Protection of assets from scan chain vulnerabilities through obfuscation

Abstract

High-test coverage is essential during integrated circuit (IC) testing in order to avoid production flaws. In order to test ICs, scan-based testing has been commonly used due to high coverage and simple infrastructures. However, IC testing has opened a gateway to new kinds of vulnerabilities that could potentially be used to breach the assets of a system. There have been several attacks reported in literature. In addition, the increasing number of cryptodevices in modern applications and trust issues associated with the fabless semiconductor model has also given rise to major security concerns in ICs. Thus, the importance of scan chain security to protect assets of an IP/design has been increasing with the ubiquitous use of cryptochips. In this chapter, you will learn: • The importance of powerful scan-based IC testing structure and how scan chain can be used as backdoor for accessing and attacking assets. • Assets that need to protected against potential scan-based attacks. • The use of logic obfuscation to prevent potential scan-based attacks. • The use of logic obfuscation to prevent IC piracy, overproduction, out-of-spec ICs in modern horizontal semiconductor business model.