Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs): A Systematic Literature Review

The purpose of this paper is to give an absolute newcomer a kick start to the literature of Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs) using as simple explanations as possible. In biometrics, every human has a fingerprint, the fingerprint of each individual person remains unique [1]; similarly, different instance of the same PUF design, fed with the same inputs - known as challenges - results with different outputs - known as responses - this is the basic principle of a PUF that can be exploited in different applications within security and random number generation. Embedded systems are becoming a common form of technology that are taken for granted, with a range of uses from medical, personal, automotive, and home systems. These systems are sitting targets to adversaries looking to impersonate these devices and extract stored information without the user's permission such as the bank's credentials stored in an IoT device like a mobile phone. PUFs are able to act as a hardware-based fingerprint to authenticate and attest these devices.