LUCA

Securing electronic hardware components against side-channel attacks (SCA) is one of the major challenges for current and future hardware security. The LUCA (Laser Ultrasonic for hardware Cybersecurity Application) project proposes to develop a disruptive approach for retro-engineering processes applied in the field of hardware physical security for electronic components, involving a contactless and non-destructive technique. Picosecond ultrasonic corresponds to an all-optical excitation and detection of GHZ-THz acoustic waves in the component of interest. After an initial laser excitation (opto-acoustic transduction), synchronized onto the work-on clock period of the component, an acoustic pulse propagates from the surface inside of the component. Involving a second laser pulse (probe, under interferometric or reflectivity measurements), back-scattered acoustic echoes, induced by acoustic impedance variations, and also a potential temporal modulation of the detected optical signal, known as time-resolved Brillouin scattering, yield information about the in-depth structure of the component within a picosecond time resolution and under axial resolutions down to the nm scale. The interaction of the acoustic pulse with the component under operation will be investigated and used for the localization of optical integrated countermeasures. The influence of the electric voltage corresponding to a nominal work-on of the powered device and their interaction with the acoustic dynamics will be investigated, into model systems such as multi-layered structures, or prototypical samples such as basic N-type MOSFET transistors towards typical industrial devices (nm), to provide first a proof of the basic working concept on simple structures and more sophisticated internally structured components. Retro-engineering based onto this disruptive ultrasonic/hypersonic approach will be compared to Single-spot Laser fault Injection (S-LFI) or Thermal Laser Stimulation (TLS).