The threat of side-channel attacks (SCA) is of crucial importance when designing systems with cryptographic hardware or software. The FP6-funded project SCARD enhances the typical micro-chip design flow in order to provide a means for designing side-channel resistant circuits and systems. Appropriate SCA-simulation tools and SCA analysis for the designer of secure systems are part of the project goals. We consider these enhancements for traditional design flows of micro-chips as necessary in order to enable the design for the next generation of secure and dependable devices. SCARD is in its final phase, the final result a SCARD chip designed by using the developed design flow is currently implemented

This article presents a highly regular and scalable AES hardware architecture, suited for full-custom as well as for semicustom design flows. Contrary to other publications, a complete architecture (even including CBC mode) that is scalable in terms of throughput and in terms of the used key size is described. Similarities of encryption and decryption are utilized to provide a high level of performance using only a relatively small area (10,799 gate equivalents for the standard configuration). This performance is reached by balancing the combinational paths of the design. No other published AES hardware architecture provides similar balancing or a comparable regularity. Implementations of the fastest configuration of the architecture provide a throughput of 241 Mbits/sec on a 0.6 /spl mu/m CMOS process using standard cells.