Secure elements meet smartphone & wearable security needs

2nd March 2015

Nat Bowers

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Infineon Technologies has introduced embedded security controllers for premium handsets and smart wearables at Mobile World Congress 2015. The latest SOLID FLASH-based SLE 97 controllers provide what is claimed to be the industry’s highest memory capacity of up to 1.5MB in ultra-small packages.

Infineon has extended its Chip Scale Package (CSP) technology to high-end security controllers, providing a package solution which is considerably smaller than the standard SMD packages. As an industry first, Infineon is already shipping embedded secure elements with ultra-small packages in volume quantities to several leading handset manufacturers for their new smart devices.

New functionalities require memory capacity to securely store biometric data or encryption keys on the security controller, including fingerprint authentication enabling FIDO (Fast IDentity Online), secured cloud services, NFC-based applications or advanced online payment. The combination small PCB footprints and the flexibility of high-end security controllers enables system designers as well as equipment manufacturers to address new markets such as smart wearables.

The SLE 97 security controller with 1.5MB is based on an Infineon security chip architecture utilising an ARM SecurCore SC300 enhanced by Infineon’s cache and SOLID FLASH technology. Standard features such as 32kB RAM and Crypto-coprocessors for both symmetric and asymmetric keys are available. An additional 2kB of internal cache boosts the system performance, which allows the designers to address even the most demanding applications such as fingerprint match-on-card. The backward compatibility to the existing SLE 97 products allows easy migration and lowers development costs.

Juergen Spaenkuch, Head of Platform Security, Infineon Technologies, commented: “Embedded security builds a rock-solid foundation for the next-gen smartphones and mobile applications. We enable various players in the mobile ecosystem to differentiate themselves from their competitors by realising unique yet highly secured mobile solutions based on the SLE 97 security controllers.”

All SLE 97 security controllers feature a SWP and an ISO7816 interface. In addition, SPI and I²C interfaces are available on selected products to realise innovative use cases. All products are available in different form factors.