A Robust Quantum Random Number Generator Based on an Integrated Emitter-Photodetector Structure

Acerbi, Fabio; Bisadi, Zahra; Fontana, G.; Zorzi, N.; Piemonte, C.; Pavesi, L.

doi:10.1109/jstqe.2018.2814787

Cited by 14 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Finally, we moved to a single-chip QRNG, where the light source is provided by a reverse biased pn junction operating in the avalanche regime within a Si PM interfaced to a SPAD (Figure 14E) [209]. A compact board implements the bit extraction methodology, enables easy of operation, and shows the potential compactness of the QRNG which passes all the different statistical tests for randomness of the generated bit sequence without postprocessing [220].…”

Section: Quantum Random Number Generatormentioning

confidence: 99%

Thirty Years in Silicon Photonics: A Personal View

Pavesi

2021

Front. Phys.

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Silicon Photonics, the technology where optical devices are fabricated by the mainstream microelectronic processing technology, was proposed almost 30 years ago. I joined this research field at its start. Initially, I concentrated on the main issue of the lack of a silicon laser. Room temperature visible emission from porous silicon first, and from silicon nanocrystals then, showed that optical gain is possible in low-dimensional silicon, but it is severely counterbalanced by nonlinear losses due to free carriers. Then, most of my research focus was on systems where photons show novel features such as Zener tunneling or Anderson localization. Here, the game was to engineer suitable dielectric environments (e.g., one-dimensional photonic crystals or waveguide-based microring resonators) to control photon propagation. Applications of low-dimensional silicon raised up in sensing (e.g., gas-sensing or bio-sensing) and photovoltaics. Interestingly, microring resonators emerged as the fundamental device for integrated photonic circuit since they allow studying the hermitian and non-hermitian physics of light propagation as well as demonstrating on-chip heavily integrated optical networks for reconfigurable switching applications or neural networks for optical signal processing. Finally, I witnessed the emergence of quantum photonic devices, where linear and nonlinear optical effects generate quantum states of light. Here, quantum random number generators or heralded single-photon sources are enabled by silicon photonics. All these developments are discussed in this review by following my own research path.

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Section: Quantum Random Number Generatormentioning

confidence: 99%

Thirty Years in Silicon Photonics: A Personal View

Pavesi

2021

Front. Phys.

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“…Different works based on monolithic QRNGs have been proposed in the literature [6][7][8][9][10]. Authors in [6] presented first the idea to integrate both source of light and detection in the same silicon substrate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, no direct control on the event generation is implemented while signal processing is performed by an external FPGA. The present paper proposes a monolithic solution where SPAD can be used as detector and emitter as well [9] [10]. In order to control the emission of photons, two different control mechanism have been implemented: the first one influences the activity of the emitter, while the second one the emission of photons per each event.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A monolithic SPAD-based random number generator for cryptographic application

Massari

Tontini

Parmesan

et al. 2022

ESSCIRC 2022- IEEE 48th European Solid State Circuits Conference (ESSCIRC)

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A compact quantum random number generator based on an array of Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) is presented here. As the main feature, the proposed chip has the capability to generate random numbers without the use of an external source of light. In the present approach, SPAD devices are used as emitters and as detectors. An embedded logic allows distinguishing dark events from events coming from the photon emission. The extracted random bit sequence shows a quite uniform distribution and after being post-processed by means of an integrated circuit, used to maximize the entropy of the system, is able to pass the AIS31 test. The average bit rate is 400 kbps.

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“…The random appearance of SPAD counts, e.g. the statistics of time intervals between two avalanches, is used to design quantum random number generators [9]- [11]. There is an ongoing research on multi-pixel image sensors with SPADs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cascoded Active Quencher for SPADs With Bipolar Differential Amplifier in 0.35 μm BiCMOS

2022

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Fast active quenching of single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) is important to reduce the afterpulsing probability (APP). An option to reduce the reaction time of electronics to a SPAD's avalanche is to design a quencher exploiting bipolar transistors. A quencher in a 0.35µm CMOS technology with a nominal supply voltage of 3.3V, which operated with excess bias voltages up to 6.6V, was re-designed accordingly. In the new 0.35µm pure-silicon BiCMOS quencher, the comparator takes advantage of a bipolar differential amplifier, which additionally gives the head room to increase the width of some CMOS transistors as well. The proposed BiCMOS quencher is able to drive the load of a wire-bonded 184µm-diameter SPAD, while the CMOS design fails. A comparison, where both chips are measured with a wire-bonded, 34µm-diameter SPAD, shows that the BiCMOS quencher has a reaction time, which is 330ps to 1.1ns faster than that of the CMOS quencher.

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A Robust Quantum Random Number Generator Based on an Integrated Emitter-Photodetector Structure

Cited by 14 publications

References 13 publications

Thirty Years in Silicon Photonics: A Personal View

Thirty Years in Silicon Photonics: A Personal View

A monolithic SPAD-based random number generator for cryptographic application

Cascoded Active Quencher for SPADs With Bipolar Differential Amplifier in 0.35 μm BiCMOS

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