Open Se Cura: First Silicon Results of an Auditable and Transparent Hardware Root of Trust System using Open EDA in 16-nm

Hardware Root of Trust (HRoT) is essential for Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices as it provides critical user data protection. However, each novel use case significantly lengthens the development time for an HRoT system. Furthermore, most HRoT solutions are proprietary, and users lack permission to inspect and audit such systems [1-2]. This paper introduces Open Se Cura, which is an open-source framework designed to expedite the implementation of secure and transparent HRoT systems. It utilizes open-source Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools like OpenROAD [3-4] and OpenFASOC [5-6], along with open-source Process Design Kits (PDKs), to present a transparent and auditable approach to hardware-software co-design platforms. This approach enables fast and trustworthy HRoT system implementation and is made openly available to reproduce its results and security efficacy [7]. Our reference design is showcased through FPGA emulation, and the first measurement results of a silicon implementation in 16nm of Open Se Cura security domain subsets integrated using open-source EDA are presented.