Application of 2D Materials in Hardware Security for Internet‐of‐Things: Progress and Perspective

Abstract

Internet‐of‐Things (IoT) is a ubiquitous network that features a tremendous amount of data and myriads of heterogeneous devices, which are interconnected and accessible or controllable anywhere and anytime. The security of IoT is therefore unequivocally crucial in several aspects, such as device‐to‐device communication, sensing and actuating, and information exchange. Conventional cryptographic algorithms and silicon‐based security primitives are constantly challenged by evolving methods of attack. By far, many efforts and achievements have been made using 2D materials for various electronics applications. Therefore, it is plausible to explore the implementation of hardware security using 2D materials, for example, true random number generators (TRNGs), physical unclonable functions (PUFs), camouflage, and anticounterfeit. TRNGs and PUFs are critical elements of hardware security and are widely deployed in cryptographic keys, identification, and authentication. In contrast to conventional utilization of manufacturing variations, security primitives using 2D materials have other entropy sources to exploit, such as the random nature of material growth and intrinsic randomness in charge trapping/detrapping. In this review, research progresses in 2D material‐based TRNGs, PUFs, and other security applications are summarized, along with the discussion on entropy sources, reliability, circuit, and machine learning modeling attacks launched on TRNGs and PUFs.

Direct Transfer of Monolayer MoS2 Device Arrays for Potential Applications in Flexible Electronics

“…Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) exhibit a wide range of semiconducting properties, making them potential candidates for low-power electronic device applications in the limit of atomic thickness . Owing to their van der Waals (vdW) layered structure, wide band gap variability, high mechanical flexibility, and controllable optoelectronic response, , the TMDCs are the emerging future materials in the front end of line (FEOL) technologies. − Moreover, their possible utilization in the back end of line (BEOL) integration , and Internet of Things (IoT) , based embedded sensors require cost-effective synthesis and substrate-to-substrate transfer of channel materials with robust device fabrication. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is one of the most explored synthesis routes to produce large-scale and high-quality monolayer 2D semiconductors such as MoS 2 .…”

Attack Resilient True Random Number Generators Using Ferroelectric‐Enhanced Stochasticity in 2D Transistor

“…[1] The hardware-based security primitives, leveraging the intrinsic physical unclonable behavior, generally offer the best security performance and possess significant promises to alleviate these concerns. [1][2][3] Among them, the true random number generators (TRNGs) find their main applications suitable for preventing such security breaches by generating unpredictable cryptographic keys using various randomness sources, including thermal noise, random telegraph noise, switching probability, oxide soft breakdown, and charge trapping effect. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] However, these intrinsic events are susceptible to temperature variations and are subject to a limited lifetime due to defect creation.…”

Universal transfer of full‐class metal electrodes for barrier‐free two‐dimensional semiconductor contacts

“…Various components devices of integrated circuits, including field-effect transistors (FETs), photodiodes, memristors, and memories, depend on high-quality metal-semiconductor contacts. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) semiconductors with atomic thickness and dangling-bond-free surfaces are expected to extend Moore's Law, but their performance is severely degraded by the high-Schottky-barrier of conventional evaporated metal contacts. [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Traditional metal-semiconductor interface engineering can rely on element doping via highenergy ion injection, this strategy is not suitable for 2D semiconductors due to their restricted ultrathin bodies.…”

“…Various components devices of integrated circuits, including field‐effect transistors (FETs), photodiodes, memristors, and memories, depend on high‐quality metal–semiconductor contacts 1–16 . Two‐dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) semiconductors with atomic thickness and dangling‐bond‐free surfaces are expected to extend Moore's Law, but their performance is severely degraded by the high‐Schottky‐barrier of conventional evaporated metal contacts 17–27 .…”