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DoD Trusted Suppliers: Fostering Greater Chip Supply Chain Security

The U.S. government needs access to advanced microelectronics that can operate reliably under what are often extremely harsh conditions, from desert to sea to space. However, given the sensitivity of some of its end applications¡ªsystems like satellites, rockets, and missiles¡ªthe integrity and security of these SoCs is critical. Outsourced design and manufacturing leave the country vulnerable against security threats like hardware trojans, back doors, overbuilding, and counterfeiting and to supply chain disruptions triggered by conflicts, natural disasters, or pandemics.

The Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA) acts as the program manager for the DoD Trusted Foundry program, which is aimed toward cost-effectively assuring the confidentiality and integrity of SoCs during their design and manufacturing. The program encompasses the people and processes used to create and distribute microelectronics. According to the DMEA, trusted sources in this program will take measures such as safeguarding against IC tampering, protecting against reverse engineering and supply disruptions, and providing an assured ¡°chain of custody¡± for classified and unclassified SoCs.

Through the acquisition of FirstPass Engineering in 2021, ²ÝÁñÉçÇø strengthened our investment in aerospace and defense technologies, supporting the U.S. government as a  to the DoD. ²ÝÁñÉçÇø provides system design solutions with secure capabilities to address:

• Post-silicon analysis to verify design integrity and detect intrusions
• Defense against side-channel attacks, device tampering, bootloader corruption, and reverse engineering
• Tooling and design flow solutions
• Lab services

²ÝÁñÉçÇø has significant experience in development, IP, tools, and methodologies to build radiation-tolerant (RT) semiconductors with our customers. A trusted design flow with RT technology represents a key combination needed to create DoD trusted designs. These skills are becoming more important as the U.S. builds capabilities for defense in space with entities like the .

An assured microelectronics approach requires secure tools, IP, software integrity, and services. Our comprehensive synthesis, debugging, and verification solutions for SoC and FPGA-based designs enable aerospace and defense companies to deliver innovative products faster and cheaper while also meeting higher standards needed for fault-tolerant designs. For example, our tools can support device-level radiation modeling as well as beneficial code insertions to improve radiation and attack resistance.

We provide the industry¡¯s broadest portfolio of high-quality, silicon-proven IP that is compliant with the highest standards in safety, reliability, and security and are developing data and heritage to support the aerospace ecosystem. Our comprehensive solutions for integrating security and quality into not only the software and hardware development lifecycles but also the supply chain, enables government, defense, and aerospace to detect and remediate defects and vulnerabilities early, minimizing risk and maximizing productivity. And by applying fault-tolerant and fault-resistant methods, we can help our customers design with confidence, so their SoCs work as intended in mission-critical systems.