Importance of IR drops on the modeling of laser-induced transient faults

Abstract

Laser fault injection attacks induce transient faults by locally generating transient currents capable of temporarily flip the outputs of several gates. Many models used to simulate transient faults induced by laser consider several elements to better represent the effects of the laser on ICs. However, a laser-induced current between VDD and GND, which provokes significant IR drops, has been neglected. This paper highlights the importance of the induced IR drops on the modeling of laserinduced transient faults by using IR drop CAD tools. It also shows that laser-induced IR drops can be sufficiently strong to produce alone transient faults. As a result, the number of faults on a case-study circuit is accentuated whether IR drop effects are taken into account.

Further Analysis of Laser-induced IR-drop

“…In this case, a laser shot also induces a current that flows from VDD to GND causing a temporary drop in supply voltage (IR-drop) known by designers to be a source of timing failures. As the induced IR-drop may be of significant amplitude and duration [16], [17], it has to be taken into account while performing LFI simulation.…”