Core Processes of Printer Chip Reverse Engineering---Function and Code Reverse Deduction

Core Processes of Printer Chip Reverse Engineering---Function and Code Reverse Deduction

Toner chip reverse engineering is a technology that strips the chip materials layer by layer through chemical methods and analyzes the internal structure of the chip using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). 

Attackers can infer the chip's functions and design code by extracting the circuit layout and gate - level netlist. This method is usually used to crack the design logic of the chip.

It is essentially a technology that reverse - deduces the printer chip design logic through physical deconstruction + micro - analysis, with a dual nature of “technical research” and “security risks”. 

This series article will help you understand this technology more comprehensively from four dimensions: core processes, key objectives, application scenarios (legal vs illegal), and protection methods:

Core Processes of Printer Chip Reverse Engineering (from “disassembly” to “deduction”)

The “chemical stripping + SEM analysis” is the core step of physical deconstruction, but a complete reverse requires the cooperation of multiple links. It can be divided into 5 steps specifically:

Function and Code Reverse Deduction

Based on the gate - level netlist, simulate the input - output behavior of the chip through logic simulation tools (such as ModelSim) to infer its functional modules (such as the arithmetic unit of the CPU, the algorithm module of the encryption chip);

If the goal is to obtain the design code (such as Verilog/VHDL), it is also necessary to reverse - deduce the hardware description language (HDL) code in combination with the results of functional simulation - this step is extremely difficult, and usually only the “logical function” can be restored, and it is difficult to fully reproduce the original code's annotations and modular design logic.

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