Radiation Effects on the Reliability of SRAM Physical Unclonable Functions

Static random-access memory (SRAM)-based physical unclonable functions (PUFs) are critical components for cryptographic key generation and hardware authentication in aerospace systems, yet their reliability is critically impacted by space radiation. This study investigates the degradation mechanisms of SRAM PUFs under total ionizing dose (TID) and heavy-ion radiation. Experimental results demonstrate that TID effects induce transistor threshold voltage shifts, elevating the bit error rate of PUF responses to 29.23%. Furthermore, nonradiation-hardened PUFs subjected to heavy-ion irradiation fail due to high current induced by single-event latch-up. These findings provide critical references for implementing radiationhardened designs in space-qualified SRAM PUFs.