RRAM developer CrossBar announced (in July 2021) a new application of its RRAM technology for use as a physical unclonable function (PUF) in order to generate cryptographic keys in secure computing applications.
CrossBar's RRAM has been historically utilized as non-volatile semiconductor memory, but it is now being introduced for use in hardware security. The company says its solution can enable a more secure and cost-effective class of devices and systems.
Compared to SRAM PUF, CrossBar’s latest ReRAM based PUF cryptographic key technology has a higher level of randomness, much lower bit error rate, resistance to invasive attacks and the capability of handling a broad range of environmental variations without requiring fuzzy extractors, helper data or heavy error correction code. The ReRAM keys are unique to each individual semiconductor IC, leveraging the inherent randomness characteristics of the ReRAM technology. These keys will be used for identification, encryption/decryption and authentication.