CrossBar Aims to Secure Computing with ReRAM

PUFs offer another means of embedding security in hardware

By Gary Hilson, EETimes (August 16, 2021)

CrossBar Inc. is setting its sights on security with its resistive RAM (ReRAM).

The company will apply its technology for use in hardware security applications in the form of ReRAM-based cryptographic physical unclonable function (PUF) keys that can be generated in secure computing applications. This is a departure from its usual use as non-volatile semiconductor memory, said CEO Mark Davis in a telephone interview with EE Times, and opens new markets for CrossBar’s technology.

A PUF is a physical object that for a given input and conditions, otherwise known as a “challenge,” provides a physically defined “digital fingerprint” output that acts as a unique identifier, most often for a semiconductor device such as a microprocessor. PUF keys aren’t new, but online banking and the emergence of the Internet of the things (IoT) have created opportunities beyond digital security for dedicated electronic devices such as banking cards or payment terminals. The increased need for encryption or a digital signature means an increasing number of ASICs, microcontrollers, and SoCs are embedding hardware cryptographic accelerators or software cryptographic libraries.

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