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Workshop on Electronics Communication Engineering (WECE)

Quantum Random Number Generator Chip Integrated with Self-regulating Feedback Module

Yan Li, Jing Wang, Yanjie Zhang, Jianqiang Li, Yanfang Yuan, Xiaobo Sharon Hu

Published Oct 17, 2025• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Random numbers are extensively utilized in cryptography, where the application of security systems demands random number generators of high reliability. In the scheme of generating quantum random numbers based on photon number counting—LED light source, CMOS image sensor(CIS), and post-processing module are integrated together. However, property of LED and CIS are significantly influenced by the operating environment temperature, limiting its applications in practice. This paper proposes the self-regulating module to regulate the flux of LED light and exposure time of CIS during operation, which enlarges working temperature of the QRNG chip. The novel self-regulating module can adjust the LED driven current, CIS exposure time based on the data of self-test. The mean value of readout number in extreme temperature is stabilized at around 550. Technical noise is under 8 electrons and quantum noise minentropy is stabilized at around 0.53 bits/bit in extreme temperatures. Tests results demonstrate the output random number bits satisfy the criteria of standards at extreme temperature −40 °C and 85 °C.

DOI
10.1109/wece67593.2025.11381549

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Random numbers are extensively utilized in cryptography, where the application of security systems demands random number generators of high reliability. In the scheme of generating quantum random numbers based on photon number counting—LED light source, CMOS image sensor(CIS), and post-processing module are integrated together. However, property of LED and CIS are significantly influenced by the operating environment temperature, limiting its applications in practice. This paper proposes the self-regulating module to regulate the flux of LED light and exposure time of CIS during operation, which enlarges working temperature of the QRNG chip. The novel self-regulating module can adjust the LED driven current, CIS exposure time based on the data of self-test. The mean value of readout number in extreme temperature is stabilized at around 550. Technical noise is under 8 electrons and quantum noise minentropy is stabilized at around 0.53 bits/bit in extreme temperatures. Tests results demonstrate the output random number bits satisfy the criteria of standards at extreme temperature −40 °C and 85 °C.
Optical quantum random number generators (QRNGs) are a special class of physical random data sources, whose randomness is established on elementary quantum optics processes. We present a QRNG based on a CMOS chip which overcomes the limitations of the commonly used optical QRNG and which achieves a random bit generation rate up to 200 Mb/s. The CMOS chip is based on an array of single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) and digital counters. We prove the absolute randomness of the generated random data through statistical test suites and even more stringent correlation and bias tests applied to 32 Gbit streams. The QRNG passes all tests; hence, it proves to be one of the fastest and more reliable CMOS optical QRNGs currently available.
A quantum random number generator (QRNG) based on a silicon nanocrystals (Si-NCs) light emitting device (LED) coupled with a silicon single photon avalanche photodiode (Si-SPAD) is presented. A simple setup is used for the generation of random bits. The modeled approach assures a negligible bias on datasets of 100 Mbits length. The raw data pass all the statistical tests in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) suite without any post-processing operations. The bit-rate of 0.6 Mbps is achieved. The information-theoretically provable randomness extractor of Toeplitz-hashing function is applied to longer datasets (1 Gbits) to extract the randomness, to minimize the bias, and consequently pass all the NIST tests. Stabilizing the temperature, resetting the applied current to the LED, or a feedback system can also be used as parameter control solutions to generate good quality, long datasets of random numbers suitable for cryptographic applications.
Quantum resources offer intrinsic randomness that is valuable for applications such as cryptography, scientific simulation, and computing. Silicon-based photonics chips present an excellent platform for the cost-effective deployment of next-generation quantum systems on a large scale, even at room temperature. Nevertheless, the potential susceptibility of these chips to hacker control poses a challenge in ensuring security for on-chip quantum random number generation, which is crucial for enabling extensive utilization of quantum resources. Here, we introduce and implement an on-chip source-device-independent quantum random number generator (SDI-QRNG). The randomness of this generator is achieved through distortion-free on-chip detection of quantum resources, effectively eliminating classical noise interference. The security of the system is ensured by employing on-chip criteria for estimating security entropy in a practical chip environment. By incorporating a photoelectric package, the SDI-QRNG chip achieves a secure bit rate of 146.2 Mbps and a bare chip rate of 248.47 Gbps, with all extracted secure bits successfully passing the randomness test. Our experimental demonstration of this chip-level SDI-QRNG shows significant advantages in practical applications, paving the way for the widespread and cost-effective implementation of room-temperature secure QRNG, which marks a milestone in the field of QRNG chips.
The security of electronic devices has become a key requisite for the rapidly-expanding pervasive and hyper-connected world. Robust security protocols ensuring secure communication, device's resilience to attacks, authentication control and users privacy need to be implemented. Random Number Generators (RNGs) are the fundamental primitive in most secure protocols but, often, also the weakest one. Establishing security in billions of devices requires high quality random data generated at a sufficiently high throughput. On the other hand, the RNG should exhibit a high integration level with on-chip extraction to remove, in real time, potential imperfections. We present the first integrated Quantum RNG (QRNG) in a standard CMOS technology node. The QRNG is based on a parallel array of independent Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs), homogeneously illuminated by a DC-biased LED, and co-integrated logic circuits for postprocessing. We describe the randomness generation process and we prove the quantum origin of entropy. We show that co-integration of combinational logic, even of high complexity, does not affect the quality of randomness. Our CMOS QRNG can reach up to 400 Mbit/s throughput with low power consumption. Thanks to the use of standard CMOS technology and a modular architecture, our QRNG is suitable for a highly scalable solution.
In this paper, a nondeterministic random number generator based on detection of the single photons emitted by an Si-CMOS-LED light source integrated for the first time on the detector chip is presented and experimentally demonstrated. We use a ring-shaped single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) around the Si-CMOS-LED fabricated in 0.35-μm HV-CMOS technology to generate random events. The time intervals between single-photon events are independent quantum random variables. A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) digitizes the time variables to the stream of random bits. Bias in the raw data due to the nonuniform distribution of the time intervals is removed by postprocessing in a special configuration of xor gates to improve the randomness of the generated random bits. The quantum random numbers in 1-Gb streams with bit generation rate of 1 Mb/s were directly delivered to a personal computer (PC) and passed all statistical tests from ENT, STS, and DIEHARD, as well as for more accuracy correlation and bias tests applied on these streams.
This work describes a monolithically integrated photonic quantum random number generator (QRNG) in0.35μ m0.35 \mu ~\mathrm{m}0.35μ mCMOS. This QRNG consists of a light-emitting diode inside a deep N-well, a ring single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD), a fast cascoded active quenching and resetting circuit, and an analog evaluation circuit determining whether the random bit is a “0” or “1”. The random bits are created by comparison of two consecutive time intervals between photon detections using charging and discharging a capacitor with a constant current as well as a comparator. The time intervals can be in the range from 10 ns to10μ s10 \mu ~\mathrm{s}10μ s. With±3.3 V\pm 3.3 ~\mathrm{V}±3.3 Vsupply voltage, the power consumption of the complete circuits is between 1.1 mW and 4.55 mW depending on the LED emission and detection rate of the SPAD. After XOR-hashing, the NIST tests were passed.