Detection of hardware trojan using light emissions with sacrificial mask

1. A computing device comprising:

a processor; and

a storage device storing a set of instructions, wherein an execution of the set of instructions by the processor configures the computing device to perform acts comprising:

receiving an architecture of an integrated circuit (IC) comprising a set of frontend layers and a set of backend layers;

generating an architecture of a sacrificial layer based on the architecture of the IC, the sacrificial layer specifying power and ground connections to partially constructed devices in a partially manufactured IC that includes the set of frontend layers but not the set of backend layers; and

generating an expected emissions map by simulating light emissions from the partially constructed devices based on the power and the ground connections provided by the sacrificial layer.

2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the set of frontend layers comprises a Metal 1 (M1) layer, and the sacrificial layer comprises a Metal 2 (M2) layer.

3. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the partially constructed devices are complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) devices and the light emissions are from off-state leakage current of field effect transistors (FETs).

4. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the architecture of the sacrificial layer further specifies connections for inputs of the partially constructed devices to specific logic levels.

5. The computing device of claim 4 , wherein the simulating light emissions from the partially constructed devices is further based on the logical levels of the connected inputs of the partially constructed devices.

6. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the expected emissions map is based on an intensity of the simulated light emissions.

7. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the partially constructed devices have no connection to power or ground without the sacrificial layer.

8. An apparatus configured to perform acts comprising:

receiving a partially manufactured integrated circuit (IC) that is built according to an IC architecture, the partially manufactured IC includes a set of frontend layers of the IC architecture but not a set of backend layers of the IC architecture;

receiving an architecture of a sacrificial layer;

processing the partially manufactured IC to include the sacrificial layer by providing conducting material according to the architecture of the sacrificial layer to connect partially constructed devices in the partially manufactured IC to power and ground; and

outputting the partially manufactured IC with the sacrificial layer as a sacrificial test IC.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the set of frontend layers includes a Metal 1 (M1) layer, and the sacrificial layer is a Metal 2 (M2) layer.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the sacrificial test IC does not include the set of backend layers.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the architecture of the sacrificial layer further specifies connections for inputs of the partially constructed devices to specific logic levels, wherein conducting material further connects the inputs of the partially constructed devices according to the architecture of the sacrificial layer.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the partially constructed devices have no connection to power or ground without the sacrificial layer.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the sacrificial test IC comprises no processing layer above the sacrificial layer.

14. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a measured emissions map based on light emissions captured from a sacrificial test IC, the sacrificial test IC being a partially manufactured IC including a set of frontend layers of an IC architecture but not a set of backend layers of the IC architecture, the sacrificial test IC further comprising a sacrificial layer for powering devices in the partially manufactured IC without the set of backend layers;

receiving an expected emissions map for the sacrificial test IC; and

comparing the measured emissions map and the expected emissions map to identify deviations from the IC architecture in the frontend layers.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein the set of frontend layers includes a Metal 1 (M1) layer, and the sacrificial layer is a Metal 2 (M2) layer.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein:

the light emissions are captured from complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) devices in the sacrificial test IC, and

the light emissions are from off-state leakage current of field effect transistors (FETs).

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein the sacrificial layer further connects inputs of the devices in the partially manufactured IC to specific logic levels without the set of backend layers, wherein the expected emissions map is generated based on the specific logic levels of the inputs of the devices.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein identifying deviations from the IC architecture comprises identifying omitted devices by identifying emissions patterns missing from the measured emissions map.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein identifying deviations from the IC architecture comprises identifying one or more unauthorized devices by identifying unexpected emissions patterns in the measured emissions map that are not from authorized devices.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein identifying deviations from the IC architecture comprises identifying one or more unauthorized doping profiles by identifying unexpected emissions patterns from authorized devices.