AT Sensors for IC Use

Systran Federal Corp. (SFC), along with our university research partners, proposes to develop active anti-tamper (AT) sensors for the purpose of protecting sensitive integrated circuits (ICs) and data from adversaries and reverse engineers. Several IC AT techniques currently exist, but are inadequate because of high cost, lack of effectiveness, difficulty in use, unreliability, and inability to work together in a single, multi-mode sensor. SFC will address these problems by both refining existing techniques and developing new techniques and schemes for putting these into practice. For example, our previously developed active AT circuit board coatings will be redesigned with IC protection as the goal. We will rely on our previous AT experience for near-term solutions, while exploring advanced long-term AT techniques using technologies such as MEMS, nanotechnology, and materials that can detect several types of intrusion.