Protected electronic integrated circuit chip
AssigneesSTMicroelectronics (Rousset) SAS, STMicroelectronics (Research & Development) Limited
InventorsMathieu Lisart, Bruce Rae
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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.
Claims17
A method of protecting an integrated circuit chip against a backside attack, comprising:
- emitting photons in a direction to pass through a semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit chip;
- bouncing the emitted photons off a first reflector shield at the backside towards a front side of the semiconductor substrate;
- bouncing the photons reflected by the first reflector shield off a second reflector shield adjacent the front side of the semiconductor substrate;
- using a first photon detector at the front side of the semiconductor substrate to detect the emitted photons reflected by the second reflector shield;
- and
- generating an alert for said backside attack in response to photon detection.
A method of protecting an integrated circuit chip against a backside attack, comprising:
- emitting photons in a direction to pass through a semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit chip;
- bouncing the emitted photons off a first reflector shield at the backside towards a front side of the semiconductor substrate;
- bouncing the photons reflected by the first reflector shield off a second reflector shield adjacent the front side of the semiconductor substrate;
- using a first photon detector at the front side of the semiconductor substrate to detect the emitted photons reflected by the second reflector shield;
- using a second photon detector at the front side of the semiconductor substrate to detect the emitted photons reflected by the second reflector shield;
- and
- generating an alert for said backside attack if photon detection by the first photon detector is within a threshold of photon detection by the second photon detector.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.