A research team from the National Metrology Institute of Italy (INRiM), in collaboration with CNR-INO and the University of Florence, has developed and characterized stable, integrated, microstructured magnetic systems designed for advanced digital security applications.
The study “Magnetic Unclonable Function leveraging remanence and anysteretic states”, authored by researchers Alessandro Magni, Gabriele Barrera, Federica Celegato, Diederik Sybolt Wiersma, Francesco Riboli, Sara Nocentini, and Paola Tiberto, introduces a set of nominally identical systems consisting of magnetic micro-dots exhibiting unique magnetic responses. Despite their identical design their response results are impossible to model and clone with current technologies. The study was published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.
This uniqueness of these systems stems from uncontrollable nanometric variations within the material, acting as a magnetic fingerprint of the system, i.e., a Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) -. Extraction of high-entropy cryptographic keys was obtained by using a non-invasive magneto-optical technique. .
The research highlights a dual functionality of the magnetic system based on the history of the applied magnetic field:
- The generation of reliable and stable cryptographic keys;
- The dynamic reconfigurability of the key at each observation.
These features mark a significant advancement in the state of the art of magnetic PUFs. The results unequivocally demonstrate that these magnetic systems meet the rigorous protection requirements for sensitive microelectronics, ensuring high stability, integrability, security, and roboust resistance to cloning attacks.
The work is the result of multidisciplinary collaboration between the INRiM venues in Turin and Sesto Fiorentino, CNR-INO, and the University of Florence.
Alongside the publication of the article, the research was also selected for the cover of the journal.