International Business Machines Corporation
Generating key material for information security using a resistive processing unit (RPU) accelerator array as a physically unclonable function (PUF)

Abstract:

Crossbar arrays (e.g., Resistive Processing Unit (RPU) accelerators) are leveraged to create a Physically Unclonable Function (PUF) that exploits variations, such as statistical process variation in manufacture or operation, to generate key material to secure information in a computing environment. One environment is a cloud compute infrastructure whose shared resources are used to process workloads. During RPU accelerator use, the state of the RPU's bits are changed by reproducible inputs, e.g., stochastic pulses applied to change resistive values in the array, and the corresponding changes in the RPU array state captured. These responses, which cannot be reproduced from another device due to random device variations across chips that embody the RPUs, are then used to generate (or facilitate generation of) the cryptographic material. In one embodiment, inputs applied to the RPU accelerator array are generated from a pseudo-random number generator that is otherwise associated with the RPU accelerator.