Stmicroelectronics (rousset) Sas

Stmicroelectronics (grenoble 2) Sas

Alexandre Sarafianos

Jimmy Fort

Thomas Ordas

Mathieu Pierre Lisart

Fabrice Marinet

Abderrezak Marzaki

Bruno Nicolas

Yanis Linge

Clement Champeix

Daniele Fronte

Nicolas Borrel

Julien Mercier

Sylvie Wuidart

Stephane Chesnais

Francesco La Rosa

Pierre-Yvan Liardet

Julien Delalleau

Thierry Soude

Marc Mantelli

Olivier Gagliano

Thierry Soudé

Stéphane Chesnais

Jean-Max Dutertre

A semiconductor substrate includes a buried semiconductor layer and semiconductor wells. A device for detecting a possible thinning of the semiconductor substrate via the rear face thereof is formed on and in the semiconductor wells. The device is a non-inverting buffer including an input terminal and an output terminal, the device being powered between a supply terminal and a reference terminal where the buried semiconductor layer provides the supply terminal. A control circuit delivers an input signal in a first state to the input terminal and outputs a control signal indicating a detection of a thinning of the substrate if a signal generated at the output terminal in response to the input signal is in a second state different from the first state.

Method of detecting a possible thinning of a substrate of an integrated circuit via the rear face thereof, and associated device

An integrated circuit includes a semiconductor substrate having a rear face. A first semiconductor well within the substrate includes circuit components. A second semiconductor well within the substrate is insulated from the first semiconductor well and the rest of the substrate. The second semiconductor well provides a detection device that is configurable and designed to detect a DFA attack by fault injection into the integrated circuit.

Method for detecting a differential fault analysis attack and a thinning of the substrate in an integrated circuit, and associated integrated circuit

A semiconductor substrate has a front face and a back face. A first contact and a second contact, spaced apart from each other, are located on the front face. An electrically conductive wafer is located on the back face. A detection circuit is configured to detect a thinning of the substrate from the back face. The detection circuit including a measurement circuit that takes a measurement of a resistive value of the substrate between said at least one first contact, said at least one second contact and said electrically conductive wafer. Thinning is detected in response to the measured resistive value.

Method for detecting an attempt to breach the integrity of a semiconductor substrate of an integrated circuit from its back face, and corresponding integrated circuit

A semiconductor substrate of an integrated circuit is protected by a coating. The semiconductor includes a front face and a rear face. To detect a breach of the integrity of a semiconductor substrate of an integrated circuit from the rear face, an opening of the coating facing the rear face of the substrate is detected. In response thereto, an alarm is generated. The detection is performed by making resistance measurements with respect to the semiconductor substrate and comparing the measured resistance to a nominal resistive value of the semiconductor substrate.

Method for detecting a breach of the integrity of a semiconductor substrate of an integrated circuit from its rear face, and corresponding device

The disclosure concerns an electronic chip including a resistive region and a first switch of selection of a first area in contact with the resistive region.

Electronic chip

In an embodiment, a circuit includes a supply terminal, a reference terminal, a logic circuit coupled between the supply terminal and the reference terminal, and an auxiliary circuit coupled to the logic circuit. The auxiliary circuit includes a plurality of switches configured to be controlled to produce random criterions. Each random criterion causes, on each transition of an output signal of the logic, an attenuation of a current flowing between a supply terminal of the circuit and a reference terminal of the circuit; or an increase of the current flowing between the supply terminal of the circuit and the reference terminal of the circuit; or an additional current flowing through the logic circuit on a current path not passing through the supply terminal; or no change in the current flowing between the supply terminal of the circuit and the reference terminal of the circuit.

Method for randomly modifying the consumption profile of a logic circuit, and associated device

An electronic chip includes a first well having a first PN junction located therein, a second buried well located under and separated from the first well, and a first region forming a second PN junction with the second well. A detection circuit is coupled to the first well and configured to output a digital signal that has a first logic value when a potential difference within the first region is above a threshold and a second logic value when the potential difference within the first region is below the threshold.

Protected electronic chip

A circuit for protecting an integrated circuit against fault injection attacks includes an element including a dielectric which is destroyed, resulting in the occurrence of a short-circuit. The element is connected between two terminals that receive a power supply voltage of the integrated circuit.

Protection of an integrated circuit

The supply voltage for a module of an integrated circuit managed to support protection against side channel attacks. Upon startup of the integrated circuit, one action from the following actions is selected in response to a command: supplying the module with the supply voltage having a fixed value that is selected from a plurality of predetermined values, or varying the value of the supply voltage in time with a pulsed signal.

Method for managing the value of the supply voltage for a module of an integrated circuit, and associated integrated circuit

An integrated circuit includes a semiconductor substrate having a rear face. A first semiconductor well within the substrate includes circuit components. A second semiconductor well within the substrate is insulated from the first semiconductor well and the rest of the substrate. The second semiconductor well provides a detection device that is configurable and designed, in a first configuration, to detect a thinning of the substrate via its rear face, and in a second configuration, to detect a DFA attack by fault injection into the integrated circuit.

A device can be used for detecting faults. A shift register is suitable for shifting, in tempo with a clock, a binary signal alternating between two logic levels, in successive cells of the shift register. A first logic circuit is suitable for comparing values contained in at least one pair of cells of the register.

Logic device for detecting faults

An electronic device includes a logic circuit and an auxiliary circuit. The logic circuit includes a first terminal coupled to a supply voltage terminal, a second terminal intended coupled to a reference voltage terminal and an output terminal configured to deliver a signal in a high state or a low state. The auxiliary circuit is coupled between the first terminal and the second terminal and is configured to randomly generate or not generate an additional current between the first terminal and the second terminal on each change of state of the signal on the output terminal.

Device and method for managing the current consumption of an integrated module

In some embodiments, an electronic chip includes a doped semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type, and wells of the second conductivity type on the side of the front face of the chip, in and on which wells circuit elements are formed. One or more slabs of a second conductivity type are buried under the wells and are separated from the wells. The electronic chip also includes, for each buried slab, a biasable section of the second conductivity type, which extends from the front face of the substrate to the buried slab. A first MOS transistor with a channel of the first conductivity type is disposed in the upper portion of each section, where the first transistor is an element of a flip-flop. A circuit is used for detecting a change in the logic level of one of the flip-flops.

Electronic chip architecture

A secure electronic chip including a plurality of biased semiconductor wells and a well biasing current detection circuit. Each of the wells includes a transistor and a bias contact electrically isolated from the transistor. The detection circuit is electrically coupled to each bias contact and is configured to detect a bias current passing through the bias contact that is indicative of an attempt to tamper with the electronic chip.

Growing community of inventors

Pourrieres, France

Alexandre Sarafianos