Analyzing Aging Effects on SRAM PUFs: Implications for Security and Reliability

Abstract

Impact of aging effects on Static Random-Access Memory Physical Unclonable Functions (SRAM PUFs) presents critical implications for security and reliability in modern hardware. Emerging as promising hardware-based security primitives, SRAM PUFs harness process variations in integrated circuits for secure key generation and device authentication. However, aging phenomena like Bias Temperature Instability (BTI) and Hot Carrier Injection (HCI) can potentially alter SRAM cell characteristics, compromising PUF responses. This study delves into the multifaceted challenges of aging-induced variations, exposing underlying security vulnerabilities and offering innovative strategies to mitigate risks. Examining reliability implications, it introduces mitigation techniques such as adaptive reconfiguration, error correction codes, and multi-modal PUFs to enhance the resilience of SRAM PUFs. The investigation concludes by mapping future research directions and prospects for improving SRAM PUF-based security solutions, in light of the complexities associated with semiconductor device aging.