# US 2019/0318136 A1 · An active shield for detecting an intrusion on an integrated circuit > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2019/0318136 A1 - Document ID: US20190318136A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 16/338,272 - Filed: 2017-10-03 - Published: 2019-10-17 - Earliest claimed: 2016-10-04 - Assignees: Nagravision S.A. - Applicants: Nagravision S.A. - Inventors: Jean-Marie MARTIN - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20190318136A1 ## CPC - G06F 21/87: by means of encapsulation, e.g. for integrated circuits - H10W 42/405: {using active circuits} - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - H10W: GENERIC PACKAGES, INTERCONNECTIONS, CONNECTORS OR OTHER CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10 ## Abstract A method and a device for detecting an attack on an integrated circuit. Attacks which are detectable using an active shield as described herein include physical and electrical contacting using a probe and modification of interconnect routing, including modification through the use of focused ion beam technology. ## Claims ### Claim 1 In an integrated circuit, an active shield for detecting an intrusion on the integrated circuit, the active shield comprising: a first driver to drive a first conductive track having a first predetermined routing within the integrated circuit; and a second driver to drive a second conductive track having a second predetermined routing within the integrated circuit; wherein at least a part of the second conductive track lies adjacent to a part of the first conductive track at a given spacing and over a given length of the two conductive tracks, the given spacing and the given length being such that a rising or falling edge of a pulse generated on the second conductive track causes a glitch to appear on the first conductive track due to a resulting mutual capacitance between the first and second conductive tracks; wherein the active shield is configured to: drive a first number of test pulses on the second conductive track during a detection phase; and detect for glitches on the first conductive track during the detection phase and to compare a number of detected glitches with a number of expected pulses, the number of expected pulses being related to but not exceeding the first number of test pulses. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The active shield according to claim 1, further comprising an error signal generator to generate an error signal when the number of detected glitches and the number of expected pulses are different. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The active shield according to claim 1, wherein the first driver has an output impedance which is significantly higher than an output impedance of the second driver, at least during the detection phase. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The active shield according to claim 1, the first driver being a tri-state buffer having at least one low-impedance state and a high-impedance state, the active shield being further configured to switch the tri-state buffer to the high-impedance state during the detection phase. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The active shield according to claim 1, wherein the intrusion involves contacting either the first conductive track or the second conductive track by a probe or by an ion beam. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The active shield according to claim 1, wherein the intrusion involves performing a modification to the predetermined routing of either or both of the first and second conductive tracks or removing a dielectric covering of the integrated circuit above the active shield. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The active shield according to claim 1, further comprising a first aggression pulse counter to count a number of pulses on the second conductive track, the active shield configured to signal an error when the number of pulses indicated by the first aggression pulse counter and the first number of test pulses are different. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The active shield according to claim 1, further comprising: a victim output buffer to resolve the detected glitches victim pulses; a victim pulse counter to count a number of victim pulses; and a comparator to compare the number of victim pulses with the expected number of pulses. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The active shield according to claim 1, further comprising a third driver to drive a third conductive track having a third predetermined routing within the integrated circuit, at least a part of the third conductive track lying adjacent to a part of the first conductive track at a second given spacing over a second given length of the first and third conductive tracks such that the second conductive track is sandwiched between the first and third conductive tracks, the second given spacing and the second given length being such that a rising or falling edge of a pulse generated on the second and third conductive tracks causes a glitch to appear on the first conductive track due to a resulting mutual capacitance between the first, second and third conductive tracks, the active shield further configured to drive a second number of test pulses on the third conductive track during the detection phase. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The active shield according to claim 9, further comprising a programmable skew generator to generate a skew between at least one edge of at least one of the first test pulses and a corresponding edge of a corresponding second test pulse. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The active shield according to claim 10, wherein the first number of test pulses is equal to the second number of test pulses and said skew is generated for a number of edges corresponding to a difference between the first number of test pulses and the expected number of test pulses. ### Claim 12 (depends on 9) The active shield according to claim 9, wherein the first number of test pulses is different from the second number of test pulses, the expected number of pulses differing over the first number of pulses by the difference between the first number of test pulses and the second number of test pulses. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The active shield according to claim 1, said conductive tracks forming at least part of an upper layer of the integrated circuit such that a part of the integrated circuit which is to be protected from intrusion lies on a layer situated directly underneath at least a part of said conductive tracks. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) An integrated circuit comprising an active shield according to claim 1. ### Claim 15 A method for detecting a hardware attack on an integrated circuit, the integrated circuit comprising: a first driver to drive a first conductive track having a first predetermined routing within the integrated circuit; and a second driver to drive a second conductive track having a second predetermined routing within the integrated circuit; the first driver having an output impedance which is significantly higher than an output impedance of the second driver; wherein at least a part of the second conductive track lies adjacent to a part of the first conductive track at a given spacing and over a given length of the two conductive tracks, the given spacing and the given length being such that a rising or falling edge of a pulse generated on the second conductive track causes a glitch to appear on the first conductive track due to a resulting mutual coupling capacitance between the first and second conductive tracks; the method comprising: driving a number of test pulses on the second conductive track during a detection period over which the first driver remains steady; and counting a number of glitches on the first conductive track and comparing the number of glitches with an expected number of pulses, the expected number of pulses being related to but not exceeding the number of test pulses.