Magnetic tunnel junction as a real-time entropy source: Field-Programmable Gate Array based random bit generation without post-processing
We demonstrate a method to generate application-ready truly random bits from a magnetic tunnel junction driven by a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). We implement a real-time feedback loop that stabilizes the switching probability near 50% and apply an XOR operation, both on the FPGA, to suppress short-term correlations, together mitigating long-term drift and bias in the bitstream. This combined approach passes the NIST Statistical Test Suite for random bit generation at 5 Mb/s without post-processing, providing a practical hardware solution for fast and reliable true random number generation. Beyond cryptographic applications, these capabilities open opportunities for stochastic hardware accelerators, probabilistic computing, and large-scale modeling where real-time access to unbiased randomness is essential.
Authors
- Ahmed Sidi El Valli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1106-2664)
- Naomi Li
- Andrew D. Kent (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9050-8822)
- Troy Criss
- A. Haas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4832-0455)
Institutions
- New York University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Applied Physics
- Published
- 2026-01-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0308636
- Primary Topic
- Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Office of Naval Research