Heterogeneously Integrated Nitrogen-Vacancy Sensing for Real-Time CMOS Security Threat Detection

This work proposes a prototype system for utilizing nitrogen-vacancy center-based quantum sensing for generalized threat detection systems. Changes to the operation or environment of an IC will cause differences in the magnetic field emanations, which can be detected through changes in a spin-state-dependent photocurrent within a diamond. Threat detection circuitry can be integrated within the sensitive CMOS IC itself at a high spatial resolution for real-time monitoring and spatially resolved low-overhead protections. The key contributions of this work are the CMOS and NV center system for high magnetometer sensitivity while maintaining CMOS design flexibility, the novel security application for quantum sensing, and the proposed method of heterogeneous integration for a complete system.