International Association for Cryptologic Research

International Association
for Cryptologic Research

IACR News item: 30 June 2015

Abdelkarim Cherkaoui, Lilian Bossuet, Cédric Marchand
ePrint Report ePrint Report
This paper proposes a theoretical study and a full

overview of the design, evaluation and optimization of a PUF

based on transient element ring oscillators (TERO-PUF). We

show how, by following some simple design rules and strategies,

designers can build and optimize a TERO-PUF with state of the

art PUF characteristics in a standard CMOS technology. To this

end, we analyzed the uniqueness, steadiness and randomness of

responses generated from 30 test chips in a CMOS 350nm process

in nominal and corner voltage and temperature conditions.

Response generation schemes are proposed to optimize PUF

performances and reduce its area without noticeable loss in its

output quality. In particular, we show that the large area of the

basic blocks in the TERO-PUF is balanced by the high level

of entropy extracted in each basic block. Thus, the length of

the response to the same challenge is increased. Guidelines are

provided to balance reliability and randomness of the responses

and the design area.

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