SpecEES: Tag-of-Everything: Secured Wireless Powering and Communication Using THz Spectrum for Ultra-Small, Package-Less ID Chips

SpecEES：一切标签：使用太赫兹频谱为超小型、无封装 ID 芯片提供安全的无线供电和通信

• 批准号: 1824360
• 负责人: Ruonan Han
• 金额: $ 64.8万
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-09-01 至 2023-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1824360&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SpecEES; Tag; Everything; Secured; Wireless

Tagging using radio-frequency identification (RFID) is getting increasing adoption throughout the supply chains of commercial products. The megahertz (MHz) and gigahertz (GHz) bands currently used for RFID will soon become congested, especially considering the interference from simultaneous interrogations of many co-located RFID devices and the limited bandwidth allocated for RFID. In addition, limited by their off-chip components for wireless powering and data transmission, current RFID devices have relatively high packaging cost and large form factor. The low available power also prevents the usage of high-security algorithms and hardware on the RFID devices. All these problems have hindered the effectiveness and application of the technology in areas like authentications of medicines, semiconductor chips, banknotes, etc. This project will apply low-terahertz (~0.3 THz in this project) wireless powering and back-scattering circuit techniques to explore a new electromagnetic spectrum for future RFID tagging. The 1000 times larger bandwidth and the highly-collimated downlink and uplink beams will accommodate orders of magnitude more tags than what we have today. The new THz RFID device realized on a semiconductor chip will also have a package-less ultra-small form, leading to dramatic cost reduction and wide range of applications. The proposal will also develop energy-efficient authentication hardware and algorithms for the proposed THz RFID chip to secure the storage and transmission of sensitive data related to, for example, financial and biometric information. The proposed research will be tightly integrated with a few outreach activities, including a SuperUROP undergraduate research program, a "Tagging the World" lecture series, an internship through MIT Summer Research Program (MSRP), a career workshop at MIT Rising Star, and a few "T-Ray Lab Day" events for K-12 students.This project will utilize custom-designed, ultra-high-speed Schottky-barrier diodes to perform practical THz power rectification, with an expected THz-to-DC conversion efficiency of up to 50%. A novel antenna array, which is co-designed with the diode and adopts a multi-functional electromagnetics methodology, will also be developed to simultaneously perform large-aperture wireless powering and back-scattering-based data communication. In addition, low-energy authentication protocols and hardware will be applied to the system. In particular, the RFID chip will be equipped with a side-channel resistant elliptic curve processor, which uses dynamic voltage-frequency scaling (DVFS) to reduce its DC power to microwatt level. Novel CMOS-compatible memory for secret-key storage, as well as beam-steering of the RFID tag output wave for anti-eavesdropping, will also be implemented in the chip. The package-less and battery-less RFID chip is expected to have a volume smaller than one tenth of a cubic millimeter. Lastly, using high-speed indium phosphide (InP) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs), the project will innovate a THz interrogator transceiver to pair with the RFID chips. With a scalable array architecture and high-versatility transceiver front-end circuit units, the interrogator will be able to radiate more than 100 mW of power with highly focused beam. The proposed approach will advance the utilization efficiency and diversity of electromagnetic spectrum, as well as the end-to-end solutions for secured wireless data authentication. The project will also generate new design methodologies for both high-frequency and high-security integrated circuits, especially under power-constrained conditions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

