Random number generator goes nano for stability

Random number generation is used to encrypt and secure data and generate one-time passwords. Generating a random number requires a circuit to detect the random noise produced by a physical component, such as thermal noise from diodes or resistors. The power consumption of these elements can be significant in highly integrated low-power applications, and the degree of randomness can degrade over time due to a change in the device’s physical and electronic characteristics.

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Mario Lanza, an Associate Professor of material science and engineering at KAUST, Saudi Arabia, saw an opportunity for memristors to be used as more reliable true random number generators (TRNGs).

“Memristors are meta/insulator/metal nanocells based on two-dimensional materials that have fast operation speed, low energy consumption and very long endurance and data retention time, as well as being very easy and cheap to fabricate,” Lanza said in a statement. “For this reason, memristors are being intensively explored for applications such as high-density electronic memories. They are also particularly useful for encryption systems because they can produce fluctuating electronic signals with an extraordinarily high degree of randomness.”