The semiconductor industry uses a large and complex set of jargon. This set of terms represents the significant intersection of scientific and engineering disciplines in this complex, high-technology industry, including chemistry, physics, material science, electrical engineering, industrial engineering, computer science, and others. However, this jargon can make the industry impenetrable to individuals who must manage the business impacts, cybersecurity consequences, and comprehensive risk to which the industry’s products expose organizations.
In our eGuide on silicon security, we ended with a glossary to aid those readers who may have limited exposure to this industry, in an attempt to make that critical material accessible to laypersons and experts alike while maintaining reasonable accuracy and precision. Our objective was to create short, accurate definitions that are accessible to the layperson, while any subject matter expert (SME) would not say they are wrong. There are absolutely more comprehensive, rigorous explanations of each of these terms, but they reinforce the inaccessibility of the material to non-expert individuals.
We are making these definitions available here in blog format to make them more accessible than they were when buried at the end of a PDF document. We welcome readers to suggest additional terms or clarifications to these definitions to support better decision-making by non-experts.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Antifuse – A specific type of fuse. See fuse.
Broad-beam Ion Mill – A device used to ablate samples, such as microchips and ICs, with a beam of ions.
Conductor – A material which provides limited resistance to the flow of electric charge.
CPU – Central Processing Unit.
Dielectric – See Insulator.
Dual Beam – A workstation combing the functions of the FIB and SEM into a single device that allows for both imaging and editing a microchip or IC without moving the sample between workstations of different types, to improve efficiency and reduce the risk of sample contamination.
FIB – Focused Ion Beam. A technical workstation used to make modifications to a microchip or IC with a beam of ions.
Fuse – Also called an efuse. One-time-programmable (OTP) memory in which write operations are irreversible. Often used to store secure boot keys, permanently disable debug features, etc.
Gate – A core component of a transistor.
I/O – Input/Output.
IC – Integrated Circuit. A small electronic device that contains many interconnected electronic components on a single semiconductor chip.
ILD – Interlayer dielectric. An insulator separating two adjacent layers of wiring.
Insulator – A material which resists or inhibits the flow of electric charge.
Logic Cell – A digital circuit containing several transistors which performs a basic logical function, such as a Boolean AND or OR.
Microchip – An IC device manufactured using semiconductor material with layers of electronic components used to process or store information. Also referred to as a chip, computer chip, or IC.
Microcontroller – A single-chip device containing a CPU, RAM, ROM, and I/O peripherals. These are normally used in single-task applications and do not require an operating system.
Microprocessor – A standalone processing unit used in general-purpose computing tasks. These units require external components like memory and peripherals. These normally run an operating system.
Node – See Process Node.
Process Node – A vendor-specific semiconductor manufacturing process and associated design rules. Generally, in the past the node name referenced the feature size of components that could be manufactured with the process. Today the number in the node name no longer tightly corresponds to feature size.
RAM – Random-Access Memory.
Reactive Ion Etching – A type of dry etching with different characteristics than wet etching, which uses chemically reactive plasma to remove material from a target.
RIE – Reactive Ion Etcher.
ROM – Read-Only Memory.
Root of Trust (RoT) – A source that is intended to always be trusted within a system. Generally, these systems utilize cryptography to enable integrity, confidentiality, and authentication within the system.
Secure Boot – A security feature intended to protect a device’s integrity during the boot or startup process by verifying cryptographic signatures of the operating system and bootloader.
Secure Element – An integrated hardware and software component in an IC intended to protect against software and hardware attacks and isolate high-consequence data like a root of trust or cryptographic material.
SEM – Scanning Electron Microscope.
Semiconductor – A unique class of materials which is not exclusively a conductor or insulator.
Technology Node – See Process Node.
TEE – Trusted Execution Enclave. A protected area of a microprocessor’s memory and CPU intended to keep data and code secure.
Transistor – The fundamental component in ICs that controls (switches) the flow of electrical current between two terminals: the source and drain.
Vulnerability – A security defect that is present and exploitable in an environment.