Memristor Random Number Generator
Qiangfei Xia and Joshua Yang
True random number generators (TRNGs) are used in cryptography and cyber security, and are increasingly important in an interconnected world at risk from cyber threats. Hardware random number generators use physical variables, such as thermal noise or the photoelectric effect, as sources of randomness in number generation. However, they suffer from drawbacks such as scalability, circuit complexity, and reliance on post-processing. Here, Dr. Qiangfei Xia and Dr. Joshua Yang have invented a memristor-based TRNG. It is the first memristor-based TRNG to pass NISTSs 15 randomness tests without the need for post processing. In operation, the device switches to a low resistance state under a voltage pulse after a random delay time, and relaxes back to a high resistance state spontaneously once the electrical bias is removed. These are the sources of randomness for the TRNG. Memristor-based TRNGs offer a compact, fast, and energy-efficient design.
• First memristor-based TRNG that does not require any signal post-processing • More compact, fast, and energy-efficient than other hardware TRNGs
• Internet-connected electronic devices • Gambling • Statistics
Dr. Qiangfei Xia is a professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at UMass Amherst and head of the Nanodevices and Integrated Systems Lab. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 2007 from Princeton University, where he was a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship in Engineering (a graduate fellowship from Princeton). He then spent three years as a research associate in the Hewlett Packard Laboratories in Palo Alto, California. In October 2010, he joined the faculty of UMass Amherst as an assistant professor. He became an associate professor with tenure in January 2016 and then a full professor in September 2018. Dr. Xia's research interests include beyond-CMOS devices, integrated systems and enabling technologies, with applications in machine intelligence, reconfigurable RF systems and hardware security. He has received a DARPA Young Faculty Award (YFA), an NSF CAREER Award, and the Barbara H. and Joseph I. Goldstein Outstanding Junior Faculty Award. Dr. Yang is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Before Joining UMass in 2015, he spent over 8 years at HP Labs, leading the materials and devices team. His current research interests are Nanoelectronics and Nanoionics, especially for energy and computing applications, where he authored and co-authored over 140 papers in peer-reviewed academic journals, and holds 110 granted and about 55 pending US Patents. He obtained his B.A. degree in mechanical engineering from Southeast University in China and PhD from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in Material Science Program in 2007. He was a co-chair of the RRAM session of IEDM 2014. He was the chair of the 8th IEEE Nanotechnology SFBA Council Symposium on “Emerging Non-volatile Memory Technologies” and also the chair of the 10th symposium on “The Promise and Progress of Nanotech Enabled 2D Devices and Materials. He has guest-edited 6 journal special issues on Memory or unconventional computing. He was named as a Spotlight Scholar of UMass Amherst in 2017. Available for Licensing and/or Sponsored Research
UMA 18-004
Patent Pending
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