Self-correcting STTRAM under magnetic field attacks

Spin-Transfer Torque Random Access Memory (STTRAM) is a possible candidate for universal memory due to its high-speed, low-power, non-volatility, and low cost. Although attractive, STTRAM is susceptible to contactless tampering through malicious exposure to magnetic field with the intention to steal or modify the bitcell content. In this paper, for the first time to our knowledge, we analyze the impact of magnetic attacks on STTRAM using micro-magnetic simulations. Next, we propose a novel array-based sensor to detect the polarity and magnitude of such attacks and then propose two design techniques to mitigate the attack, namely, array sleep with encoding and variable strength Error Correction Code (ECC). Simulation results indicate that the proposed sensor can reliably detect an attack and provide sufficient compensation window (few ns to ~100us) to enable proactive protection measures. Finally, we shows that variable-strength ECC can adapt correction capability to tolerate failures with various strength of an attack.