High-Throughput/Low-Energy MTJ-Based True Random Number Generator Using a Multi-Voltage/Current Converter

This article introduces high-throughput/low-energy true random number generators (TRNGs) based on CMOS and three-terminal magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) devices. MTJs are fast and probabilistic switching devices, which can be used as random number sources for TRNGs. However, as the switching probability is quite sensitive to the write current given to MTJs, precise closed-loop control is necessary. Thus, a high-complexity current control circuit is required, such as high precision digital-to-analog converters (DACs), occupying large area and causing large energy dissipation. In order to address the issue, we propose a multi-voltage/current (V/I) converter capable of multilevel coarse current switching and fine adjusting within each level. The fine adjusting can be done by DACs with fewer bits, resulting in much smaller size and energy dissipation than a conventional single-V/I converter. In addition, a multiple-writing scheme for three-terminal MTJs is proposed for increasing the throughput while maintaining the write power. The proposed TRNGs are designed using TSMC 65-nm CMOS and a threeterminal MTJ model that achieves a throughput of 333 Mb/s, an energy dissipation of 0.66 pJ/bit and an area of 2040 μm
²
. This result exhibits a 5× throughput, a 93% energy reduction and an 86% area reduction in comparison with a conventional CMOS/MTJ-based TRNG.