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AssigneeNXP B.V.
InventorsKars-Michiel Hubert Lenssen, Robert Jochemsen
Estimating the term…
Data, stored in MRAM-cells should be protected against misuse or read-out by unauthorised persons. The present invention provides an array of MRAM-cells provided with a security device for destroying data stored in the MRAM-cells when they are tampered with. This is achieved by placing a permanent magnet adjacent the MRAM-array in combination with a soft-magnetic flux-closing layer. As long as the soft-magnetic layer is present, the magnetic field lines from the permanent magnet are deviated and flow through this soft-magnetic layer. When somebody is tampering with the MRAM-array, e.g. by means of reverse engineering, and the flux-closing layer is removed, the flux is no longer deviated and affects the nearby MRAM-array, thus destroying the data stored in the MRAM-cells.
1-14. (canceled)
An array of MRAM-cells provided with a security device for destroying data stored in the MRAM-cells when the array is subject to tampering, wherein the security device is a magnetic device.
A method for protecting from unauthorised read-out an array of MRAM-cells having a data content, the method comprising automatically destroying the data content of at least some of the MRAM-cells by a magnetic field when the array is tampered with.
A tamper-resistant memory device comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.