Dual-Gate Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistors for Physically Unclonable Functional Applications

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrical Engineering
• Cryptography

Background:

• Physical unclonable functions (PUFs) are crucial for hardware security, providing unique device identifiers.
• Traditional PUFs often rely on binary states, limiting their security potential.
• Carbon nanotube (CNT) networks offer inherent randomness suitable for PUF applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel quaternary-state PUF using a lateral dual-gate CNT FET.
• To leverage the inherent randomness of CNT networks for secure key generation.
• To enhance hardware encryption security through advanced PUF implementation.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a lateral dual-gate CNT FET device.
• Utilizing the random CNT network for key generation.
• Implementing quaternary states via dual-gate operation and threshold voltage analysis.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated quaternary state generation from a single CNT FET.
• Achieved PUF performance indicators (interchip Hamming distance, uniformity) near ideal values (~50%).
• Showcased enhanced security compared to traditional binary PUFs.

Conclusions:

• CNT-based dual-gate PUF devices offer a scalable and secure solution for hardware encryption.
• The quaternary state implementation significantly improves security.
• This technology presents a promising advancement over single-gate PUF designs.