Co-Optimizing Performance and Security of Analog Integrated Circuits
Résumé
The globalization of the integrated circuit (IC) supply chain has increased the risk of IC piracy. Analog and mixed-signal (AMS) ICs are particularly vulnerable, as their design demands specialized expertise and multiple tapeouts to meet specifications, while they have limited automation support and inflexible portability across technology nodes, making them valuable intellectual assets and attractive targets for piracy. IC locking has emerged as an effective countermeasure, with several AMS IC locking paradigms proposed to date. The core idea is to embed a key mechanism within the AMS IC to control its functionality, treating the key as the designer's secret. Correct operation is achieved only when the valid key is applied, while any incorrect key renders the circuit non-functional. Existing locking solutions for purely analog blocks face the challenge of ensuring this dual objective. In this work, we propose an optimizationbased methodology that jointly synthesizes the target circuit and its key mechanism, ensuring the objective is deterministically achieved. The methodology is validated on two widely used AMS circuits: a bandgap reference and an operational amplifier.
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