MEMS-Based Fingerprinting Architecture for Trustworthy Electronics

Christian Schott (TU Chemnitz, D)

Abstract

We propose a MEMS based fingerprinting architecture as hardware security component for trustworthy electronics. The characteristics of a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) suit as physical unclonable function (PUF) and are used for generating a fingerprint allowing unique identification of electronic components. Fingerprint generation and validation is done in hardware and currently realized on an FPGA that is directly connected to the MEMS. Our proposal is designed to ensure protection of electronic components against unauthorized exchange or tampering by integrating the solution into electronics in future.

Curriculum Vitae

Christian Schott got his Master degree in 2017 with his thesis about the enhancement of a hardware-based 3D position estimation by using spatial environment models. Since then he works as a research assistant at the professorship of Circuit and System Design of TU Chemnitz. His research field is the high level synthesis for accelerating algorithms (e.g. RADAR, medical, Neural Networks) in hardware, mainly targeting FPGAs. Furthermore he worked on new methodologies and concepts on formalizing semiconductor test and test specifications. Currently he is responsible for the BMBF-funded project VE-VIDES at TU Chemnitz, where the research is on application of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) as physical unclonable functions (PUFs) for identifying trustworthy electronics.