|Publication number||US7710286 B1|
|Application number||US 11/731,423|
|Publication date||May 4, 2010|
|Filing date||Mar 30, 2007|
|Priority date||Mar 30, 2007|
|Also published as||US8004419, US20100182020|
|Publication number||11731423, 731423, US 7710286 B1, US 7710286B1, US-B1-7710286, US7710286 B1, US7710286B1|
|Inventors||Randal Quincy Thornley, David Alan Roberts, William James Tiffany|
|Original Assignee||Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (18), Referenced by (8), Classifications (9), Legal Events (4)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
The present invention relates to techniques for detecting access to an integrated circuit device.
Point of sale (POS) terminals allow customers to make payments using a variety of payment instruments, such as credit cards, debit cards, smart cards and ATM cards. To ensure that the payment information transmitted from the POS terminals to a payment center is not accessed by unauthorized recipients, this information is typically encrypted and secured (e.g., using digital authentication) during transmission. However, confidential payment information entered by the user into the POS terminal could still be intercepted by tampering with the integrated circuits of the POS terminal. Thieves can use such information fraudulently to receive payment. It may also be desirable to maintain confidentiality of integrated circuit device layouts to prevent thieves from copying integrated circuit designs. Clearly the need to prevent unauthorized access to integrated circuits is present.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,288 describes a technique to prevent unauthorized access to a memory device through the use of a conductive mesh outside of the memory device. To access the memory device, a thief must cut through the conductive mesh. Cutting through the mesh, however, alters the conductive properties of the mesh. Altering portions of the conductive mesh can change impedances, create short circuits, and/or create open circuits. Detection of a change in an impedance, short circuits and/or open circuits is associated with tampering and in turn causes the memory to become erased. Thereby, unauthorized access to memory is prevented. However, use of such a mesh wire bond cage is expensive. Purchasers of integrated circuits are often very cost sensitive.
In one embodiment, an apparatus includes an integrated circuit device and a conductive region formed-over the integrated circuit device. An indication of access to the integrated circuit device can be based in part on measurement of a change of at least one property of the conductive region. In one implementation, the measured property is an impedance of a portion within the region. In one implementation, the conductive region includes conductive powder and/or conductive fibers interspersed within resin.
In another embodiment, a method indicates access to an integrated circuit device based in part on a change to a property of a region molded over the integrated circuit device. In one implementation, indicating access includes measuring an impedance through a portion of the region, comparing the measured impedance with a reference impedance value for the portion, and indicating an access based on a substantial difference between the measured impedance and the reference impedance value for the portion. In one implementation, the region includes conductive material interspersed among resin.
Other embodiments and advantages are described in the detailed description below. This summary does not purport to define the inventions. The inventions are defined by the claims.
The accompanying drawings, where like numerals indicate like components, illustrate embodiments of the invention.
Reference will now be made in detail to some embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
An insulating material 20 is formed over integrated circuit 11. In one example, the insulating material is plastic or rubber. Conductive material 22 is formed over insulating material 20. Conductive material 22 is formed as a continuous region over insulating region 20. An indication that tampering with integrated circuit 11 has occurred is based in part on measuring a change of at least one property of conductive material 22. In one example, conductive material 22 is a resin-based material including conductive materials such as conductive powder, conductive fibers and/or carbon nanotubes. For example, the conductive resin-based material is a mixture as described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0217472, filed Apr. 14, 2004, by inventors Aisenbrey and Larsen. For example, conductive material 22 is a conductive ElectriPlast™ thermoplastic from Integral Technologies. In one example, the resin is any of polymer resins produced by GE PLASTICS, Pittsfield, Mass., other plastic material produced by GE PLASTICS, silicones produced by GE SILICONES, Waterford, N.Y., or other flexible resin-based rubber compounds produced by other manufacturers.
The mixture of base resins with conductive materials makes the overall conductive material 22 conductive rather than insulative. The resin provides structural integrity. The conductive fibers, conductive powders, carbon nanotubes, or a combination thereof, are homogenized within the resin during the molding process, providing the electrical continuity.
In one example, the conductive powders are formed from non-metals, such as carbon or graphite and may also be metal plated. In another example, the conductive powders are metals such as stainless steel, nickel, copper, or silver, and may also be metal plated. In one example, the conductor fibers are nickel plated carbon fiber, stainless steel fiber, copper fiber and/or silver fiber.
The following provides examples of how insulating material 20 and conductive material 22 are formed in assembly 10. Insulating material 20 is formed by injecting insulating material into a mold to establish the shape of insulating material 20 over integrated circuit 11. Conductive material 22 is formed by injecting a mixture of resin and conductive materials into a mold to establish the shape of conductive material 22. In one example, the conductive materials are homogenized (i.e., made an approximately uniform consistency) within a base resin when molded over insulating material 20. In an example, conductive material 22 is cut, stamped, extruded, laminated, and/or milled to provide the desired shape and size. Conductive material 22 is applied using a syringe.
In one example, conductive material 22 also serves as a heat sink to absorb heat generated by integrated circuit 11 to reduce the likelihood of overheating by integrated circuit 11. In one example, conductive material 22 may inhibit x-ray probing of integrated circuit 11 and thereby inhibit attempts to determine the integrated circuit device layout.
