Patent ID: 11899828
Assignee: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD.
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  H  Y | IPC G  H

Claim 0:
1. A physical unclonable function (PUF) generator, comprising:
a PUF cell array that comprises a plurality of bit cells, wherein each of the plurality of bit cells is configurable into at least two different stable states;
a PUF control circuit coupled to the PUF cell array, wherein the PUF control circuit is configured to:
determine one of the at least two different stable states for each of the plurality of bit cells, and
generate a PUF signature based on the determined stable states of the plurality of bit cells; and

a reset circuit coupled to the PUF cell array, wherein the reset circuit is configured to set the plurality of bit cells to represent their initialization data.