When traditional semiconductor technologies are unable to meet specific nonfunctional requirements of emerging products—including for factors such as energy consumption, peak power dissipation, and chip cost and/or size—new technologies must emerge to fill the gap.
In a recent IEEE Security & Privacy column, “Hardware Security in the Era of Emerging Device and System Technologies,” Associate Editor-in-Chief Nele Mentens advocates for increased research into the security of electronic systems based on new, more-efficient hardware technologies.
The International Roadmap for Devices and Systems (IRDS) uses a 15-year horizon to provide predictions and guidance on the expected opportunities and limitations of traditional and emerging technologies.
Among the various International Focus Teams (IFTs) that the IRDS Executive Summary describes are the following:
In the latter case, examples of alternative technologies include
Commercial products are already using some of these emerging technologies, yet research on the hardware security properties of these products … is still in its infancy.
In her column, Mentens asks a key question:
She then posits that answering this question requires revisiting hardware security’s fundamental building blocks: hardware roots of trust (RoTs).
Synopsys—a global leader in hardware IP cores for security—cites several key RoTs, including the following three:
To this list, Mentens adds
The thing these components share, says Mentens, is that their desired hardware security properties “are highly dependent on their physical behavior, which is determined by the underlying technology.”
Mentens highlights two emerging technologies as suitable for generating hardware RoTs for commercial products: resistive memories and flexible electronics.
A type of emerging memory device, resistive memories are nonvolatile; they both consume less power and work faster than traditional Flash memories.
Mentens also cites three additional qualities of resistive memories:
For its commercially available resistive memory, Crossbar mentions various secure storage properties, including
Although researchers also offer novel ways to design PUFs based on resistive memories, Mentens recommends a thorough analysis of security properties based on open source models of resistive memories before they become widespread.
Mertens expects flexible electronics to become an increasingly important topic in hardware security research. These thin, ultralight chips are built on mechanically flexible substrates such as plastics, metal foil, flexible glass, and paper. Their advantages include
Although not suitable for high-performance systems, Mertens says flexible electronics are perfect for Internet of Things devices, especially in
In terms of built-in RoTs, research suggests that, for TRNGs and PUFs, flexible electronic chips based on inkjet printing could use random ink dispersion as a source of randomness or intrinsic variation.
In addition to discussing various other types of RoTs for flexible electronics, Mertens issues a call for researchers in security, hardware design, and emerging technologies to collaborate on work that will enable secure deployment of these technologies at scale for a range of applications.
To read more, check out “Hardware Security in the Era of Emerging Device and System Technologies.”
