Using standardized quantization for multi-party PPUF matching: Foundations and applications

Hardware-based physically unclonable functions (PUFs) are elegant security primitives that leverage process variation inherent in modern integrated circuits. Recently proposed matched public PUFs (mPPUFs) use a combination of coordinated device aging and gate disabling to create two PUFs that securely realize identical input-output mappings. However, mPPUFs of any reasonable size allow for protocols between only a very limited number of parties. We propose quantization of possible delay values to enable matching of an unbounded number of arbitrary PPUF instances, improving stability in the presence of fluctuations in temperature or supply voltage while maintaining resiliency against a wide number of attacks.