Exploiting body-driven feedbacks in physical unclonable functions for ultra low voltage, ultra low power applications: a 0.3 V weak-PUF

This paper introduces an innovative approach to designing a mismatched current mirror with a fully unbalanced output, significantly reducing the minimum supply voltage requirements for Regulated Cascode Current Mirror (RCCM) Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs). Leveraging body-driven feedback mechanisms, the proposed circuit reliably operates with supply voltages as low as 0.3V, maintaining stable power consumption through a reference bias current. The resulting PUF achieves remarkable energy efficiency, consuming only 0.3 fJ per bit, without compromising statistical performance. It exhibits a response bias of 49.42%, a reliability of 99.483%, and a uniqueness of 50.176%. Validation of this novel approach is conducted through simulations and measurements on a 130nm CMOS test-chip, considering a nominal supply voltage of 0.3V, +/- 10% supply voltage variations, and a temperature range from 0degree celsius to 75degree celsius. Rigorous experimental verification on 20 chip samples, along with detailed explanations of design methodologies, underscores the robustness and practicality of the proposed Body-PUF design. Comparative analyses against state-of-the-art literature reveal that the Body-PUF outperforms previous PUF designs in Figures of Merit (FOM), making it promising for real-world authentication scenarios. Its outstanding trade-off between performance and practicality positions it as a compelling solution for secure applications, including Internet of Things (IoT) devices and other security-critical systems.