True Random Number Generation using Latency Variations of Commercial MRAM Chips
Published in International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED), 2021
The emerging magneto-resistive RAM (MRAM) has considerable potential to become a universal memory technology because of its several advantages: unlimited endurance, lower read/write latency, ultralow-power operation, high-density, and CMOS compatibility, etc. This paper will demonstrate an effective technique to generate random numbers from energy-efficient consumer-off-the-shelf (COTS) MRAM chips. In the proposed scheme, the inherent (intrinsic/extrinsic process variation) stochastic switching behavior of magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) is exploited by manipulating the write latency of COTS MRAM chips. This is the first system-level experimental implementation of true random number generator (TRNG) using COTS toggle MRAM technology to the best of our knowledge. The experimental results and subsequent NIST SP-800-22 suite test reveal that the proposed latency-based TRNG is acceptably fast (~ 22Mbit/s in the worst case) and robust over a wide range of operating conditions.
Recommended citation: Ferdaus, F., Talukder, B. B., Sadi, M., & Rahman, M. T. (2021, April). "True Random Number Generation using Latency Variations of Commercial MRAM Chips." In 2021 22nd International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED). (pp. 510-515). IEEE.