在商业产品的整个供应链中，使用射频标识（RFID）进行标记正在越来越多。 Megahertz（MHz）和Gigahertz（GHz）频段目前用于RFID很快就会变得拥挤，尤其是考虑到许多共同位置的RFID设备的同时询问的干扰以及分配给RFID的有限带宽。此外，受到无线电源和数据传输的芯片外组件的限制，当前的RFID设备的包装成本相对较高，并且外形较大。低可用功率还可以防止在RFID设备上使用高安全性算法和硬件。所有这些问题都阻碍了该技术在药物，半导体芯片，钞票等领域的有效性和应用。该项目将应用低terahertz（该项目中的〜0.3 thz）无线供电和后散射电路技术来探索新的电磁镜头，以供将来的rfid标记。带宽大的1000倍，高度汇合的下行链路和上行链路横梁将比我们今天的标签更容纳数量级。在半导体芯片上实现的新型THZ RFID设备还将具有无包装的超小型形式，从而导致急剧降低成本和广泛的应用。该提案还将为拟议的THZ RFID芯片开发节能身份验证硬件和算法，以确保与财务和生物识别信息相关的敏感数据的存储和传输。拟议的研究将与一些宣传活动紧密整合，包括超级赛大学研究计划，“标记世界”讲座系列，通过麻省理工学院夏季研究计划（MSRP）实习，MIT Rising Star的职业研讨会，以及一些“ T-Ray Lab Day”活动的“ T-Ray Lab Day”活动。 THZ功率矫正，预期的THZ-DC转换效率高达50％。与二极管共同设计并采用多功能电磁方法的新型天线阵列，还将开发出来同时执行大型无线无线供电和基于背面的数据通信。此外，低能量身份验证协议和硬件将应用于系统。特别是，RFID芯片将配备侧通道抗性椭圆曲线处理器，该处理器使用动态电压频率缩放（DVFS）将其直流功率降低至微量瓦特水平。芯片中还将实现新颖的CMOS兼容存储器，用于秘密钥匙存储，以及用于反蒸发的RFID TAG输出波的横梁传动。预计无包装和无电池的RFID芯片的体积将小于立方毫米的十分之一。最后，该项目使用高速磷化物（INP）异晶性双极晶体管（HBT），该项目将创新一个THZ询问器收发器与RFID芯片配​​对。借助可扩展的阵列架构和高染色性收发器前端电路单元，审讯器将能够以高度焦点的光束辐射超过100兆瓦的功率。所提出的方法将提高电磁光谱的利用效率和多样性，以及用于安全无线数据身份验证的端到端解决方案。该项目还将为高频和高安全性集成电路生成新的设计方法，尤其是在电力约束条件下。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的智力优点和更广泛影响的审查标准来评估值得通过评估来支持的。

项目成果

Emerging Terahertz Integrated Systems in Silicon

新兴的太赫兹硅集成系统

• DOI: 10.1109/tcsi.2021.3087604
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers
• 作者: Yi, Xiang;Wang, Cheng;Hu, Zhi;Holloway, Jack W.;Khan, Muhammad Ibrahim;Ibrahim, Mohamed I.;Kim, Mina;Dogiamis, Georgios C.;Perkins, Bradford;Kaynak, Mehmet
• 通讯作者: Kaynak, Mehmet

A Dual-Antenna, 263-GHz Energy Harvester in CMOS for Ultra-Miniaturized Platforms with 13.6% RF-to-DC Conversion Efficiency at −8 dBm Input Power

• DOI: 10.1109/rfic54546.2022.9863171
• 发表时间: 2022-06
• 期刊: 2022 IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium (RFIC)
• 作者: Muhammad Ibrahim Wasiq Khan;Eunseok Lee;Nathan M. Monroe;A. Chandrakasan;R. Han

THzID: A 1.6mm2 Package-Less Cryptographic Identification Tag with Backscattering and Beam-Steering at 260GHz

THzID：具有 260GHz 反向散射和波束控制功能的 1.6mm2 无封装加密识别标签

• DOI: 10.1109/isscc19947.2020.9063068
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: 2020 IEEE International Solid- State Circuits Conference - (ISSCC
• 作者: Ibrahim, Mohamed I.;Ibrahim, Muhammad;Khan, Wasiq;Jung, Wanyeong;Yazicigil, Rabia Tugce;Juvekar, Chiraag S.;Chandrakasan, Anantha P.;Han, Ruonan
• 通讯作者: Han, Ruonan