An improved differential pull-down network logic configuration for DPA resistant circuits

Abstract

Side channel attacks (SCAs) exploit the fact that security IC physical implementation of a cryptographic algorithm can leak information of the secret key. One of the most important SCA is Differential Power Analysis (DPA), that uses the power consumption dependence with the data processed to reveal critical information. To protect security devices against this issue, differential logic styles with constant power dissipation have been widely used. However, the right use of such circuits for secure applications needs not only a fully symmetric structure, but also removing any memory effect that could leak information. We propose an improved memory-less fully symmetric Xor/Xnor pull-down logic configuration, to be used with any differential technique, for immediate application in crypto-graphic secure applications.