Enhancing Co-packaging Optics Enabled Silicon Photonics Security Assurance Hardware Fingerprinting

Silicon photonics (SiPh) enables integration of optical components using standard semiconductor processes, greatly improving data communication bandwidth and energy efficiency. However, photonic integrated circuits (PICs) face unique security challenges, such as counterfeit or tampering threats, that conventional electronic security methods do not address. We propose a novel hardware fingerprinting technique that embeds two-dimensional photonic crystal (PhC) patterns into the density-control filler regions of a PIC. Each PhC pattern is designed to resonate at specific visible to near-infrared wavelengths, producing a distinctive optical signature (based on wavelength, polarization, and incident angle) for each device. Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation using ANSYS Lumerical is employed to optimize nanostructure dimensions and spacing so that each device’s reflection/absorption spectrum contains unique narrowband peaks. No extra fabrication steps or materials are required beyond standard lithography, keeping costs low. The embedded nanostructures have sub-50 nm precision, making forgery extremely difficult. Our method yields a highresolution, scalable fingerprint for silicon photonic chips, enabling cost-effective device authentication and improved supply chain security.