Harnessing Entropy: RRAM Crossbar-based Unified PUF and RNG

Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF) and Random Number Generators (RNG) are two fundamental security components with applications in various tasks of a security protocol, such as key establishment, identity management, and authentication. In recent times, researchers have proposed various PUF and RNG constructions using RRAMs, demonstrating excellent properties, low energy consumption, and resistance to modelling attacks. Underlying these PUF and RNG constructions, the source of entropy remains the same, and therefore, it is natural to design a unified RRAM-based architecture to function both as a PUF and an RNG. This is accomplished in the current paper. We propose a unified Parity-RRAM PUF (PR-PUF) and RNG construction and validate it for well-known PUF characteristics and RNG randomness properties with the NIST test suite SP 800-22. We present detailed design analysis and simulation-based studies to substantiate our ideas.