Charge Measuring Device

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This patent describes a charge measuring device designed to detect focused ion beam (FIB) attacks or similar manipulations on integrated semiconductor circuits (such as microchips). The invention integrates a capacitor, a field-effect transistor (FET), and a charge-collecting device (e.g., an antenna) into the semiconductor device. By monitoring changes in electrical behavior—specifically, the relationship between a controlled voltage and the current through the FET—caused by extra charges introduced through external attacks (like ion beams), the device can detect and evidence tampering or exposure to charged particle attacks even after they occur.

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• Enhancing security for sensitive microchips storing confidential or cryptographically protected data (e.g., payment chips, secure authentication tokens, encrypted storage).
• Forensic inspection of integrated circuits to determine if a device has been subjected to physical attacks such as FIB tampering during or after manufacturing or deployment.
• Integration into hardware security modules (HSMs) or trusted execution environments for real-time or post-incident detection of side-channel or invasive attacks.
• Quality assurance and tamper evidence in semiconductor fabrication facilities.
• Enabling automatic lock-down or additional authentication steps in devices that detect tampering or attempted extraction of protected information.

BenefitsContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

• Ability to precisely detect extremely small amounts of charge, allowing the device to sense even subtle tampering or attacks.
• Post-event detection capability—can ascertain if an attack occurred even if the chip was offline at the time, providing persistent tamper evidence.
• Fully integrable into standard semiconductor chip manufacturing processes—no need for special fabrication steps, making it easy to add security to existing designs.
• Provides a direct electrical indication (e.g., a voltage) tied to physical charge changes, allowing straightforward integration into security circuits or system logic.
• Helps prevent unauthorized extraction or manipulation of sensitive data by enabling the chip to disable critical functions if tampering is detected.

Technical Classifications (CPCs)

Inventors & Applicants

Patent Abstract

The invention relates to a charge measuring device for detecting focused ion beam attacks on integrated semiconductor circuits in particular. The charge measuring device comprises a capacitor (2) with one pole (3) and an additional pole (4); a field effect transistor (5) which comprises a source connection (6), a drain connection (7), and a gate connection (8); and a charge collecting device (9), said components being produced together in an integrated semiconductor circuit. The one pole (3) of the capacitor (2) is conductively connected to the charge collecting device (9) and the gate connection (8) of the field effect transistor (5), and the one pole (3) of the capacitor (2), the gate connection (8), and the charge collecting device (9) are all insulated from additional circuit elements of the integrated semiconductor circuit. The charge measuring device is operated in that a voltage (10) is applied to the additional pole (4) of the capacitor (2), a drain source current (11) flows through the field effect transistor (5), and a relationship between the voltage (10) applied to the additional pole (4) of the capacitor (2) and the drain source current (11) is ascertained. A comparison of the ascertained relationship with a previously ascertained or calculated reference relationship between the voltage (10) applied to the additional pole (4) of the capacitor (2) and the drain source current (11) allows the change of the charge quantity to be deduced, said change of the charge quantity being stored in the capacitor (2) by the charge collecting device (9).