32-Bit MCU Packs Security Supervisor and Cryptographic Functionality September 24, 2008
Targeting security-critical financial applications, the MAXQ1103 32-bit, RISC MCU integrates security supervisory features, advanced encryption acceleration, and 1 KB of nonvolatile SRAM. As per the company, this level of integration simplifies and protects designs that require a high level of physical and logical security. In addition to NVSRAM for key storage, the device integrates a real-time clock and circuitry to detect tamper events. It provides security functions with a worst-case 85?C battery leakage of 2.55 ?A and hardware acceleration support for several advanced encryption algorithms including the Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-1, SHA-224, SHA-256), DES, 3DES, RSA (up to 2048-bit keys), DSA, and Elliptic Curve DSA. The MAXQ1103 supports code encryption through a dedicated 3DES engine that decrypts instructions and a 4-KB instruction cache to maintain performance. In addition, it employs a hardware random number generator to create its own unique encryption keys. Available in 144-pin TQFP and 144-pin CSBGA packages, prices start at $12 each/1,000. MAXIM INTEGRATED PRODUCTS, Sunnyvale, CA. (800) 998-8800.
