Fight against theft, copying and counterfeiting of integrated circuits

In recent years, the microelectronics industry has been faced with a considerable increase in cases of counterfeiting, theft and illegal copying of integrated circuits. Globally, counterfeiting is estimated to account for 7-10% of the global semiconductor market , and affects all electronic components and integrated circuits manufactured worldwide, representing a colossal economic loss for the legal industry and tens of thousands of lost jobs. Over and above the economic and social aspects, counterfeit integrated circuits also pose a serious problem of confidence for electronic and microelectronic equipment embedded in complex systems, particularly for sensitive applications such as the military and aerospace sectors. It is therefore strategic for the microelectronics industry to protect the intellectual property of IC designers, as well as the supply chain of their customers.

This article presents the main threats to the intellectual property of integrated circuit and virtual component (IP) designers, placing them within the product lifecycle of the microelectronics industry. It also presents the main counterfeit detection strategies and methods commonly used to secure supply chains. But counterfeit detection is not enough, as it does not cover all threats such as over-manufacturing, reverse engineering and cloning. Protection strategies and methods must be devised as early as possible by the designer to limit the risks to his intellectual property. The designer needs to devise and insert into the hardware systems that will effectively combat theft, illegal copying and counterfeiting of integrated circuits. By the term "salutary hardware" or "salware" we mean a hardware system, difficult to detect/control, inserted into an integrated circuit and used to provide intellectual property information (e.g. trademark or user license) and/or to remotely activate the circuit after manufacture and during use. This is the subject of this article. Readers will find a list of acronyms at the end of the article.