Patent ID: 7498644

Claim:
Circuitry for protection of an integrated circuit, which integrated circuit includes operational-circuits formed on a chip, the circuitry comprising: a plurality of detectors, integrally formed on the chip as part of the integrated circuit and dispersed among the operational-circuits on the chip, the detectors being adapted, in response to radiation incident on the chip, to trigger a security measure so as to prevent tampering with the integrated circuit, wherein the operational-circuits include components having predefined attributes, and wherein the detectors are formed by modifying at least one of the attributes of one or more of the components so as to alter the response of the detectors to the radiation relative to the response of the components having the predefined attributes, and wherein the predefined attributes are chosen from at least one of layout attributes, layout dimensions, manufacturing-process attributes, doping dosage, adding a sub-element of the component, removing the sub-element of the component, and materials type.