NU 2015-056
Inventor
Jie Gu*
Short Description
Novel integrated circuit for tracking CMOS chip usage
Abstract
A Northwestern researcher has developed a novel circuit that can be used to track usage of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) chips in electronic devices. Silicon CMOS chips deteriorate over time, which can lead to both security and performance problems with electronic devices. Current methods for estimating age of CMOS chips require several days of device operation to make a reliable assessment and can be costly. The circuit designed in this invention can track aging of silicon in CMOS devices by applying both device-level and system-level acceleration technique. This circuit consumes only 25 μW of power and determines CMOS chip usage within seconds of operation. In addition, this hardware tracking circuit has a self-contained design and compact size (45nm), which allows it to be easily implemented into various electronic devices. Quick and efficient determination of CMOS chip usage could prevent hardware security breaches as well as provide users with information about when to reconfigure their devices to optimize performance.
Applications
Advantages
IP Status
A US patent application has been filed.