VLSI Design of Advanced-Features AES Cryptoprocessor in the Framework of the European Processor Initiative

This article presents a cryptographic hardware (HW) accelerator supporting multiple advanced encryption standard (AES)-based block cipher modes, including the more advanced cipher-based MAC (CMAC), counter with CBC-MAC (CCM), Galois counter mode (GCM), and XOR-encrypt-XOR-based tweaked-codebook mode with ciphertext stealing (XTS) modes. The proposed design implements advanced and innovative features in HW, such as AES key secure management, on-chip clock randomization, and access privilege mechanisms. The system has been tested in a RISC-V-based system-on-chip (SoC), specifically designed for this purpose, on an Ultrascale + Xilinx FPGA, analyzing resource and power consumption, together with system performances. The cryptoprocessor has been then synthesized on a 7-nm CMOS standard-cells technology; performances, complexity, and power consumption information are analyzed and compared with the state of the art. The proposed cryptoprocessor is ready to be embedded within the innovative European Processor Initiative (EPI) chip.