Design of high-throughput and low-power true random number generator utilizing perpendicularly magnetized voltage-controlled magnetic tunnel junction

A true random number generator based on perpendicularly magnetized voltage-controlled magnetic tunnel junction devices (MRNG) is presented. Unlike MTJs used in memory applications where a stable bit is needed to store information, in this work, the MTJ is intentionally designed with small perpendicu...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:AIP advances 2017-05, Vol.7 (5), p.055934-055934-7
Main Authors: Lee, Hochul, Ebrahimi, Farbod, Amiri, Pedram Khalili, Wang, Kang L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anisotropy
CMOS
Dependence
Electric potential
Energy management
Magnetic anisotropy
Metastable state
Numbers
Power management
Random numbers
Tunnel junctions
Variations
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A true random number generator based on perpendicularly magnetized voltage-controlled magnetic tunnel junction devices (MRNG) is presented. Unlike MTJs used in memory applications where a stable bit is needed to store information, in this work, the MTJ is intentionally designed with small perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA). This allows one to take advantage of the thermally activated fluctuations of its free layer as a stochastic noise source. Furthermore, we take advantage of the voltage dependence of anisotropy to temporarily change the MTJ state into an unstable state when a voltage is applied. Since the MTJ has two energetically stable states, the final state is randomly chosen by thermal fluctuation. The voltage controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) effect is used to generate the metastable state of the MTJ by lowering its energy barrier. The proposed MRNG achieves a high throughput (32 Gbps) by implementing a 64 × 64 MTJ array into CMOS circuits and executing operations in a parallel manner. Furthermore, the circuit consumes very low energy to generate a random bit (31.5 fJ/bit) due to the high energy efficiency of the voltage-controlled MTJ switching.
ISSN:2158-3226
2158-3226
DOI:10.1063/1.4978320