Work

Sensitivity of the Threshold Current for Switching of a Magnetic Tunnel Junction to Fabrication Defects and Its Application in Physical Unclonable Functions

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: A physical unclonable function (PUF) leverages the unclonable random variations in device behavior due to defects incurred during manufacturing to produce a unique “biometric” that can be used for authentication. Here, we show that the threshold current for the switching of a magnetic tunnel junction via spin transfer torque is sensitive to the nature of structural defects introduced during manufacturing and hence can be the basis of a PUF. We use micromagnetic simulations to study the threshold currents for six different defect morphologies at two different temperatures to establish the viability of a PUF. We also derive the challenge-response set at the two different temperatures to calculate the inter- and intra-Hamming distances for a given challenge.

Source: Applied Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/app15179548

Authors: Jacob Huber, Rahnuma Rahman, Supriyo Bandyopadhyay

Institution: Virginia Commonwealth University

Language: English

Topic: Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security

Subfield: Hardware and Architecture

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,896

Funders: National Science Foundation, Virginia Commonwealth University, High Performance Research Computing, Texas A and M University, Division of Materials Research