Logic Encryption for Resource Constrained Designs
Abstract
In the face of the increasing cost of manufacturing semiconductor devices, many designers of Integrated Circuits (IC) have been electing to outsource the fabrication of ICs to pure play foundries in order to reduce manufacturing costs. However, this may lead to IC designs being stolen, counterfeited, maliciously modified, or otherwise mishandled by bad actors in the supply chain. In response, researchers have devised methods of thwarting such attacks against intellectual property in the IC supply chain. One such method is known as logic encryption. Logic encryption is a hardware security strategy that adds key inputs, which require the correct secret key input, known only to the designer, to be applied for the circuit to have correct output behavior. The field of logic encryption has evolved over the past decade during which increasingly strong attacks and increasingly strong encryption strategies have been developed. However, the cost in terms of power, performance, and area (PPA) of implementing logic encryption has often been ignored in favor of increasing the level of security for proposed methods, and how well they protect against known attacks. Considering these costs is an important hurdle in transitioning the technology to commercial-grade designs, and a strategy for constraining the cost of logic encryption is needed.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 18, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1118209
Entities
People
- David Luria
Organizations
- University of Cincinnati