AuthenTree: A Scalable MPC-Based Distributed Trust Architecture for Chiplet-based Heterogeneous Systems

2025-08-18

AI Summary

Chiplet systems in multi-vendor heterogeneous integration face critical supply-chain security threats—including cloning, overproduction, and malicious substitution—against which centralized authentication schemes suffer from single-point failures and privacy leakage. To address this, we propose the first decentralized authentication framework for chiplets based on secure multi-party computation (MPC) and a tree-structured distributed architecture, requiring neither trusted execution environments nor dedicated security hardware. Our solution enables modular, scalable, chip-level identity verification. Evaluated on five SiP benchmarks, it incurs only 0.48% area overhead, <0.5% power increase, and sub-microsecond (<1 μs) authentication latency. Compared to state-of-the-art approaches, it achieves up to 700× higher throughput while preserving strong security guarantees. The framework thus uniquely balances robustness, efficiency, and practical deployability in real-world chiplet ecosystems.

Technology Category

• Machine Learning: Hardware-aware ML
• Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Distributed CSP/Optimization
• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Scalability, Parallel & Distributed Systems

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Decentralized Web and Fediverse systems
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Incentives in network design for Web infrastructures and ecosystems

Abstract

The rapid adoption of chiplet-based heterogeneous integration is reshaping semiconductor design by enabling modular, scalable, and faster time-to-market solutions for AI and high-performance computing. However, multi-vendor assembly in post-fabrication environments fragments the supply chain and exposes SiP systems to serious security threats, including cloning, overproduction, and chiplet substitution. Existing authentication solutions depend on trusted integrators or centralized security anchors, which can expose sensitive data or create single points of failure. We introduce AuthenTree, a distributed authentication framework that leverages multi-party computation (MPC) in a scalable tree-based architecture, removing the need for dedicated security hardware or centralized trust. AuthenTree enables secure chiplet validation without revealing raw signatures, distributing trust across multiple integrator chiplets. Our evaluation in five SiP benchmarks demonstrates that AuthenTree imposes minimal overhead, with an area as low as 0.48% (7,000 sq-micrometers), an overhead power under 0.5%, and an authentication latency below 1 microsecond, surpassing previous work in some cases by 700 times. These results establish AuthenTree as an efficient, robust, and scalable solution for next-generation chiplet-based security in zero-trust SiP environments.

Problem

• Securing multi-vendor chiplet systems against cloning and overproduction threats
• Eliminating centralized trust to prevent single points of failure
• Enabling scalable authentication without dedicated security hardware

Innovation

• MPC-based distributed trust architecture
• Scalable tree-based authentication framework
• No centralized trust or security hardware