Reverse engineering resistant ROM design using transformable via-programming structure

Read only memories (ROMs) serve as an important non-volatile memory in various hardware systems to store predefined data and programs. Its pre-determined layout pattern makes unauthorized data extraction through chip-level reverse engineering easy to carry out. This paper proposes a new transformable via-programming ROM design to address the vulnerability to reverse energy attacks. Irreversible via transform triggered b y reverse engineering completely changes the electrical properties and the physical structure of ROMs that determine the stored data. Simulation results demonstrate the improvement against reverse engineering without incurring read failures or unacceptable noise margin reduction in ROMs.