Counterfeit Chip Detection using Scattering Parameter Analysis

TL;DR

This paper presents a non-invasive, low-cost method for detecting counterfeit chips by analyzing impedance variations using scattering parameters, applicable directly to soldered chips without system modifications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach leveraging scattering parameters for impedance-based counterfeit chip detection, compatible with existing systems and validated on real samples.

Findings

Effective differentiation between genuine and counterfeit chips

Applicable to soldered chips without system modifications

Validated with extensive measurements on real samples

Abstract

The increase in the number of counterfeit and recycled microelectronic chips in recent years has created significant security and safety concerns in various applications. Hence, detecting such counterfeit chips in electronic systems is critical before deployment in the field. Unfortunately, the conventional verification tools using physical inspection and side-channel methods are costly, unscalable, error-prone, and often incompatible with legacy systems. This paper introduces a generic non-invasive and low-cost counterfeit chip detection based on characterizing the impedance of the system's power delivery network (PDN). Our method relies on the fact that the impedance of the counterfeit and recycled chips differs from the genuine ones. To sense such impedance variations confidently, we deploy scattering parameters, frequently used for impedance characterization of RF/microwave circuits. Our proposed approach can directly be applied to soldered chips on the system's PCB and does not require any modifications on the legacy systems. To validate our claims, we perform extensive measurements on genuine and aged samples from two families of STMicroelectronics chips to assess the effectiveness of the proposed approach.