A High Speed Integrated Quantum Random Number Generator with on-Chip Real-Time Randomness Extraction

The security of electronic devices has become a key requisite for the\nrapidly-expanding pervasive and hyper-connected world. Robust security\nprotocols ensuring secure communication, device's resilience to attacks,\nauthentication control and users privacy need to be implemented. Random Number\nGenerators (RNGs) are the fundamental primitive in most secure protocols but,\noften, also the weakest one. Establishing security in billions of devices\nrequires high quality random data generated at a sufficiently high throughput.\nOn the other hand, the RNG should exhibit a high integration level with on-chip\nextraction to remove, in real time, potential imperfections. We present the\nfirst integrated Quantum RNG (QRNG) in a standard CMOS technology node. The\nQRNG is based on a parallel array of independent Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes\n(SPADs), homogeneously illuminated by a DC-biased LED, and co-integrated logic\ncircuits for postprocessing. We describe the randomness generation process and\nwe prove the quantum origin of entropy. We show that co-integration of\ncombinational logic, even of high complexity, does not affect the quality of\nrandomness. Our CMOS QRNG can reach up to 400 Mbit/s throughput with low power\nconsumption. Thanks to the use of standard CMOS technology and a modular\narchitecture, our QRNG is suitable for a highly scalable solution.\n