Breach sensor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017010232-A1
Application number	US-201514793257-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 7, 2015
Priority date	Jul 7, 2015
Publication date	Jan 12, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

One example discloses a breach sensor, comprising: a substrate including an integrated circuit; a passivation layer coupled to the substrate; a breach sensing element coupled to the circuit; wherein the breach sensing element is on a first side of the passivation layer and the substrate is on a second side of the passivation layer; a barrier configured to separate the breach sensing element from an ambient environment; wherein the breach sensing element is responsive to barrier damage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A breach sensor, comprising:
a substrate including an integrated circuit; a passivation layer coupled to the substrate; a breach sensing element coupled to the circuit; wherein the breach sensing element is on a first side of the passivation layer and the substrate is on a second side of the passivation layer; and a barrier configured to separate the breach sensing element from an ambient environment; wherein the breach sensing element is responsive to barrier damage.

2 . The breach sensor of claim 1 :
wherein the breach sensing element includes a humidity sensing element configured to detect a humidity level change in response to barrier damage.

3 . The breach sensor of claim 2 :
wherein the humidity sensing element is pre-calibrated with a first humidity level; further comprising a second humidity sensing element pre-calibrated with a second humidity level, different from the first humidity level; and wherein the first and second humidity sensing elements are separated by a second barrier;

4 . The breach sensor of claim 2 :
wherein the humidity sensor includes at least one of: a capacitive sensing structure or a polyimide.

5 . The breach sensor of claim 1 :
wherein the barrier is directly bonded to the breach sensing element.

6 . The breach sensor of claim 1 :
wherein the barrier includes at least one of: a encapsulation material, a cover, a wrapper, a glue, or a seal.

7 . The breach sensor of claim 1 :
wherein the barrier damage includes at least one of: a focused ion beam hole, a de-capping, a shear, a tear, an etch, or a physical attack.

8 . The breach sensor of claim 1 :
wherein the breach sensor includes a light sensor and the breach sensing element includes a light sensing element configured to detect a photo current change in response to barrier damage.

9 . The breach sensor of claim 8 :
wherein the light sensor includes an avalanche photodiode.

10 . The breach sensor of claim 1 :
wherein the circuit, in response to the barrier damage, is configured to at least one of: damage the circuit, erase a memory, transmit an alert, enter a decoy mode, or blow a fuse.

11 . The breach sensor of claim 1 :
further comprising an antenna coupled to the circuit and configured to transmit a breach signal in response to barrier damage.

12 . The breach sensor of claim 1 :
wherein the breach sensor includes a light sensor and the breach sensing element includes a light sensing element configured to generate power in response to barrier damage.

13 . The breach sensor of claim 12 :
wherein the circuit is coupled to receive the power generated by the light sensor.

14 . The breach sensor of claim 1 :
further comprising a second breach sensing element, proximate to the first breach sensing element; and wherein the two breach sensing elements are separated by a second barrier configured to separate the second breach sensing element from the first breach sensing element.

15 . The breach sensor of claim 14 :
wherein the two breach sensors are at least one of: stacked or side-by-side.

16 . An article of manufacture including at least one non-transitory, tangible machine readable storage medium containing executable machine instructions for breach sensing, comprising:
wherein the article includes,
a substrate including an integrated circuit;
a passivation layer coupled to the substrate;
a breach sensing element coupled to the circuit;
wherein the breach sensing element is on a first side of the passivation layer and the substrate is on a second side of the passivation layer;
a barrier configured to separate the breach sensing element from an ambient environment;
wherein the breach sensing element is responsive to barrier damage; and
wherein the instructions include,
monitoring an output signal of the breach sensing element; and
detecting a change in the output signal in response to barrier damage.

17 . The article of claim 16 , wherein the monitoring instruction includes:
monitoring at least one of a humidity level change or a photo current change in response to barrier damage.

18 . The article of claim 16 , wherein in response to the barrier damage the instructions include at least one of:
damaging the circuit; erasing a memory; transmitting an alert; placing the circuit into a decoy mode; or blowing a fuse.

19 . The article of claim 16 , wherein the instructions include:
distinguishing between barrier damage due to at least one of: a focused ion beam hole, a de-capping, a shear, a tear, an etch, or a physical attack.

20 . The article of claim 16 :
wherein the breach sensor includes a light sensor; and wherein the instructions includes generating power with the light sensor in response to barrier damage.

Assignees

• Nxp Bv

Inventors

• Daamen Roel
• Nguyen Viet Hoang
• Nenadovic Nebojsa
• Bancken Pascal

Classifications

• G01N27/223 Primary

  for determining moisture content, e.g. humidity (rain detectors on vehicle windows B60S1/0825) · CPC title

• G01N27/24 Primary

  Investigating the presence of flaws · CPC title

• G01N2021/8854

  Grading and classifying of flaws · CPC title

• G01N21/8851

  Scan or image signal processing specially adapted therefor, e.g. for scan signal adjustment, for detecting different kinds of defects, for compensating for structures, markings, edges (G01N21/8806 and G01N21/93 - G01N21/95692 take precedence; optical measurement of dimensions G01B11/00; optical scanning G02B26/10; image transformation G06T3/00; computerised image enhancement G06T5/00; image processing per se for flaw detection G06T7/0002) · CPC title

• G06F21/87

  by means of encapsulation, e.g. for integrated circuits · CPC title