Hardware Security of Fog End-Devices for the Internet of Things

The proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) caused new application needs to emerge as rapid response ability is missing in the current IoT end-devices. Therefore, Fog Computing has been proposed to be an edge component for the IoT networks as a remedy to this problem. In recent times, cyber-attacks are on the rise, especially towards infrastructure-less networks, such as IoT. Many botnet attack variants (Mirai, Torii, etc.) have shown that the tiny microdevices at the lower spectrum of the network are becoming a valued participant of a botnet, for further executing more sophisticated attacks against infrastructural networks. As such, the fog devices also need to be secured against cyber-attacks, not only software-wise, but also from hardware alterations and manipulations. Hence, this article first highlights the importance and benefits of fog computing for IoT networks, then investigates the means of providing hardware security to these devices with an enriched literature review, including but not limited to Hardware Security Module, Physically Unclonable Function, System on a Chip, and Tamper Resistant Memory.

Stacking faults in β-Ga2O3 crystals observed by X-ray topography

Planar defects in (\overline{2}01)-oriented β-Ga2O3 wafers were studied using X-ray topography. These planar defects were rectangular with dimensions of 50–150 µm, and the X-ray topography analysis revealed that they were stacking faults (SFs) enclosed by a single partial dislocation loop on the (\overline{2}01) plane. The SF formation was found to be supported by a unique structural feature of the (\overline{2}01) plane as a slip plane; the (\overline{2}01) plane consists of close-packed octahedral Ga and O layers, allowing slips to form SFs. Vacancy arrays along the b axis in the octahedral Ga layer reduce the self-energy of the edge component in the partial dislocation extending along the b axis. It is speculated that the SFs occur during the crystal growth process for unknown reasons and then recover owing to elastic instability after initially increasing in size as crystal growth proceeds. Based on this analysis, a structural model for the SFs is proposed.

Synchrotron X-Ray Topographic Studies of Recombination Activated Shockley Partial Dislocations in 4H-Silicon Carbide Epitaxial Layers

Electron-hole recombination activated Shockley partial dislocations bounding expanding stacking faults and their interactions with threading dislocations have been studied in 4H-SiC epitaxial layers using synchrotron x-ray topography. The bounding partials appear as white stripes or narrow dark lines in back-reflection X-ray topographs recorded using the basal plane reflections. Such contrast variations are attributable to the defocusing/focusing of the diffracted X-rays due to the edge component of the partial dislocations, which creates a convex/concave distortion of the basal planes. Simulation results based on the ray-tracing principle confirm our argument. The sign of the partial dislocations can be subsequently determined.