Hitachi, Ltd.

Renesas Technology Corp.

Hitachi Ulsi Engineering Corp.

Hitachi Ulsi Systems Co., Ltd.

Hitachi Vlsi Engineering Corp.

Yukio Kawashima

Yoshitaka Kinoshita

Hideaki Nakamura

Takeo Kon

Hirotaka Mizuno

Yoshio Masumura

Wiring lines for the supply of a voltage to feed a drive voltage to an integrated circuit formed in a semiconductor chip are disposed so as to cover a main surface of the semiconductor chip, so that, if the wiring lines are removed for the purpose of analyzing information stored in the semiconductor chip, the integrated circuit does not operate and it is impossible to analyze the information. Further, there is provided a processing detector circuit for detecting that the wiring lines have been tampered with. When the processing detector circuit detects a change in the state of the wiring lines, the integrated circuit is reset. Thus, it is possible to improve the security of information stored on the card.

Semiconductor device including an arrangement for detection of tampering

Wiring lines for the supply of a voltage to feed a drive voltage to an integrated circuit formed in a semiconductor chip are disposed so as to cover a main surface of the semiconductor chip, so that, if the wiring lines are removed for the purpose of analyzing information stored in the semiconductor chip, the integrated circuit does not operates and it is impossible to analyze the information. Further, there is provided a processing detector circuit for detecting that the wiring lines have been tampered with. When the processing detector circuit detects a change in the sate of the wiring lines, the integrated circuit is reset. Thus, it is possible to improve the security of information stored on the card.

Semiconductor device and IC card including supply voltage wiring lines formed in different areas and having different shapes

Between an external terminal and the gate of one of output MOSFETs whose source or drain is connected to the external terminal, there is connected a P-channel type first protective MOSFET whose gate is connected to a high voltage side power supply terminal and which has a channel length equal to or larger than that of the output MOSFET, or an N-channel type second protective MOSFET whose gate is connected to a low voltage side power supply terminal and which has a channel length equal to or larger then that of the output MOSFET. When the external terminal is discharged by device charge, one of the protective MOSFETs is turned on, and the charge on the gate side of the output MOSFET can be likewise released by device charge to prevent ESD (Electro-Static Discharge) breakdown.

Semiconductor device

Growing community of inventors

Chitose, Japan

Yukio Kawashima