A Robust Authentication Methodology using Physically Unclonable Functions in DRAM Arrays

Abstract

The high availability of DRAM in either embedded or stand-alone form make it a target for counterfeit attacks. In this paper, we propose a robust authentication methodology against counterfeiting. The authentication is performed by exploiting the intrinsic process variation in write reliability of DRAM cells. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations performed in HSPICE show that the proposed authentication methodology provides high uniqueness of 50.01% average inter-die Hamming distance and good robustness under temporal fluctuations in supply voltage, temperature, and ageing effect over a 10-year lifetime.