Towards the Avoidance of Counterfeit Memory: Identifying the DRAM Origin

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel technique to identify the origin of DRAM modules, aiming to detect counterfeit chips and enhance security and reliability in electronic systems.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new method for identifying DRAM origin, effectively distinguishing modules from different manufacturers to prevent counterfeit usage.

Findings

Successfully identifies DRAM origin from three major manufacturers

Reliable detection of counterfeit DRAM modules

Enhances security and reliability in electronic systems

Abstract

Due to the globalization in the semiconductor supply chain, counterfeit dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips/modules have been spreading worldwide at an alarming rate. Deploying counterfeit DRAM modules into an electronic system can have severe consequences on security and reliability domains because of their sub-standard quality, poor performance, and shorter life span. Besides, studies suggest that a counterfeit DRAM can be more vulnerable to sophisticated attacks. However, detecting counterfeit DRAMs is very challenging because of their nature and ability to pass the initial testing. In this paper, we propose a technique to identify the DRAM origin (i.e., the origin of the manufacturer and the specification of individual DRAM) to detect and prevent counterfeit DRAM modules. A silicon evaluation shows that the proposed method reliably identifies off-the-shelf DRAM modules from three major manufacturers.