First demonstration of reconfigurable and low-power strong physical unclonable function empowered by FeFET cycle-to-cycle variation

First demonstration of reconfigurable and low-power strong physical unclonable function empowered by FeFET cycle-to-cycle variation | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article First demonstration of reconfigurable and low-power strong physical unclonable function empowered by FeFET cycle-to-cycle variation Xueqing Li, Xinrui Guo, Taixin Li, Franz Müller, Sukhrob Abdulazhanov, and 7 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3952526/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 02 Jan, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Physical unclonable functions (PUFs) are of immense potential in authentication applications for numerous Internet of Things (IoT) devices. For creditable and lightweight PUF applications, high reconfigurability, ultra-low power, and large challenge-response pair (CRP) space are highly desirable. Here we report the first demonstration of ferroelectric field-effect transistor (FeFET)-based strong PUF with high reconfigurability and energy efficiency. Unlike prior works, for the first time, we utilize the FeFET cycle-to-cycle variation all around and the unique charge-domain in-memory computing to empower excellent performances. The proposed 2FeFET-1C PUF cell is fabricated using 28nm HKMG technology for verification. Experimental measurements performed on integrated FeFET arrays reveal excellent uniformity, uniqueness, and repeatability. Remarkably, our PUF achieves near-ideal reconfigurability (HDreconfig, 50.02%) and ultra-low 4.014fJ/bit readout energy, significantly outperforming the state-of-the-art designs. Furthermore, we show that the PUF can operate with high robustness and provide almost unpredictable resilience against machine learning (ML) attacks. These superior performances demonstrate the great promise of the first FeFET-based strong PUF in practical IoT edge-side security solutions. Physical sciences/Engineering/Electrical and electronic engineering Physical sciences/Nanoscience and technology/Nanoscale devices/Electronic devices Physical sciences/Materials science/Materials for devices/Electronic devices Physical sciences/Physics/Electronics, photonics and device physics/Electronic and spintronic devices Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files FeFETBasedStrongPUFsupplementarymaterials.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 02 Jan, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-3952526","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":278550076,"identity":"95a6fbbd-7405-47b0-bf27-c67dd9e6e991","order_by":0,"name":"Xueqing 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For creditable and lightweight PUF applications, high reconfigurability, ultra-low power, and large challenge-response pair (CRP) space are highly desirable. Here we report the first demonstration of ferroelectric field-effect transistor (FeFET)-based strong PUF with high reconfigurability and energy efficiency. Unlike prior works, for the first time, we utilize the FeFET cycle-to-cycle variation all around and the unique charge-domain in-memory computing to empower excellent performances. The proposed 2FeFET-1C PUF cell is fabricated using 28nm HKMG technology for verification. Experimental measurements performed on integrated FeFET arrays reveal excellent uniformity, uniqueness, and repeatability. Remarkably, our PUF achieves near-ideal reconfigurability (HDreconfig, 50.02%) and ultra-low 4.014fJ/bit readout energy, significantly outperforming the state-of-the-art designs. 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