5. Conclusion

Combating the theft, illegal copying and counterfeiting of integrated circuits and IP is proving to be a crucial issue for the microelectronics industry. As this article has shown, the threats are many and varied, targeting not only the intellectual property of designers, but also the supply chain of customers/consumers. Protecting designers' intellectual property has become a design constraint that needs to be taken into account right from the earliest stages of electronic product specification and design. Good practices (choice of suppliers, wholesalers) and the detection of counterfeit products alone, while essential for securing supply chains, are not enough on their own to solve the problem of protecting designers' intellectual property. Designers can follow a number of strategies and methods to increase the security of their intellectual property. For example, passive countermeasures...