Abstract: In one embodiment, an unpredictable nature of the storage properties in what is otherwise referred to as the “lockout period” following the programming of a non-volatile bitcell in a bitcell programming interval, is advantageously utilized in a random number generation mode to read random numbers from the memory. Accordingly, instead of locking out read operations in a lockout interval, a read operation may be performed in that or a similarly placed interval to read a bit state of the bitcell, which bit state is random in nature. The instability of the storage property varies from bitcell to bitcell and therefore may be used to generate a set of random bits from a block of bitcells. Other aspects are described herein.

Abstract: In one embodiment, an apparatus comprises: a challenger logic to issue a challenge to a responder logic, the challenge including an address of a portion of an array of a non-volatile memory; and the responder logic to receive the challenge and read data from the portion of the array at a read time less than a lockout period and at a demarcation voltage. The challenger logic may be configured to verify the challenge if the read data matches an expected read value, where the expected read value is determined based on configuration parameter information including compensation data associated with the portion of the array. Other embodiments are described and claimed.