Security primitive design with nanoscale devices: A case study with resistive RAM

Inherent stochastic physical mechanisms in emerging nonvolatile memories (NVMs), such as resistive random-access-memory (RRAM), have recently been explored for hardware security applications. Unlike the conventional silicon Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) that are solely based on manufacturing process variation, RRAM has some intrinsic randomness in its physical mechanisms that can be utilized as entropy sources; for instance, resistance variation, random telegraph noise, and probabilistic switching behaviors. This paper reviews the challenges and opportunities in building security primitives with emerging devices. In particular, it presents research progress of RRAM-based hardware security primitives, including PUF and True Random Number Generator (TRNG).