Photonic emission analysis studies the faint light that transistors emit as they switch to observe what a running chip is doing. eShard offers a turnkey photonic emission lab. It runs on the esDynamic platform alongside side-channel analysis and fault injection.
Each time a transistor switches, it can emit a tiny amount of near-infrared light. A sensitive camera can detect this light through the back of the chip. Security researchers use it to locate sensitive operations on the die. In some cases, they can also observe data being processed. Published research has shown that this technique can recover cryptographic keys (Schlösser et al., Simple Photonic Emission Analysis of AES, CHES 2012).
Photonic emission uses backside access to the chip, like Laser Fault Injection. esDynamic manages campaigns and data.
eShard shares the configuration of this lab on request. Contact Pertech to discuss your target and requirements.
Photonic emission analysis captures the faint light that transistors emit when they switch, usually through the back of the chip. It is used to locate and study security-sensitive operations on a running chip.
Yes, photonic emission analysis is a form of side-channel analysis. Like power and electromagnetic analysis, it uses a physical effect of a running chip to learn about the data it processes. Researchers recovered a full AES key this way in 2012 (Schlösser et al., CHES 2012).
eShard offers photonic emission as one of its turnkey hardware security labs. Its other labs cover side-channel analysis and EM, laser and glitching fault injection.
eShard provides the specification of its photonic emission lab on request. Contact Pertech to arrange a configuration for your targets.
You can buy eShard's photonic emission analysis lab from Pertech Embedded Solutions, eShard's partner in Israel.
