Split Manufacturing Security via Placement Perturbation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The semiconductor industry faces significant security vulnerabilities due to the high cost of maintaining state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, leading to outsourcing which introduces risks of reverse engineering, malicious circuit insertion, and intellectual property piracy, as current design tools do not prioritize security in the distributed supply chain.
Innovation Solution
Implementing split manufacturing of integrated circuits, where only the front-end-of-line layers are manufactured at an untrusted high-end foundry and the back-end-of-line layers at a trusted low-end foundry, using network-flow based attacks and placement perturbation techniques to enhance security while minimizing overhead.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the semiconductor industry outsources fabrication to high-end foundries to reduce manufacturing costs, then fabrication cost decreases, but security vulnerabilities increase due to lack of control over design in distributed supply chain
Solution Approach 1:
The fabrication process is segmented into two distinct parts: FEOL (front-end-of-line) manufacturing performed at an untrusted high-end foundry, and BEOL (back-end-of-line) manufacturing performed at a trusted low-end foundry. This segmentation allows the design to be split such that critical security-sensitive layers are manufactured in a trusted environment while still leveraging high-end fabrication capabilities for the non-critical FEOL layers, thereby reducing overall security vulnerabilities while maintaining cost efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
A trusted foundry acts as an intermediary in the supply chain, receiving the FEOL-manufactured substrates and completing the BEOL fabrication process. This intermediary trusted entity ensures that the critical portions of the manufacturing process occur in a secure environment, mitigating the security risks associated with outsourcing to untrusted foundries while still allowing cost-effective outsourcing of the FEOL process
2Device complexity
If designers have no control over their design in distributed supply chain, then globalization of IC production flow reduces design complexity and fabrication cost, but attackers can perform reverse engineering, malicious circuit insertion, and IP piracy
Solution Approach 1:
The design is segmented into FEOL and BEOL portions, with the BEOL containing security-critical elements that remain under designer control through trusted foundry manufacturing. This segmentation maintains design integrity for critical functions while still allowing globalization benefits for non-critical portions
Solution Approach 2:
The design incorporates preliminary security measures through the split manufacturing approach, where the BEOL layers are specifically designed to prevent reverse engineering and malicious insertion. The trusted foundry process and design techniques applied to BEOL create inherent security barriers before the product reaches the market, countering potential attacks in advance
3Object-affected harmful factors
If split manufacturing is implemented to enhance security, then security vulnerabilities are reduced, but manufacturing complexity increases due to coordination between multiple foundries
Solution Approach 1:
The manufacturing process is segmented into two independent but coordinated stages: FEOL manufacturing at one foundry and BEOL manufacturing at another. This segmentation allows each foundry to operate independently with well-defined interfaces, reducing the overall manufacturing complexity compared to a fully integrated process while still achieving security benefits
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are various embodiments to enhance the security of a circuit design after a global routing of the circuit design and an assignment of wire layers for the circuit design. A tree can be extracted from the circuit design. The tree can include multiple gates and location information for the gates. The tree can be perturbed by moving one or more locations of one or more gates.