Integrated circuit device with protection against malicious attacks
AssigneeNagravision Sarl
InventorsSylvain Pelissier, Pascal Aubry
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An integrated circuit device includes a semiconductor substrate layer and at least one active layer including electronic components and supported by the semiconductor substrate layer. The semiconductor substrate layer and the at least one active layer are sandwiched between two protective layers acting as physical obstacles to prevent the passage of radiations. In addition, the two protective layers are electrically connected to a detection circuit that can monitor an electrical information of the protective layers and detect a physical attack of at least one of the two protective layers, based on the monitored electrical information.
Claims20
An integrated circuit device comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate layer;
- and
- at least one active layer including electronic components and supported by said semiconductor substrate layer, wherein:
- the semiconductor substrate layer and the at least one active layer are sandwiched between two protective layers acting as physical obstacles to prevent passage of radiations and electrically connected to a detection circuit, and
- the detection circuit is configured to monitor electrical information of the two protective layers and detect a physical attack of at least one of the two protective layers, based on the monitored electrical information, and the detection circuit is configured to measure a relative value between respective electrical values of the two protective layers, and detect a deviation of the measured relative value from a reference value to detect the physical attack.
A product comprising:
- an integrated circuit device that includes:
- a semiconductor substrate layer, and
- at least one active layer including electronic components and supported by the semiconductor substrate layer, wherein:
- the semiconductor substrate layer and the at least one active layer are sandwiched between two protective layers acting as physical obstacles to prevent passage of radiations and electrically connected to a detection circuit, and
- the detection circuit is configured to monitor electrical information of the two protective layers and detect a physical attack of at least one of the two protective layers, based on the monitored electrical information, and the detection circuit is configured to measure a relative value between respective electrical values of the two protective layers, and detect a deviation of the measured relative value from a reference value to detect the physical attack.
An integrated circuit device comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate layer, wherein:
- the semiconductor substrate layer and at least one active layer are sandwiched between two protective layers acting as physical obstacles to prevent passage of radiations and electrically connected to a detection circuit, and
- the detection circuit is configured to monitor electrical information of the two protective layers and detect a physical attack of at least one of the two protective layers, based on the monitored electrical information, and the detection circuit is configured to measure a relative value between respective electrical values of the two protective layers, and detect a deviation of the measured relative value from a reference value to detect the physical attack.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.