Vasilii KULAGIN

Abstract: Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs) leverage the intrinsic manufacturing variability introduced in an electronic device during the fabrication process to generate a unique and secure signature for each device. To ensure the security of this signature, the secret key generated must be unique from one device to another (unclonable), and for the same device, it must be robust against aging and environmental variations (reproducible).
However, several problems still need to be studied, particularly concerning the true entropy that this type of solution can provide. This thesis aims to continue a study initiated during an internship, which would allow the design of very high-quality PUFs based on a completely novel principle.
In this context, the thesis will explore a new method for generating PUFs that will be intrinsically high-quality, on both ASIC and FPGA. Furthermore, the thesis will include an experimental part of developing a platform (based on SoCs with processors, Wi-Fi, and FPGA) to test and validate the solution on a large number of cards. This platform will enable the characterization of the validity and reliability of the proposed solution, as well as the measurement of the true entropy generated by the PUFs.