Characterisation Core Facility
The secure characterisation core facility supports academic and industrial partners in the evaluation of the robustness of components (notably chips and associated supports) against current threats. The objective is to enable the validation of products and countermeasures using techniques similar to those employed by attackers, within a framework designed to protect the confidentiality of the work.
Services and Offerings Related to the Micro-PackS Platform
In synergy with the characterization core facility, the collaborative Micro-PackS platform provides industrial companies, SMEs, and academic partners with an integrated offering of technological services and shared equipment:
- Micropackaging & Prototyping
Assembly, interconnection, and heterogeneous integration of components on flexible or rigid substrates. - Security Characterization & Reliability
Performance evaluation, environmental testing, and aging/reliability studies of devices under stress. - Characterization & Failure Analysis
Advanced diagnostics of integrated circuits, infrared imaging, photoemission, and non-destructive testing. - NFC / RFID Diagnostics & Pre-certification
Compliance, range, and security validation for connected objects and smart cards. - Sample Preparation
Chip decapsulation (package removal), sub-micron thinning, and physical preparation for pre-silicon or post-silicon security analysis. - Access to Infrastructure
Provision, under confidential lease, of a cleanroom spanning over 700 m² housing more than 100 state-of-the-art pieces of equipment.
Expertise Resources and Equipment
The core facility provides state-of-the-art technical resources and advanced expertise to support its partners in the security validation of their products. It relies on the infrastructures of Micro-PackS and the Centre of Microelectronics in Provence (CMP).
Equipment of the Security Laboratory (CEA / MSE / Micro-PackS):
- 3 LASER fault injection benches: including innovations in bi-spot analysis, infrared visualization, and timing control.
- 4 electromagnetic (EM) fault injection benches and FBBI (Forward Body Bias Injection) equipment.
- 3 side-channel analysis benches: power consumption measurements and electromagnetic emanations.
- Photoemission cameras and thermal laser stimulation (TLS) benches.
- Pre-silicon simulation tool FISIC (Fault Injection Simulator for Integrated Circuits).
A tailored response to your needs
In the face of growing threats, our solutions make it possible to anticipate and analyse vulnerabilities at an early stage, by integrating multiple levels of security:
- Early detection of attacks and assessment of emerging risks.
- Enhanced product security against increasingly complex threats (cyberattacks, organised crime, terrorism, etc.).
- A proactive, scalable approach, taking into account the ongoing race between attackers and defenders.
- Protection for all stakeholders: users, operators, designers and manufacturers.
Recognised benefits
Our platform offers a highly secure framework and proven methodologies to ensure a reliable and confidential evaluation of the tested devices.
- Access to the most advanced attack techniques to better anticipate vulnerabilities.
- Secure environment: isolated platform with strict access control.
- Guaranteed confidentiality: each user has a personal removable hard drive to store their work.
- Flexible interfacing with any type of medium, facilitating tests on a wide range of devices.
- Customised approach: option to use an automated solution or develop your own analysis method.
- Multidisciplinary and shared team involving Mines Saint-Étienne (EMSE), CEA-Leti, Gemalto (Thales DIS), and STMicroelectronics.
A comprehensive offering dedicated to secure chip characterization
Our laboratory offers comprehensive and integrated expertise in the security analysis of electronic components.
- Sample preparation using advanced techniques.
- Data acquisition using multiple expert methods.
- Processing and extraction of results for an in-depth assessment of vulnerabilities.
Areas of Characterization Expertise:
- Electrical testing: assessment of chip behaviour under stress.
- Power consumption analysis (SPA/DPA – Simple/Differential Power Analysis).
- Electromagnetic analysis (SEMA/DMA – Simple/Differential Electro-Magnetic Analysis).
- Fault Injection by LASER and Electromagnetism (EM): simulation of physical attacks to test component robustness.