An energy and area efficient, all digital entropy source compatible with modern standards based on jitter pipelining

Abstract

This paper proposes an energy and area efficient entropy source, suitable for true random number generation, accompanied with a stochastic model in a 28nm CMOS technology. The design uses a jitter pipelining architecture together with an increased timing resolution to achieve a maximal throughput of 298 Mbit/s and a best energy efficiency of 1.46 pJ/bit at a supply of 0.8V. The generated random bits pass the NIST SP 800-90B IID tests with a min entropy rate of 0.933 bit/bit, which is more than required by the AIS-31 standard. The all digital design allows for effortless transfer to other technology nodes, taking advantage of all benefits related to further technology scaling.