A powerless and non-volatile counterfeit IC detection sensor in a standard logic process based on an exposed floating-gate array

摘要

Counterfeit ICs pose a threat to designing secure and reliable electronic systems. To better detect and prevent counterfeit ICs from entering the supply chain, an eflash based powerless non-volatile sensor using floating-gate (FG) technology is demonstrated in a 0.35μm standard logic process. By exposing the FG to the environment, the proposed sensor can record any physical tamper attempt affecting the charge stored on the exposed FG. Test results confirm that anomalous events such as temperature spikes, humidity changes, or increased dust particle density can be recorded by the sensor powerlessly, and later read out and analyzed whenever the power is available.