The silicon fingerprint is here: Secure any SRAM-based device, without additional components

This is possibly the most stand-out and widely applicable technology that ipXchange saw at embedded world Exhibition&Conference 2023. Vincent van der Leest talks us through Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and the implications of Intrinsic ID’s technology for using this phenomenon in SRAM as a basis of your device’s security.

SRAM! That means this security solution works for anything from MCUs to SoCs. Intrinsic ID has even discovered a similar behaviour in FPGAs!

In short, every SRAM device initialises its bits in an order determined by the tiny imperfections in the manufacturing process. Since this behaviour is repeatable, a measurement of this activity gives every single SRAM chip its own unique “silicon fingerprint” that does not need to be stored in non-volatile memory as it is INTRINSIC to the device; see what they did there?

By using algorithms to convert this behaviour into a root key for each SRAM-based component, Intrinsic ID has created a low-cost and extremely general, yet ultimately best-in-class, way of securing devices against external threats. No stored keys. No additional components. No on-chip IP adjustments.