Patent ID: 11949799
Assignee: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD.
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G  H

Claim 0:
1. A physical unclonable function (PUF) generator comprising:
a PUF cell array comprising a plurality of bit cells configured in a plurality of columns and at least one row, and
at least one input/output (I/O) circuit each coupled to at least two columns of the PUF cell array, wherein the at least one I/O circuit each is configured to access and determine logical states of at least two bit cells in the at least two columns, and based on the determined logical states of the plurality of bit cells, to generate a PUF signature, wherein the at least one I/O circuit each comprises two cross-coupled inverters, wherein the two cross-coupled inverters are coupled between two first bit lines from the at least two columns of the PUF cell array.