Intrinsic PUFs from Flip-flops on Reconfigurable Devices

Intrinsic Physical Unclonable Functions or PUFs have been introduced as a highly secure method to extract digital identifiers and keys from integrated circuits. In the setting of reconfigurable devices, like FPGAs, they can be used to protect the IP contained in the design in a cost-effective and tamper-evident way. In this work, a new type of PUF construction for reconfigurable devices is introduced, based on flip-flop powerup values. Given experimental data shows that flip-flop PUFs behave similarly to earlier described SRAM PUFs. However, they have some additional advantages with regard to the use in reconfigurable devices.