Cryptology ePrint Archive: Report 2015/623

Design, Evaluation and Optimization of Physical Unclonable Functions based on Transient Effect Ring Oscillators

Abdelkarim Cherkaoui, Lilian Bossuet and Cédric Marchand

Abstract: This paper proposes a theoretical study and a full overview of the design, evaluation and optimization of a PUF based on transient element ring oscillators (TERO-PUF). We show how, by following some simple design rules and strategies, designers can build and optimize a TERO-PUF with state of the art PUF characteristics in a standard CMOS technology. To this end, we analyzed the uniqueness, steadiness and randomness of responses generated from 30 test chips in a CMOS 350nm process in nominal and corner voltage and temperature conditions. Response generation schemes are proposed to optimize PUF performances and reduce its area without noticeable loss in its output quality. In particular, we show that the large area of the basic blocks in the TERO-PUF is balanced by the high level of entropy extracted in each basic block. Thus, the length of the response to the same challenge is increased. Guidelines are provided to balance reliability and randomness of the responses and the design area.

Category / Keywords: applications / Physical Unclonable Functions

Original Publication (in the same form): Transactions on Information Forensics and Security

Date: received 23 Jun 2015

Contact author: abdelkarim cherkaoui at imag fr

Available format(s): PDF | BibTeX Citation

Note: This paper is in the process of beeing submitted to IEEE TIFS (Transactions on Information Forensics and Security).

Version: 20150630:183519 (All versions of this report)

Short URL: ia.cr/2015/623

Discussion forum: Show discussion | Start new discussion