New Trust Approach Development
Abstract
This project funds a program of research to develop the next generation, technology-driven approach to microelectronics trust and assurance, to include state-of-the-art (SOTA) microelectronics, to ensure continued access to SOTA microelectronic technologies while maintaining the required level of assurance in all environments. DoD’s ability to access commercial technology for its custom, secure, trusted and assured needs is diminishing as SOTA suppliers become fewer and more focused on serving the global commercial market. DoD’s technology needs are broad, and relying on a single source supplier is not feasible. Alternative, advanced manufacturing methods, technologies, and design tools are needed to produce secure, trusted and assured SOTA parts from commercial sources and to preserve access to these advanced nodes while protecting DoD and Defense Industrial Base intellectual property (IP) from exploitation. It is also intended to dramatically improve the capabilities of the JFAC with regard to verification and validation of SOTA microelectronics assurance. This program of research will develop innovative design, manufacturing, imaging, tagging, and control and assessment approaches for protecting DoD’s microelectronics supply chain and IP, including alternatives for trusted and assured strategic radiation-hardened electronics in advanced technology nodes for next-generation strategic systems, obfuscation and disaggregation technology development, and other assurance mitigations. It will develop advanced imaging technologies and forensics, Design for Assurance techniques, active hardware assurance controls, electronic component markers, and a data and analysis capability to enable auditing and independent verification and validation of commercial designs. It also develops, demonstrates, and implements concepts for the cost-effective production of custom microelectronics in low volumes and protection of sensitive IP from exploitation. Assurance technologies that can be applied in a broad range of trusted and commercial environments can mitigate the risk associated with sole-source suppliers and increase the Government’s ability to leverage commercial capabilities. The suite of developed technologies, e.g., alternative manufacturing methods and design tools, will enable DoD to obfuscate the purpose of sensitive devices, verify their origin and function, and protect sensitive IP from exploitation even while using the global supply chain for most hardware. In cases where the risk involved precludes that level of commercial collaboration, low-volume manufacturing technologies developed under this project would permit DoD to more cheaply produce low volumes of sensitive microelectronics in trusted environments. The project would also support using a repository of vetted third-party IP and electronic data automation (EDA) tools to expedite circuit design and transition promising technologies to use. This project initially received additional funding in FY 2019 to support Microelectronics Innovation for National Security and Economic Competitiveness (MINSEC) efforts in the following focus areas: capture and secure microelectronics R&D; new microelectronics development, demonstration, and capability insertion; radiation hardening by process (RHBP) and radiation hardening by design (RHBD); and radio frequency (RF) and optoelectronics. In FY 2019, funding for those MINSEC activities was reallocated from Project Number 646 to Project Number 647.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Project
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2020
- Source ID
- 646_0604294D8Z_4_0400_PB_2020
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