Hardware Security in the Era of Emerging Device and System Technologies

In this editor’s column, I would like to advocate for putting more research effort in the security of electronic systems that are based on emerging hardware technologies. The reason for existence of these emerging technologies is that they are more efficient than traditional semiconductor technologies with respect to one or more nonfunctional properties, such as the energy consumption, the peak power dissipation, the computational delay, the cost and/or the size of the chip. The requirements of a system determine which of these properties are the most important for that system and whether it is necessary to step away from traditional technologies. For example, a pacemaker chip should consume as little energy as possible because the battery should last as long as possible, while a disposable medical sensor should be as cheap as possible because it cannot be reused. When traditional semiconductor technologies cannot fulfill these requirements, emerging technologies can offer a solution.