Physical Electronics Research Lab - PERLab 

Abstract

At Northwestern University’s Physical Electronics Research Laboratory (PERLab) under Prof. Pedram Khalili, I work on spintronic hardware for true random number generation (TRNG), focusing on voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). My work includes the design and integration of the readout and signal-conditioning chain needed to reliably extract random bitstreams from nanoscale device switching behavior. I designed and fabricated a 50 MHz PCB-based prototype with precision readout circuitry, enabling high-rate random bit generation (up to 200 Mbit/s). To improve statistical quality, I implemented digital post-processing/whitening techniques (including LFSR-based methods), achieving measurable bitstream quality gains, and validated performance using the full NIST Statistical Test Suite across multiple datasets. This work combines device physics, high-speed mixed-signal circuit design, PCB implementation, and statistical verification for hardware security applications.

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