A Brief Tutorial on Mixed Signal Approaches to Combat Electronic Counterfeiting

Abstract

As integrated circuit (IC) designs become more and more complex, the globalization of the IC supply chain has become inevitable. Because multiple entities are required to design, fabricate, test, and distribute an IC, the need for reliable security and assurance methods to maintain trust throughout the entire supply chain has never been more critical. This tutorial introduces a variety of mixed-signal approaches to combat electronic counterfeiting. An LDO-based odometer capable of accurately classifying ICs as new or aged is presented as a promising method for detecting counterfeit and recycled ICs. Additionally, this tutorial discusses the use of physical unclonable functions (PUFs) as primitives for generating cryptographic keys for digital signatures, encryption, or authentication. The design process of all PUFs is introduced and the key characteristics and evaluation metrics of state-of-the-art PUFs are defined. Finally, to promote digital IP protection, several methods for camouflaged digital gates are presented and analyzed. The threshold voltage defined (TVD) logic families discussed are capable of implementing any N-to-1 logic function and are highly resilient to reverse engineering attacks.

Keywords

• Analog/mixed-signal (AMS)
• IC security
• IC assurance
• counterfeit detection
• LDO
• LDO-based Odometer