Security chip, especially for a chip card, has a protection arrangement that is triggered by an applied pressure that causes two chemical reagents to come into contact thus directly or indirectly destroying secret memory contents

摘要

Security chip (1), e.g. for a chip card, has a data store, especially a key memory and a protection arrangement (15-19) for detecting an attempt to access the memory, and where such an attempt is detected to delete the memory contents. The protection arrangement comprises at least one hollow space, with a change in state of the hollow space causing deletion of the key memory contents. To prevent a change in state in one of the hollow spaces from accidentally triggering memory deletion, a balancing circuit is connected to one or more sensors to balance out measurement value drift. The memory contents are destroyed by a chemical reaction or the heat generated by it. The chemical reaction is caused when a pressure change causes a valve separating two chemical reagents to open, thus allowing them to mix and react.