Dual Beam Laser Interferometry and Ferroelectric Analysis for Physical Assurance of In-Memory Computing and Sensing Technologies
Abstract
Funds are sought by University of Florida (UF), Florida Institute for Cybersecurity (FICS) Research to acquire an Aixacct TF 2000E Analyzer with Semiautomatic Double-Beam Laser Interferometer (aixDBLI) that will support education and research on hardware security and trust assessment of microelectronic devices. The globalization of the electronics industry and outsourcing of integrated circuits (IC) fabrication to offshore foundries have resulted in longer supply chain and risen critical challenges for the Department of Defense (DOD) including (i) ease of cloning and reverse engineering, (ii) development of advanced physical attacks (iii) sub-standard IC quality and more importantly detection of counterfeit operations. Such problems have widespread implications for critical US military, financial, power, space, and transportation systems. FICS Research was established to be the nation s premier multidisciplinary research institute in the advancement of cybersecurity. FICS Research faculty include leading researchers in the area of hardware security with projects funded by DOD agencies. One important new research thrust of the team is detecting semi-invasive attacks for IC security analysis of in-memory computing devices and chips that support critical machine learning and artificial intelligence hardware and accelerators. Of particular significance is emerging materials and technologies, such as memristors and their crossbar arrays, ferroelectric thin films and transistors, and other novel in-memory computing devices that need to be characterized and verified by advanced probing and measurement. The sought-after aixDBLI can perform these cutting-edge analyses and measurement. The aixDBLI can calibrate and detect malfunction, nonuniformity, hysteresis, degradation, aging, hardware attacks and security issues within the in-memory computing chips and other IC specimens. These features make it superior to conventional 3D X-ray tomography and Scanning Electron Microscopy. The integration of the aixDBLI into FICS Research SeCurity and AssuraNce (SCAN) laboratory, which supports 20 faculty and over 150 PhD students, will establish a novel workflow for advanced packaging and interposer level security and assurance. Ongoing research projects at UF that will greatly benefit from the aixDBLI to educate the next generation of workforce for DOD on physical assurance topics including but not limited to IC package tampering, interposer security, counterfeit detection, and defense-in-depth for protecting DOD ICs fabricated in untrusted foundries. The FICS Research team will develop virtual labs to promote interest from undergraduates and high school students. FICS Research shall also work closely for workforce development and distance education related to the aixDBLI Dual Beam Laser Interferometry and Ferroelectric Analysis for assurance and IC hardware security through on-site training events and online tutorials. In addition, Florida Applied Research and Engineering (FLARE) at UF, which is a classified contractor, will be working closely with FICS Research to make the SCAN lab facilities and the sought-after system available for ITAR and classified research.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 07, 2024
- Source ID
- FA95502310670
Entities
People
- Mark Tehranipoor
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Florida