Abstract
Hardware security primitives that preserve secrets are playing a crucial role in the Internet-of-Things (IoT) era. Existing physical unclonable function (PUF) instantiations, exploiting static randomness, generate challenge-response pairings (CRPs) to produce unique security keys that can be used to authenticate devices linked to the IoT. Reconfigurable PUFs (RPUFs) with dynamically refreshable CRPs can enhance the security and robustness of conventional PUFs. The in-plane current-driven perpendicular polarized nanomagnet switching via spin-orbit torque (SOT) possesses great potential for application to memory and logic, as the write-current path is separate from the read-current path, which naturally resolves the write-read interference. However, the stochastic switching of perpendicular magnetization, without an additional symmetry-breaking field, would significantly hinder the technological viability of commercial implementations. Here, we report an initialization-free physical RPUF implemented by SOT-induced stochastic switching of perpendicularly magnetized Ta/CoFeB/MgO nanodevices. Using a 15 × 15 nanomagnet array, we experimentally demonstrate a security primitive that offers a near-ideal 50% uniqueness over 100 reconfiguration cycles, as well as a low correlation coefficient between every two reconfiguration cycles. Our results show that current-induced nanomagnets switching paves the way for developing highly reliable and energy-efficient reconfigurable cryptographic primitives with a smaller footprint.
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Acknowledgements
This work was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61674062, 61904060, 61821003), in part by Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. HUST: 2018KFYXKJC019), and in part by Research Project of Wuhan Science and Technology Bureau (Grant No. 2019010701011394).
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Appendixes A–F. The supporting information is available online at info.scichina.com and link.springer.com. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.
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Zhang, S., Zhang, J., Li, S. et al. Reconfigurable physical unclonable cryptographic primitives based on current-induced nanomagnets switching. Sci. China Inf. Sci. 65, 122405 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-021-3270-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-021-3270-8