Tutorial: VLSI design for Reliability, Safety, and Security – Fundamentals and Challenges

Abstract

With the pervasive digitalization of many functions and the growth of interconnected infrastructures, critical applications increasingly rely on dependable electronics, especially integrated systems. Dependability has evolved from reliability and availability to include safety and, more recently, growing hardware security demands in sectors such as automotive, industrial control, aerospace, health, and defense. While security is often viewed as a natural extension of reliability and safety, conflicts can arise during system design. VLSI design flows, typically focused on area/performance/energy trade-offs, address reliability mainly at the process level. However, more complex trade-offs emerge when safety and security are both essential. This tutorial explores threats to reliability, safety, and hardware security, analyzing their overlaps, complementarities, and key differences. It highlights synergies and limitations in VLSI design, using practical examples to show that overoptimism can undermine trustworthiness. Addressing hardware security introduces significant challenges and requirements across the design flow, even when functional safety is considered. A literature review will outline the current challenges and reveal research opportunities toward more holistic design practices.

Biography - Prof. Régis Leveugle, Ph.D., IEEE Senior Member