  Silicon photonics (SiPh) has different applications, from enabling fast and
high-bandwidth communication for high-performance computing systems to
realizing energy-efficient optical computation for AI hardware accelerators.
However, integrating SiPh with electronic sub-systems can introduce new
security vulnerabilities that cannot be adequately addressed using existing
hardware security solutions for electronic systems. This paper introduces
SerIOS, the first framework aimed at enhancing hardware security in
optoelectronic systems by leveraging the unique properties of optical
lithography. SerIOS employs cryptographic keys generated based on imperfections
in the optical lithography process and an online detection mechanism to detect
attacks. Simulation and synthesis results demonstrate SerIOS's effectiveness in
detecting and preventing attacks, with a small area footprint of less than 15%
and a 100% detection rate across various attack scenarios and optoelectronic
architectures, including photonic AI accelerators.
