On IC traceability via blockchain

Abstract

Traceability of ICs is important for verifying provenance. We present a novel IC traceability scheme based on blockchain. A blockchain is an immutable public record that maintains a continuously-growing list of data records secured from tampering and revision. In the proposed scheme, IC ownership transfer information is recorded and archived in a blockchain. This safe, verifiable method prevents any party from altering or challenging the legitimacy of the information being exchanged. However, we also need to establish correspondence between a record in a public database and the physical device, in an unclonable way. We propose an embedded physically unclonable function (PUF) to establish this correspondence The blockchain ensures the legitimacy of an IC's current owner, while the PUF safeguards against IC counterfeiting and tampering. Our proposed solution combines hardware and software protocols to let supply chain participants authenticate, track, trace, analyze, and provision chips during their entire life cycle.