678
7 Countermeasures Against Hardware Trojans
7.4.2 Analysis of the Typical Microcircuit Design Route
Figure 7.13 shows the stages of a standard process of development of modern
microcircuits.
During the requirements stage, the essence of the critical specifications of the
future product is determined. During the following specification and design stage,
detailed descriptions and block diagrams are created based on the results of implementation of the first phase. Based on this, alternative teams work on test scenarios
and practical implementation of IC design. During the implementation stage, the
code is written in the HDL (hardware description language); the IC composition
here can include external modules—third-party IP blocks.
Depending on the licence type, third-party IP blocks can be transferred to the
developer in various forms, from a full source HDL description to a netlist or a
physical development model. In a number of cases, a real IP block can be directly
inserted into a set of masks during their production. Netlist is a representation of the
circuit of the low level with the help of inserted graphs of the electronic circuit. They
Requirements
Specification/design
Test generator
Third-party
intellectual property
Test
implementation
Implementation
Synthesis
Topology layout
Verification
Equivalence check
List of connections
Mask production
Manufacturing
Wafer-level testing
Packaging
Device-level testing
Shipment
Attack on synthesis
Fig. 7.13 Production lifecycle of microcircuit development [72]
7 Countermeasures Against Hardware Trojans
7.4.2 Analysis of the Typical Microcircuit Design Route
Figure 7.13 shows the stages of a standard process of development of modern
microcircuits.
During the requirements stage, the essence of the critical specifications of the
future product is determined. During the following specification and design stage,
detailed descriptions and block diagrams are created based on the results of implementation of the first phase. Based on this, alternative teams work on test scenarios
and practical implementation of IC design. During the implementation stage, the
code is written in the HDL (hardware description language); the IC composition
here can include external modules—third-party IP blocks.
Depending on the licence type, third-party IP blocks can be transferred to the
developer in various forms, from a full source HDL description to a netlist or a
physical development model. In a number of cases, a real IP block can be directly
inserted into a set of masks during their production. Netlist is a representation of the
circuit of the low level with the help of inserted graphs of the electronic circuit. They
Requirements
Specification/design
Test generator
Third-party
intellectual property
Test
implementation
Implementation
Synthesis
Topology layout
Verification
Equivalence check
List of connections
Mask production
Manufacturing
Wafer-level testing
Packaging
Device-level testing
Shipment
Attack on synthesis
Fig. 7.13 Production lifecycle of microcircuit development [72]