Low depth aes sbox architecture for area-constraint hardware

Abstract

A substitution box, SBox, circuit that performs an SBox computational step when comprised in cryptographic circuitry. The SBox circuit comprises: a first circuit part comprising digital circuitry that generates a 4-bit first output signal (Y) from an 8-bit input signal (U); a second circuit part, configured to operate in parallel with the first circuit part and to generate a 32-bit second output signal (L) from the 8-bit input signal (U), wherein the 32-bit second output signal (L) consists of four 8-bit sub-results; and a third circuit part configured to produce four preliminary 8-bit results (K) by scalar multiplying each of the four 8-bit sub-results by a respective one bit of the 4-bit first output signal (Y), and to produce an 8-bit output signal (R) by summing the four preliminary 8-bit results (K). The first circuit part is configured to generate the 4-bit first output signal (Y) from the input signal (U) by performing a calculation that comprises a first linear matrix operation, a Galois Field (GF) multiplication, and a GF inversion; and the second circuit part is configured to generate the second output signal (L) from the input signal (U) by performing a calculation that comprises a second linear matrix operation.