Semiconductor chip having tampering feature

摘要

Silicon-based or other electronic circuitry is dissolved or otherwise disabled by reactive materials within a semiconductor chip should the chip or a device containing the chip be subjected to tampering. Triggering circuits containing normally-OFF heterojunction field-effect photo-transistors are configured to cause reactions of the reactive materials within the chips upon exposure to light. The normally-OFF heterojunction field-effect photo-transistors can be fabricated during back-end-of-line processing through the use of polysilicon channel material, amorphous hydrogenated silicon gate contacts, hydrogenated crystalline silicon source/drain contacts, or other materials that allow processing at low temperatures.

主权项

1. A method for fabricating a self-destructive electronic chip, comprising:
obtaining a structure including a semiconductor layer and an electrically insulating layer adjoining the semiconductor layer; forming electronic circuitry on the semiconductor layer; forming a triggering circuit including a normally-OFF heterojunction field-effect photo-transistor on the structure; forming a reactive layer underneath the electrically insulating layer of the structure for disabling the electronic circuitry, the reactive layer being directly or indirectly reactive to current flowing through the normally-OFF heterojunction field-effect photo-transistor; forming at least one actuating element electrically connected to the normally-OFF heterojunction field-effect photo-transistor, the actuating element being configured to cause the reactive layer to undergo a chemical reaction; forming an antenna underneath the electrically insulating layer for transmitting and/or receiving signals, the antenna being electrically connected to the electronic circuitry, and forming an encapsulation layer encapsulating the reactive layer and the antenna.