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I suspect that "better randomness" is not what this solves, but rather faster randomness.

A PN junction gives you only megabits/s of randomness at most.

This proposed method, if the article is correct, reaches gigabits/s.

But it could be because they are just using a large array.



I'm sure I'm overlooking something, but what's the real use-case for true random number generation at that fast of a rate? Even a few Kb/s of random numbers is enough to continually reseed a cryptographic pseudo-random number generator that will generate as much output as you want that's indistinguishable from true randomness. I suppose you aren't reliant on the security of the underlying cryptographic primitives then, but you're still reliant on the particular hardware RNG chip being implemented in a way that's free of bias even if the underlying physics principle is sound.


One thing is for sure, nature has no shortage of randomness. So indeed it seems difficult to find advantages of a new method.

In any case, a PRNG might be a no-go for many applications, out of principle.

And also, maybe a PRNG requires more power and die area than this new method?




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