CMOS Arbiter Physical Unclonable Function with Selecting Modules

Physical unclonable function (PUF) can provide a unique chip fingerprint, which is tough for attackers to hack. This paper presents a novel energy-efficient arbiter PUF (APUF) using 45nm CMOS technology with excellent uniqueness. In every individual PUF cell, the device mismatch and racing in terms of delay between two different paths map a challenge into a response. There are also some process variation sensitive selecting modules, which form the competing paths. At the end of PUF circuit, an arbiter produces the output response of the PUF. The properties of randomness, uniqueness, reliability, energy efficiency, noise immunity, and area of the given APUF are evaluated, and demonstrate very promising results.