A Delay-based PUF Design Using Multiplexers on FPGA

Abstract

Summary form only given. Physically unclonable functions (PUFs) have been a hot research topic in hardware-oriented security for many years. Given a challenge as an input to the PUF, it generates a corresponding response, which can be treated as a unique fingerprint or signature for authentication purpose. In this paper, a delay-based PUF design involving multiplexers on FPGA is presented. Due to the intrinsic difference of the switching latencies of two chained multiplexers, a positive pulse may be produced at the output of the downstream multiplexer. This pulse can be used to set the output of a D flip-flop to `1'. The proposed design improves the randomness of the outputs of the PUF.