The Chip That Actually Uses Radiation: Quantis and the Future of Entropy

· 4 min read ·

If you’ve ever looked at a computer and thought, “This thing is too predictable,” you’re actually right. Computers are, by design, deterministic. Given the same input and the same state, they will always produce the same output.

This is great for calculating taxes or rendering video, but it’s a nightmare for security. To stay safe, we need randomness.

Most of the “random” numbers your computer uses are actually pseudorandom—generated by complex math that looks random but technically has a pattern. For most things, that’s fine. But for high-stakes security, we want the real deal. We want entropy.

And some people are getting that entropy from nuclear decay.

The “Beta” Chip: RAND from Decay

In 2021, researchers from the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and ETRI made headlines with what they called the “world’s smallest quantum random number generator.”

Unlike a standard CPU, this chip contains a tiny amount of Nickel-63, a radioactive isotope that undergoes beta decay.

How it works:

  1. Beta Decay: Nickel-63 is an electron emitter. It spits out beta particles at intervals that are fundamentally, quantum-mechanically unpredictable.
  2. Detection: The chip has a sensor that detects these particle emissions.
  3. Conversion: Each detected emission (or lack thereof in a specific window) is converted into a bit (0 or 1).

The result? A stream of numbers that aren’t just “hard to guess”—they are physically impossible to predict.

Quantis: The Industry Standard

While the KAERI chip is a research prototype, the concept isn’t entirely new. A company called ID Quantique has been shipping a product called Quantis for years.

Quantis uses a different quantum process—usually the path of a photon through a semi-transparent mirror—but it falls into the same category of “Hardware Random Number Generators” (HRNGs) that bypass mathematical algorithms in favor of physical laws.

These aren’t chips you’d find in a typical gaming laptop. They are usually found in:

  • Hardware Security Modules (HSMs): The boxes that guard a bank’s master keys.
  • Scientific Research: Where bias in randomness can ruin a simulation.
  • Lottery Systems: Where “close enough” isn’t legally sufficient.

Why don’t we all use them?

If radioactive randomness is so good, why is your PC still using math?

  1. Cost: A standard CPU includes “good enough” hardware entropy sources (like thermal noise) for basically free. A dedicated radiation-based chip is expensive to manufacture.
  2. Regulatory Hurdles: Using the word “radioactive” in a consumer product safety filing is a great way to ensure your product never ships. (Even if the amount of Nickel-63 is tiny and safe, the paperwork is massive).
  3. Scale: Most applications don’t need trillions of “perfect” bits; they just need a few “good” ones to seed a mathematical generator.

The Quantum Leap: Smaller, Faster, and Everywhere

While the idea of using quantum mechanics for randomness has been around for a while, the technology is no longer confined to specialized labs. Recent advancements have made QRNGs and HRNGs smaller, faster, and more accessible than ever before.

Miniaturization and Speed

Researchers are now able to create chip-sized QRNGs that can be integrated directly into a variety of devices. These new chips are not only smaller, but also significantly faster, generating random numbers at gigabits per second. This opens the door for using true randomness in a much wider range of applications, from mobile phones to IoT devices.

Commercial Availability

A growing number of companies now offer commercially available HRNGs that can be plugged into a computer via USB. These devices provide a high-quality source of entropy for security-conscious users, researchers, and developers who need a reliable source of true randomness. Products like TectroLabs’ SwiftRNG and the OneRNG are examples of how this technology is becoming more mainstream.

Quantum Mechanics

Final Thoughts

There is something deeply satisfying about the fact that to get truly unpredictable behavior out of our most precise machines, we have to look toward the chaotic, crumbling heart of an atom.

Randomness from decay isn’t just a technical curiosity—it’s a reminder that at the very bottom of our deterministic digital world, the universe is still fundamentally weird.

And that’s pretty cool.

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