A Self-Checking RRAM-Based PUF with Reliability-Quantified CRPs via Resistance-Delay Mapping
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) are vital for secure hardware authentication due to their intrinsic uniqueness. RRAM-based PUFs offer advantages such as compactness, low power, and CMOS compatibility, but suffer from reliability issues under environmental stress such as temperature and aging. This work proposes a self-checking RRAM-based PUF architecture using a resistance-delay mapping method to generate reliability-quantified challenge-response pairs (CRPs). A configurable Delay Amplification Chain (DAC) converts device-to-device(D2D) resistance variations into measurable timing differences, ensuring stable operation from -55°C to 125°C and ± 10% VDD fluctuations. A built-in self-checking mechanism filters unstable CRPs via complementary delay biases during the dark bit filtration stage, reducing bit error rate (BER) from 5.2% to 0.77%. A hierarchical framework further classifies CRPs into 11 reliability levels, enabling adaptive key management. Implemented in 180nm CMOS/RRAM technology, the design achieves 49.61% inter-chip and 49.80% reconfig Hamming distances across 50 instances, showing strong uniqueness and reconfigurability. No BER degradation was found in 10-year aging simulations. The design meets NIST SP800-22 randomness standards and offers a scalable and entropy-aware solution for IoT security.
DOI: 10.1145/3801550
Language: English
Subfield: Hardware and Architecture
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Awards: G2881518010, G7963929701
OpenAlex ID: W7135010406