Obfuscated Circuit Design for Trusted Chip Fabrication
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Solution Overview
Problem
The risk of intellectual property (IP) piracy and integrated circuit (IC) piracy increases when semiconductor companies outsource IC manufacturing to untrusted third-party foundries, as they cannot fully control the manufacturing process, leading to potential reverse-engineering and unauthorized use of their designs.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating obfuscated circuits into the original circuit design, which can modify the output to corrupt the intended functionality, allowing the original designer to recover the original functionality using focused-ion-beam (FIB) technology or other methods, ensuring secure manufacturing even with untrusted foundries.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If semiconductor companies outsource IC manufacturing to third-party foundries, then manufacturing costs are reduced and market response speed is improved, but security risk increases due to inability to control the manufacturing process
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by incorporating obfuscation circuits into the original circuit design before outsourcing manufacturing. These pre-installed circuits ensure that even if the foundry steals the design, the pirated ICs will produce incorrect outputs, thus protecting intellectual property while still allowing outsourcing for cost and speed benefits
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary anti-action by embedding obfuscation circuits that actively prevent piracy. The obfuscation circuits are designed to corrupt the output of pirated designs, creating a counter-measure that neutralizes the potential harm from design theft while maintaining the ability to outsource manufacturing
2Reliability
If obfuscated circuits are incorporated into the original circuit, then protection against IP piracy is improved, but design complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the obfuscation function with the original circuit design by incorporating obfuscation circuits that work together with the functional circuits. This integration approach provides piracy protection while minimizing additional design complexity compared to separate obfuscation systems
Solution Approach 2:
The obfuscation circuits are designed to serve multiple purposes: they protect against piracy by corrupting output in stolen designs, while still allowing the original design to function correctly when manufactured by authorized foundries. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate protection mechanisms
3Reliability
If dummy contacts or split manufacturing process are used for camouflaging, then security is improved, but design overhead and cost increase considerably
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential protection function from complex camouflaging techniques like dummy contacts and split manufacturing. By focusing on embedding simple obfuscation circuits that corrupt output, the patent achieves security protection while eliminating the excessive design overhead and cost associated with traditional camouflaging methods
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach provides robust protection against IP piracy by ensuring that any pirated ICs function incorrectly, allowing the original designer to retrieve the original functionality, thus maintaining secure manufacturing and reducing the need for key management and separate foundry facilities.
Implementation Method 1
the obfuscated circuit includes a pad for recovering the output of the original circuit by modifying the obfuscated circuit
Data Source
AI summary
Circuits and methods for protecting against intellectual property piracy and integrated circuit piracy from an untrusted third party are provided. A circuit can include an original circuit and an obfuscated circuit incorporated into the original circuit and changing the output of the original circuit, wherein the obfuscated circuit is configured to recover the output of the original circuit by modifying the obfuscated circuit. In addition, a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device can include designing a circuit including an original circuit and an obfuscated circuit, and fabricating the circuit, wherein the obfuscated circuit is configured to change an output of the original circuit and to recover the output of the original circuit by modifying the obfuscated circuit.