Secure at First Silicon: Reducing Cost and Risk

Security weaknesses related to side-channel leakage are often discovered far too late in the lifecycle of a chip. Design teams may focus on functionality, performance, and power, assuming that a robust algorithm like AES is enough to guarantee security. Only after first silicon comes back – and an expert lab starts probing power traces or EM emissions – do they realize that sensitive information can be inferred from the device’s behavior. At that stage, fixing the issue can mean redesigning the hardware, changing the layout, and going through another expensive and time-consuming tape-out cycle, with all the associated schedule risks and business impact.

Side-channel security should be treated as a first-class design objective, validated in the same way as timing or power – and crucially, before tape-out. The Inspector Pre-Silicon framework brings side-channel expertise into the world of RTL and gate-level design. By generating targeted test vectors, simulating switching activity, and applying industry-standard statistical techniques, it translates complex behavior into clear indicators of where, when, and how much a design leaks. Engineers can run these checks at multiple points in the flow, from RTL through synthesis and place-and-route, and see immediately how implementation choices or countermeasures affect leakage.

This white paper is intended as a practical starting point for teams who want to make “secure at first silicon” a realistic goal. It explains how Inspector Pre-Silicon fits into existing EDA flows, what kind of input it needs from the testbench, and how its reports help you move from a simple “pass/fail” view of leakage to actionable insight at the level of individual modules and signals. The document also discusses how to scale this approach to modern, complex cryptographic schemes – including post-quantum algorithms – and how to balance analysis depth with simulation cost. Ultimately, it shows how integrating pre-silicon side-channel analysis into your standard verification process can reduce respins, support certification, and give you greater confidence that your silicon will meet its security requirements from day one.

Read more here.