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computer hardware locks only on microprocessors could reduce piracy of integrated circuits

Computer engineers at the University of Michigan and Rice University have designed a comprehensive approach to counter this costly infringement. Each microprocessor has its own "lock" and key. Who owns the patent will be whoever has the keys. The microprocessor can communicate with the appropriate security to the owner of the patent, to put into operation, and may operate only after you remove the lock.

engineers call their technical EPIC, short for Ending Piracy of Integrated Circuits (to end piracy circuit integrated). The technique relies on established cryptography methods and introduces subtle changes in the microprocessor design process. But this does not affect the performance or power consumption of the microprocessor.

Jarrod Roy, a computer engineer from Michigan, presented a paper on EPIC at the Conference on Design Automation and Test in Europe (Design Automation and Test in Europe, DATE) in Germany on 13 March.

piracy of integrated circuits has increased in recent years since U.S. companies began to contract with external suppliers of production characteristics of new microprocessors advanced. The transfer of microprocessor designs to overseas sites opened new doors for the profiteers who have used the chips to manufacture MP3 devices, cell phones, computers and other equipment counterfeit.

"pirated microprocessors are sometimes sold for pennies, but they are exactly the same as normal chips," Markov said. "They were designed in the U.S. and usually manufactured overseas, where intellectual property laws are more lax. Someone copy schemes or microprocessors manufactured without authorization."

The construction and installation of a factory with all Advanced technology costs between 3,000 and 4,000 million U.S. dollars, said Farinaz Koushanfar, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice, co-author of the article.

"Therefore, a growing number of semiconductor companies including Texas Instruments and Freescale (formerly a division of Motorola) recently announced it would cease manufacturing chips with finer features, and contracted production in Asia East. However, even within the United States, it has sometimes happened that some employees say the integrated circuits that operate free of defects, then these are sold in markets turbid. "

With EPIC protection built in, each integrated circuit is manufactured with a few extra switches that work like a combination lock. Each will also have the ability to produce their own identification number, random, 64-bit not be changed. semiconductors are not manufactured with an ID number, but rather with the tools necessary to produce the number during activation.

EPIC In the context of semiconductors will not work properly until activated. For activation of a microprocessor, the manufacturer must install it and leave the semiconductor contact the owner of the patent through a regular phone line or Internet connection.

"All chips are produced from the same design scheme, but differ when put into operation the first time and generate their ID," Roy said. "Before activation, nothing is known about the numbers."

The microprocessor will transmit its ID number securely to the patent holder. It records the number, find the combination to the padlock off the microprocessor in particular, and also safely respond with the key that activates it.

The peculiarity of the activation key eliminates the possibility that someone can observe it and reuse it without breaking. Since the key is generated in the process would not make sense to copy it as one would copy the keys to activate a computer program, which are printed on the envelopes of compact discs.

In theory there are ways to illegally copy chips protected by EPIC, Markov said. But EPIC makes this very difficult.

"If someone is determined, really, to try and had paid a hundred million dollars to spend on the effort, could make the reverse engineering of the entire microprocessor separating all its parts. But the point of piracy is to avoid such costs," said. "The goal of a practical system like ours is not to do something impossible, but to ensure that buying a license and legal production of the semiconductor is cheaper than forgery."

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New microchip with an energy efficiency up to 10 times the normal

Joyce Kwong led the project with MIT colleagues Anantha Chandrakasan, Yogesh Ramadass and Naveen Verma. Contributors to the Texas Instruments were Markus Koesler, Korbinian Huber and Hans Moormann.

The key to improving energy efficiency was to find ways to make the circuits on the chip works with a voltage level much lower than usual. While most current chips operate at around one volt, The new design operates on only 0.3 volts.

However, reducing the operating voltage is not as simple as it seems, because existing microchips have been developed over many years to operate at higher standard voltage. Memories and logic circuits have to be redesigned to operate with power supplies that are of low voltages.

One of the biggest problems the team had to overcome was the variability that occurs in typical chip manufacturing. By using lower voltage levels, variations and imperfections in the silicon chip become more problematic. Designing chips to minimize their vulnerability to such variations was an important part of the strategy.

So far, the new chip is only a proof of concept. Commercial applications could be available within five years, and perhaps earlier, in many areas. For example, portable or implantable medical devices, mobile phones, and devices connected to computer networks may be based on such chips, thus increasing significantly its operating times without recharging. You can also have a wide variety of applications for military use in the production of autonomous networks of tiny sensors that could be dispersed in a battlefield.

In some applications, such as medical devices to be implanted in patients, the goal is to make the power requirements so low that such devices can be energized by the "environmental energy" (using the body's own heat or movement to provide the necessary energy.)

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new record high frequency circuit silicon

Ken O, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Florida, as well as principal investigator, has shown with his staff of 410 gigahertz circuit using CMOS technology, with which built many of the components of personal computers, mobile phones and portable electronic devices.

This frequency of 410 gigahertz eclipses the previous record for CMOS circuits set in February 2006 and 200 gigahertz. More importantly, is about 60 gigahertz higher than the previous record set using alternative but more expensive technology based on indium phosphide. Advanced industrial technology company Texas Instruments, known as the process 45-nanometer CMOS, serves as the basis for the new circuit.

"This is probably the first time in 30 years has shown that a silicon-based circuit has a higher operating frequency than one based on indium phosphide and similar compounds, "says O." It is exciting because if these circuits can be constructed efficiently, then you can build inexpensive detection systems and imaging for a wide range of applications. The result could reduce the cost for these systems by a factor of 100 or more. "

In the past, have produced extremely high-frequency circuits, but only with exotic materials are costly to manufacture. By contrast, CMOS technology is normally used in most circuits in the integrated circuit industry. This opens the door to widespread manufacture and distribution circuits high frequencies.

These new and viable applications include, for example, environmental monitoring equipment through continuous operation and high sensitivity to pollutants, noxious gases or bioterrorism agents. In the field of images, high-frequency circuits make possible techniques that can penetrate clothing to "see" hidden weapons or explosives.

high frequency circuits can also be used in medical equipment designed to facilitate early detection of skin cancers and others, and in industrial systems that monitor layers of the pills to make sure you have the thickness and uniformity appropriate.

Positive Ground Ford Trctor

carbon replacement Nokia

The electronics industry has led to its limit the capabilities of silicon, the material that forms the heart of every computer, and the carbon has been considered a promising replacement. In particular, a material called graphene (a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a flat network) could allow electronics to process information and hold radio transmissions 10 times better than silicon-based devices.

However, until now, switching from silicon to carbon has not been possible because experts believed they needed graphene handle in the same way that silicon chips: a single crystal wafer 20 to 30 centimeters in diameter. The largest single-crystal graphene sheets made to date have had a diameter of a few millimeters, so that would not be large enough even for a single chip.

Stephen Chou, Xiaogan Liang and Fu Zengli realized in the laboratory that does not always need a large wafer that they could place small crystals of graphene only in the active areas of the chip. They developed a new method to achieve this goal and have demonstrated functional manufacturing graphene transistors and high performance.

As an example, have built transistors on printed graphene crystals. These transistors have demonstrated high performance: are 10 times faster than silicon transistors in moving "holes" electronic, an important measure of speed.

The new technology could find almost immediate use in mobile phones and other wireless devices that require high energy output. Depending on the level of industry interest, the technique could be applied within a few years to various types of wireless communication devices