Schmitt-Trigger-based Recycling Sensor and Robust and High-Quality PUFs for Counterfeit IC Detection

TL;DR

This paper introduces a Schmitt-Trigger-based recycling sensor for detecting fine-grained recycling in ICs and proposes robust PUF designs using SRAM and MTJ devices to counter environmental fluctuations.

Contribution

It presents a novel Schmitt-Trigger-based recycling sensor and robust PUF architectures with improved stability against environmental variations.

Findings

Recycling sensor detects aging in minutes to seconds.

8T SRAM PUF with back-to-back PMOS latch improves robustness 4X.

7T SRAM PUF with MTJ devices enhances robustness up to 20X.

Abstract

We propose Schmitt-Trigger (ST) based recycling sensor that are tailored to amplify the aging mechanisms and detect fine grained recycling (minutes to seconds). We exploit the susceptibility of ST to process variations to realize high-quality arbiter PUF. Conventional SRAM PUF suffer from environmental fluctuation-induced bit flipping. We propose 8T SRAM PUF with a back-to-back PMOS latch to improve robustness by 4X. We also propose a low-power 7T SRAM with embedded Magnetic Tunnel Junction (MTJ) devices to enhance the robustness (2.3X to 20X).