Temperature-Resilient Reconfigurable Physical Unclonable Function Driven by Pulse Modulation Using CMOS-Integrated...

Area of Science:

• Hardware security
• Semiconductor device physics
• Cybersecurity

Background:

• Hardware-based security primitives are essential for Internet of Things (IoT) security.
• Physical unclonable functions (PUFs) leverage manufacturing variations for unique device keys.
• Reconfigurable PUFs offer dynamic key updates for enhanced security in data-intensive applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the challenge of real-time PUF reconfiguration independent of environmental conditions, especially temperature.
• To propose a novel dual-pulse reconfiguration strategy for PUF design in CMOS-integrated SOT-MRAM.
• To enhance the operational stability and resilience of reconfigurable PUFs.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a dual-pulse reconfiguration strategy in CMOS-integrated SOT-MRAM.
• Testing PUF resilience across a wide range of operating temperatures.
• Evaluating the strategy's independence from environmental conditions without complex feedback mechanisms.

Main Results:

• The dual-pulse strategy significantly widens the operating window for PUFs.
• Achieved resilience across a broad spectrum of operating temperatures.
• Demonstrated effective reconfiguration without the need for complicated dynamic feedback circuits.

Conclusions:

• The proposed dual-pulse reconfiguration strategy provides robust hardware security for IoT architectures.
• This approach enhances the reliability and temperature independence of SOT-MRAM-based PUFs.
• It establishes a foundation for next-generation hardware security primitives in IoT devices.