Hardware trust through layout filling: A hardware trojan prevention technique

Abstract

The insertion of malicious alterations to a circuit, referred to as Hardware Trojans, is a threat considered more and more seriously during the last years. Numerous methods have been proposed in the literature to detect the presence of such alterations. More recently, Design-for-Hardware-Trust (DfHT) methods have been proposed, that enhance the design of the circuit in order to incorporate features that can either prevent the insertion of a HT or that can help detection methods. This paper focuses on a HT prevention technique that aims at creating a layout without filler cells, which are assumed to provide a great opportunity for HT insertion, in order to make the insertion of a HT in a layout as difficult as possible.