Schmitt Trigger-Based Key Provisioning for Locking Analog/RF Integrated Circuits

Abstract

Analog/RF performance locking techniques insert configurable components to obfuscate the biasing or the design parameters of the secured analog block. The locked circuit meets the specifications only under a specific configuration decided by the correct common key, shared by all chip instances of the same design. Key provisioning enables the design of distinct user keys for individual chip instances. This area has received little research attention, and a naive approach yields large area overhead when increasing the key size. We propose a new approach based on a Schmitt trigger (ST) circuit with configurable hysteresis. The proposed key provisioning is compatible with existing analog locking techniques and has a constant area overhead regardless of key size. This approach is tested with three analog/RF circuits to demonstrate its area scalability and effectiveness on security.