"Transistors Repurposed As Microchip 'Clock' To Address Security Concerns and Supply Chain Weakness"
Microchip fabrication plants in the US can fit billions of data processing transistors onto a tiny silicon chip, but a "clock" to time the operation of those transistors must be manufactured separately, thus creating a weak point in chip security and the supply chain. A new solution, presented by a team of researchers at Purdue University, uses commercial chip fabrication techniques and materials to produce specialized transistors that serve as the building blocks of this timing device, thereby eliminating the weak point and enabling the addition of new functionality through improved integration. This article continues to discuss the method in which existing techniques are repurposed to produce a microprocessor timing device in a standard chip fabrication plant that could address weak supply chain and security points.