IEEE Spectrum October 2, 2018
Through-silicon vias (TSVs) are the standard way to stack chips. To make TSV smart chip, researchers in Germany have designed through-silicon via field effect transistor (TSVFET) in which the drain and source were at the top and bottom of the hole. When voltage was applied to the gate, current flowed from top to bottom through the area surrounding the hole. Just by applying a voltage or taking it off, it is possible to activate a chip or deactivate it completely. TSVFETs can be linked up to form elementary circuits. By adding some control electronics, the TSVFET could act as a kind of camouflage to prevent the reverse engineering of a chip or to keep contract manufacturers from producing systems on the sly…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Schematic of the transistor. Illustration: Felix Winkler/University of Dresden/IEEE Electron Device Letters.