located in close proximity to the IC chip via use of light, resulting in an NV fluorescence; providing an optical readout of the NV fluorescence, wherein the optical readout provides quantum states of the NV centers, thereby providing a spectra of electromagnetic fields of the IC chip. A determination is then made of at least one of the group comprising clock frequencies of the IC chip, referred to herein as determined clock frequencies, and data bandwidth of the IC chip, referred to herein as determined data bandwidth of the IC chip, from the spectra of electromagnetic fields of the IC chip. A comparison is then performed, comparing at least one of the group comprising determined clock frequencies and determined data bandwidth, to at least one of the group comprising expected clock frequencies of the IC chip and expected data bandwidth of the IC chip, thereby determining if a foreign device or software is located on the IC chip.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for detecting dynamic electromagnetic emission of an integrated circuit (IC) chip, comprising the steps of:
positioning a diamond slide comprising a plurality of nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in proximity of an IC chip;
exciting the NV centers via use of light, resulting in an NV fluorescence;
tuning a current applying an external bias direct current (DC) magnetic field for tuning a resonant frequency of the NV centers, thereby influencing the NV fluorescence;
providing an optical readout of the NV fluorescence, wherein the optical readout provides quantum states of the NV centers, thereby providing spectra of electromagnetic fields of the IC chip;
determining at least one of the group comprising clock frequencies of the IC chip, referred to herein as determined clock frequencies, and data bandwidth of the IC chip, referred to herein as determined data bandwidth of the IC chip, from the spectra of electromagnetic fields of the IC chip; and
comparing at least one of the group comprising determined clock frequencies and determined data bandwidth, to at least one of the group comprising expected clock frequencies of the IC chip and expected data bandwidth of the IC chip.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of separating the light used for exciting the NV centers, from the NV fluorescence.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of focusing the light used for exciting the NV centers to the diamond slide.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of preventing the light for exciting from damaging the IC chip via use of a light isolation layer.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of focusing the NV fluorescence prior to the step of providing the optical readout of the NV fluorescence.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed in runtime of the IC chip.

7. A method for detecting dynamic electromagnetic emission of an integrated circuit (IC) chip, comprising the steps of:
positioning a diamond slide comprising a plurality of nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in proximity of an IC chip, the IC chip configured to transmit data;
causing the IC chip to transmit data;
exciting the NV centers via use of light, resulting in an NV fluorescence;
tuning a current applying an external bias direct current (DC) magnetic field for tuning a resonant frequency of the NV centers, thereby influencing the NV fluorescence;
providing an optical readout of the NV fluorescence, wherein the optical readout provides quantum states of the NV centers;
based on the NV fluorescence, determining a spectrum of the electromagnetic fields associated with the data transmitted by the IC chip;
comparing the spectrum of the electromagnetic fields associated with the data transmitted by the IC chip to an expected spectrum; and
based on the comparison, determining if a foreign device or software is affecting the IC chip.

Assignees

• Harvard College

Inventors

• Shao Linbo
• Loncar Marko

Classifications

• G01N21/6489 Primary

  Photoluminescence of semiconductors · CPC title

• G01R31/308

  using non-ionising electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical radiation {(investigating or analysing materials by the use of optical means G01N21/00; image analysis G06T7/00)} · CPC title

• G01R31/2884

  using dedicated test connectors, test elements or test circuits on the IC under test (G01R31/2855 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01R31/302

  Contactless testing {(G01R31/66 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• G01R31/44

  Testing lamps · CPC title