Patent ID: 8874631

Claim:
A random number generation apparatus comprising: a voltage supply circuit configured to supply a voltage; a random noise generation element comprising a transistor including a source region and a drain region formed apart from each other at a distance on a semiconductor substrate, a tunnel insulation film formed on the semiconductor substrate to serve as a channel region between the source region and the drain region, a gate electrode formed above the tunnel insulation film and supplied with the voltage from the voltage supply circuit, and a charge trap portion provided between the tunnel insulation film and the gate electrode, the charge trap portion being capable of trapping charges, and random noise being generated in a drain current flowing between the source region and the drain region on the basis of charges trapped in the charge trap portion; a random number conversion circuit configured to convert random noise generated from the random noise generation element to a random number and outputs the random number; a first test circuit configured to perform a random number test to test quality of the random number output from the random number conversion circuit; and a re-initialization circuit configured to pull out charges in the charge trap portion of the random noise generation element to the semiconductor substrate through the tunnel insulation film by applying a voltage to the semiconductor substrate and thereby initialize the charge trap portion, the re-initialization circuit carrying out initialization when a quality of the random number has degraded.