SRAM Physically Unclonable Function Extracting Static Entropy from Every Bitcell Transistor for 6 bit/bitcell and Data Fingerprinting Capability for Provenance Assurance
Tianqi Wang, Joydeep Basu, Viveka Konandur Rajanna, Massimo Alioto · 2024
An SRAM physically unclonable function (PUF) uniquely extracting static entropy from every transistor of an unmodified $6 T$ bitcell for 6 bit/bitcell is presented. The proposed multi-bit SRAM PUF achieves state-of-the-art 296% PUF-to-SRAM capacity, while not requiring any ECC to retain the same energy and area efficiency at system level. In addition to PUF operation, its unique data-dependent static entropy extraction enables data fingerprinting capability. The latter represents an additional layer of security providing stored data (physical) provenance assurance, and user authentication in real time or in retrospect. After one-time calibration, the proposed current-mode periphery extracts PUF bitstreams with native cryptography-grade quality while suppressing any post-processing circuitry, retaining its competitive $134 \mathrm{~F}^{2} /$ bit area efficiency at system level.