A Low-Cost Low-Power Ring Oscillator-based Truly Random Number Generator for Encryption on Smart Cards

A Low-Cost Low-Power Ring Oscillator-Based Truly Random Number Generator for Encryption on Smart Cards

Abstract:

The design of a low-cost low-power ring oscillator-based truly random number generator (TRNG) macrocell, which is suitable to be integrated in smart cards, is presented. The oscillator sampling technique is exploited, and a tetrahedral oscillator with large jitter has been employed to realize the TRNG. Techniques to improve the statistical quality of the ring oscillatorbased TRNGs’ bit sequences have been presented and verified by simulation and measurement. A postdigital processor is added to further enhance the randomness of the output bits. Fabricated in the HHNEC 0.13-μm standard CMOS process, the proposed TRNG has an area as low as 0.005 mm². Powered by a single 1.8-V supply voltage, the TRNG has a power consumption of 40 μW. The bit rate of the TRNG after postprocessing is 100 kb/s. The proposed TRNG has been made into an IP and successfully applied in an SD card for encryption application. The proposed TRNG has passed the National Institute of Standards and Technology tests and Diehard tests.

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