System and method for on demand, vanishing, high performance electronic systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9294098-B2
Application number	US-201314090004-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 26, 2013
Priority date	Nov 26, 2013
Publication date	Mar 22, 2016
Grant date	Mar 22, 2016

Abstract

An integrated circuit system having an integrated circuit (IC) component which is able to have its functionality destroyed upon receiving a command signal. The system may involve a substrate with the IC component being supported on the substrate. A module may be disposed in proximity to the IC component. The module may have a cavity and a dissolving compound in a solid form disposed in the cavity. A heater component may be configured to heat the dissolving compound to a point of sublimation where the dissolving compound changes from a solid to a gaseous dissolving compound. A triggering mechanism may be used for initiating a dissolution process whereby the gaseous dissolving compound is allowed to attack the IC component and destroy a functionality of the IC component.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An integrated circuit system having an integrated circuit component which is able to have its functionality destroyed upon receiving a command signal, the system comprising:
a substrate;
the integrated circuit component being supported on the substrate;
a module disposed in proximity to the integrated circuit component, the module including:
a cavity;
a dissolving compound in a solid form disposed in the cavity;
a heater component configured to heat the dissolving compound to a point of sublimation where the dissolving compound changes from a solid to a gaseous dissolving compound; and
a triggering mechanism for initiating a dissolution process whereby the gaseous dissolving compound is allowed to attack the integrated circuit component and destroy a functionality of the integrated circuit component.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the triggering mechanism includes a membrane which hermetically seals the cavity with the dissolving compound inside the cavity, the membrane configured to allow a current therethrough and to be resistively heated to a point of being ablated in response to the current flowing therethrough, to thus open the cavity to release the gaseous dissolving compound therefrom, which then at least partially dissolves the integrated circuit component to destroy functionality of the integrated circuit component.

3. The integrated circuit of claim 2 , wherein the membrane is ablated within about 50 microseconds when a current within a range of about 0.5 amp to about 1.0 amp is flowed through the membrane.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the triggering mechanism is used to initiate heating of the heater component to cause sublimation of the solid dissolving compound to a gaseous dissolving compound.

5. The integrated circuit system of claim 1 , wherein the dissolving compound comprises xenon difluoride.

6. The integrated circuit system of claim 5 , wherein the xenon difluoride in solid form comprises at least one xenon difluoride crystal.

7. The integrated circuit system of claim 1 , wherein the heater component comprises at least one of:
a wire for receiving an electric current; and
a hot plate structure upon which the module is disposed and which receives an electric current.

8. The integrated circuit system of claim 1 , wherein the integrated circuit component includes at least one of:
silicon;
germanium;
molybdenum;
titanium;
tungsten;
copper;
aluminum;
silicon oxide;
silicon nitride;
gold;
aluminum oxide; and
Doped glass.

9. The integrated circuit system of claim 1 , wherein the module is disposed on the substrate in proximity to the integrated circuit, and wherein the module and integrated circuit are enclosed within a hermetically sealed structure.

10. The integrated circuit system of claim 1 , wherein the cavity of the module is formed in a block of silicon; and
wherein the cavity is coated with a layer of metal.

11. The integrated circuit system of claim 1 , wherein the integrated circuit component is formed with at least one trench to increase a surface area thereof that is exposed to the gaseous dissolving compound.

12. A module adapted for destroying a functionality of an integrated circuit component upon receipt of a command signal, the module comprising:
a hermetically sealed housing having a cavity and being disposed in proximity to the integrated circuit component;
a dissolving compound in solid form disposed in the cavity, the dissolving compound in solid form able to be sublimated to a gaseous dissolving compound upon an application of heat sufficient to raise a temperature of the solid dissolving compound to the sublimation temperature;
a heater component for heating the dissolving compound to the sublimation temperature;
a triggering mechanism having a portion which hermetically seals the cavity with the solid dissolving compound inside the cavity, the portion adapted to be ablated in response to a triggering signal, to thus open the cavity and enable release of the gaseous dissolving compound therefrom, with the gaseous dissolving compound acting to dissolve at least a portion of the integrated circuit component so as to destroy a functionality of the integrated circuit component.

13. The module of claim 12 , wherein the solid dissolving compound comprises at least one crystal of xenon difluoride.

14. The module of claim 12 , wherein the heater component comprises a metal element configured to flow a current therethrough to accomplish resistive heating of the solid dissolving compound to the sublimation temperature.

15. The module of claim 14 , wherein at least a portion of the heater component is dissolvable by the dissolving compound.

16. The module of claim 12 , wherein the triggering mechanism includes a metal membrane configured to be ablated in response to the triggering signal, and wherein the triggering signal is a current flow applied to the metal membrane.

17. The module of claim 12 , wherein the housing of the module comprises silicon with the cavity being coated with a layer of gold or aluminum.

18. A method for rapidly destroying a functionality of an integrated circuit component, the method comprising:
positioning a module in proximity to the integrated circuit component;
housing a solid dissolving compound within a housing of the module, the dissolving compound able to be sublimated to a gaseous dissolving compound upon being heated to a sublimation temperature;
applying a signal to a heating component to heat the solid dissolving compound to the sublimation temperature to create the gaseous dissolving compound; and
using the gaseous dissolving compound to dissolve at least a portion of the integrated circuit component to thus destroy its functionality.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
positioning a membrane over an opening in the housing of the module so as to hermetically seal the housing of the module; and
ablating the membrane to release the gaseous dissolving compound from the housing of the module.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the operation of ablating the housing comprises applying an electrical signal to a trigger mechanism associated with the membrane, which causes an electrical current to be flowed through the membrane to ablate the membrane; and wherein the operation of housing a solid dissolving compound in the housing of the module cavity comprises housing at least one crystal of xenon difluoride in the housing of the module.

21. The method of claim 18 , further comprising including the operation of using a metal within at least one part of one of the module or the integrated circuit component to act as a barrier, wherein the metal is not dissolvable when exposed to the gaseous dissolving compound, to thus prevent at least a portion of the module or the integrated circuit component from being dissolved by the gaseous dissolving compound.

22. An integrated circuit system having an integrated circuit component which is able to have its functionality destroyed upon receiving a command signal, the system comprising:
a substrate;
the integrated circuit component being supported on the substrate;
a dissolving compound in a solid form disposed in proximity to the integrated circuit component;
a coating covering the dissolving compound, the coating selected to be meltable at a desired temperature; and
a heater which is configured to be triggered by the command signal to heat the coating to the desired temperature, thus me

Assignees

• L Livermore Nat Security Llc

Inventors

• Shah Kedar G
• Pannu Satinderpall S

Classifications

• H03K19/17768 Primary

  for security · CPC title