Building trusted ICs using split fabrication

Kaushik Vaidyanathan, Bishnu Prasad Das, Huseyin Ekin Sumbul, Renzhi Liu, Larry T. Pileggi

Abstract: Due to escalating manufacturing costs the latest and most advanced semiconductor technologies are often available at off-shore foundries. Utilizing these facilities significantly limits the trustworthiness of the corresponding integrated circuits for mission critical applications. We address this challenge of cost-effective and trustworthy CMOS manufacturing for advanced technologies using split fabrication. Split fabrication, the process of splitting an IC into an untrusted and trusted component, enables the designer to exploit the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing capabilities available offshore without disclosing critical IP or system design intent. We show that split fabrication after the Metall layer is secure and has negligible performance and area overhead compared to complete IC manufacturing in the off-shore foundry. Measurements from split fabricated 130nm testchips demonstrate the feasibility and efficacy of the proposed approach.