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Topic · Hardware and Architecture

Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security

Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security is a research topic within Hardware and Architecture. Science Explorer counts 12k research works in it since 1958. 21.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on hardware security and authentication techniques, including the use of Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) for device authentication and key generation, detection and prevention of Hardware Trojans, logic encryption methods, FPGA security, anti-counterfeiting measures, IC reverse engineering, scan-based side-channel attacks, machine learning attacks on hardware, and obfuscation techniques to protect integrated circuits.

  • Physical Unclonable Functions
  • Hardware Trojans
  • Logic Encryption
  • FPGA Security
  • Anti-Counterfeiting
  • PUF-Based Authentication
  • IC Reverse Engineering
  • Scan-Based Side-Channel Attacks
  • Machine Learning Attacks
  • Obfuscation Techniques
Research works
12k
fractional, since 1958
In the world top 10%
2.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
21.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+74%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (859 and 808 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 859 works
  2. 2 China 808 works
  3. 3 India 491 works
  4. 4 Germany 228 works
  5. 5 Japan 134 works
  6. 6 France 124 works
  7. 7 South Korea 111 works
  8. 8 Italy 101 works
  9. 9 United Kingdom 94 works
  10. 10 Singapore 61 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 28.5%China: 26.8%India: 16.3%Germany: 7.6%6 others listed: 20.8%29%largest
United States859 · 28.5%China808 · 26.8%India491 · 16.3%Germany228 · 7.6%6 others listed625 · 20.8%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security research?

By volume in 2022–2025, University of Florida publishes the most Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security research, followed by Nanyang Technological University and Indian Institute of Technology Indore.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of FloridaUnited States 105 works
  2. 2 Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore 31 works
  3. 3 Indian Institute of Technology IndoreIndia 27 works
  4. 4 Amrita Vishwa VidyapeethamIndia 25 works
  5. 5 Beihang UniversityChina 20 works
  6. 6 PLA Information Engineering UniversityChina 20 works
  7. 7 National University of Defense TechnologyChina 19 works
  8. 8 Xidian UniversityChina 19 works
  9. 9 KU LeuvenBelgium 19 works
  10. 10 Indian Institute of Technology KharagpurIndia 19 works

Who are the leading researchers in Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security include Adi Shamir, Mohsen Guizani and Yang Liu.

  1. 1 Adi Shamir Israel 6.3k citations
  2. 2 Mohsen Guizani Qatar 3.7k citations
  3. 3 Yang Liu Singapore 3.4k citations
  4. 4 Adrian Perrig United States 3.2k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security research done?

The largest centres of Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Gainesville (United States), Singapore (Singapore) and Nanjing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Gainesville, Santa Clara and Indore.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 210 works
  2. 2 Gainesville United States 105 works
  3. 3 Singapore Singapore 61 works
  4. 4 Nanjing China 60 works
  5. 5 Seoul South Korea 58 works
  6. 6 Shanghai China 56 works
  7. 7 Tokyo Japan 52 works
  8. 8 Xi'an China 48 works
  9. 9 Coimbatore India 41 works
  10. 10 Hangzhou China 39 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. GainesvilleUS · 105.4 works25×
  2. Santa ClaraUS · 20.0 works21×
  3. IndoreIN · 30.0 works18×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security than the world average.

See Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security on the map

Where is the best place to study Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security?

Among universities, judged by research, Nanyang Technological University, University of Florida and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 23.79%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Nanyang Technological University: 31, 24.6%University of Florida: 105, 21.0%Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham: 25, 13.3%National University of Singapore: 17, 24.2%Radboud University Nijmegen: 10, 29.2%Queen's University Belfast: 10, 28.2%KTH Royal Institute of Technology: 11, 20.1%New York University: 14, 31.4%Northern Arizona University: 9, 26.6%Ruhr University Bochum: 17, 19.3%Nanyang Technologica…National University …University of FloridaAmrita Vishwa Vidyap…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore 81.824.6%10.6×31 +215.1%
2 University of FloridaUnited States 81.121.0%27.9×105 +2539.5%
3 Amrita Vishwa VidyapeethamIndia 61.713.3%12.6×25 +1179.2%
4 National University of SingaporeSingapore 61.024.2%4.8×17 +393.2%
5 Radboud University NijmegenNetherlands 60.529.2%6.7×10 +138.7%
6 Queen's University BelfastUnited Kingdom 60.028.2%8.9×10 +30.8%
7 KTH Royal Institute of TechnologySweden 59.720.1%8.0×11 +167.8%
8 New York UniversityUnited States 59.231.4%4.7×14 +199.8%
9 Northern Arizona UniversityUnited States 58.726.6%25.3×9 —
10 Ruhr University BochumGermany 58.219.3%11.7×17 +68.6%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 74% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.