Conductive contacts 24 are formed on inside upper surface 13 of package 12 under the outer edges of conductive material 22. A conductive contact 24 is provided to input a current to conductive material 22. An output conductive contact 24 is provided to receive a current from conductive material 22. Multiple complementary conductive contacts are provided to transfer current through the conductive material. A single conductive contact 24 can provide current (or other signal) that is measured by one or more other conductive contact(s) 24.
During manufacture of assembly 10, impedances through portions of the conductive material 22 are measured. Direct or alternating current can be applied through conductive material 10 using a conductive contact 24 and received through one or more other conductive contacts 24. The impedance measured is a reference impedance value for the portion of conductive material 22 through which such current flows. For example, a resistance, an inductance and/or a capacitance are measured. The impedance values measured using currents received by each conductive contact 24 can be stored as reference impedance values in a memory device accessible to integrated circuit 11. The impedances can be measured for particular ambient temperatures and a table can be used to indicate the reference impedance values for each temperature.
Integrated circuit 11 includes an analog control circuit (not shown) to issue a current to conductive material 22 and an analog switch (e.g., de-multiplexer) (not shown) to control which conductive contact 24 issues the current. Integrated circuit 11 uses an analog switch (e.g., multiplexer) (not shown) to control which conductive contact 24 transfers received current for measurement by integrated circuit 11.
When assembly 10 is available for use by customers, integrated circuit 11 compares the measured impedance value against a reference impedance value stored in memory. In one example, every few microseconds integrated circuit 11 issues a current (direct or alternating) through one or more conductive contacts 24 and receives the current through one or more conductive contacts 24. When the measured impedance value differs from the reference impedance value by a significant percentage, an indication of potential tampering is provided. One or more components of impedance (such as resistance, inductance, or capacitance) can be measured and compared with a reference resistance, inductance or capacitance.
The temperature of conductive material 22 affects the impedance value of conductive material 22. Integrated circuit 11 may include a temperature sensor (not depicted) to measure the temperature of integrated circuit 11. Mechanical proximity of conductive material 22 to integrated circuit 11 means that temperature measured by the temperature sensor can be used as the approximate temperature of the conductive material 22. Integrated circuit 11 can adjust a reference impedance value of the conductive material based on the approximate temperature. In turn, smaller changes in impedance can be associated with tampering. Were temperature of the conductive material 22 not taken into account, larger changes in the impedance of conductive material 22 would be used to trigger an indication of tampering and accordingly some tampering may not be detected.
In one example, the indication of tampering causes a memory that stores sensitive information (such as encryption keys or customer information) to be erased. In one example, the indication of tampering is provided by storing the indication in memory of the integrated circuit. Other indications can include communicating to a server computer that tampering has occurred such that the device that uses the assembly 10 (such as a point of sale device) is disabled.
In this embodiment, integrated circuit 201 includes a conductive material 205 formed over its surface to detect access to the integrated circuit. Application of conductive material 205 can be accomplished using any of the embodiments described herein. Detection of tampering can occur using any of the embodiments described herein. Accordingly, use of mesh and conductive material provides redundant tampering capabilities.
The point of sale device of
Thieves attempt to access sensitive information of customers, such as previously stored account numbers and personal identification numbers, and sensitive information of the point of sale device, such as encryption keys. The techniques described herein may prevent access to this sensitive information. For example, sensitive information may be stored in SDRAM 202. In response to detecting intrusion, the SDRAM is erased.
Although some embodiments of the present invention have been described in connection with certain specific embodiments for instructional purposes, the present invention is not limited thereto. In another example of assembly 10 of
In one example, in addition or as an alternative to measuring an impedance, a natural resonating frequency of the conductive material can be measured to determine an expected resonating frequency. Subsequently, the natural resonating frequency of the conductive material can be measured again and compared with the expected natural resonating frequency of the conductive material. If the measured and expected frequencies differ, then a determination is made that tampering with the assembly has occurred. A voltage or current can be propagated through the conductive material to determine the natural resonating frequency.
Accordingly, various modifications, adaptations, and combinations of various features of the described embodiments can be practiced without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.
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|Cooperative Classification||H01L23/576, G08B13/128, H01L2924/15192, H01L2924/15174, H01L2924/15311, H01L2224/16225|
|Mar 30, 2007||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: ZILOG, INC.,CALIFORNIA
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:THORNLEY, RANDAL;ROBERTS, DAVID;TIFFANY, WILLIAM;REEL/FRAME:019179/0860
Effective date: 20070322
|Jun 30, 2009||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: MAXIM INTEGRATED PRODUCTS, INC.,CALIFORNIA
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:ZILOG, INC.;ZILOG INTERNATIONAL, LTD.;REEL/FRAME:022892/0099
Effective date: 20090218
Owner name: MAXIM INTEGRATED PRODUCTS, INC., CALIFORNIA
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:ZILOG, INC.;ZILOG INTERNATIONAL, LTD.;REEL/FRAME:022892/0099
Effective date: 20090218
|Sep 30, 2010||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: IXYS CH GMBH, SWITZERLAND
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:ZILOG, INC.;REEL/FRAME:025066/0847
Effective date: 20100217
|Nov 4, 2013||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 4