Infineon Technologies AG unveiled a new family of security controllers, 66P Enhanced (66PE), for standard 8-bit and 16-bit chip card applications, aimed at providing intelligent performance management and enhanced security features.
The controllers combine 0.22-micron chip card IC process technology with flexible on-chip EEPROM technology also used in Infineon's "88 family" of 32-bit chip card controllers. With EEPROM sizes ranging from 2K bytes for low-end payment applications to the 136K bytes needed for high-end mobile communications security identity module (SIM) cards, the 66PE products can also be used in identification and payment applications, such as national ID and health cards, along with electronic purse and debit/credit applications. The 66PE family will replace Infineon's existing 66P families of chip card security controllers.
The 66PE series is code-compatible with the 66P series to enable smart card manufacturers to quickly and easily migrate existing software masks. To accommodate new application software, the new controller family also offers an enhanced instruction set that facilitates access to larger on-chip memories while reducing the code size and increasing the performance of some program sequences by up to 80 percent.
Internal clock frequency of the chips is adjustable according to available power or required performance and runs at up to 33 MHz, double the frequency of the 66P family. To provide maximum performance within specified limits, such as 6 mA for 3 volt GSM SIM cards, an integrated intelligent power limitation system automatically adapts the chip's internal frequency for maximum performance during all operations.
Further, the 66PE products include advanced security features, such as an active shielding that sends a continuous stream of random data over the surface of the chip. If a change in this data is sensed, the chip initializes an automatic alarm, setting it into a secured state. For chip-internal communication processes, such as between memory areas and the processing unit, the 66PE products provides data bus and memory encryption so that not only the stored data is encrypted, but also every signal sent on internal data buses. The 66PEs security features also include an enhanced sensor technique comprising low-voltage and high-voltage sensors, frequency sensors and filters, light and temperature sensors, and glitch sensors.
Those members of the 66PE family used in high-security applications will be certified according to evaluation assurance level 5 plus (EAL 5+) of the international "Common Criteria" standard, using the advanced BSI-PP-0002 protection profile, which is the world's most rigorous security test in the chip card arena that verifies that a chip card controller provides the highest available level of security and meets all requirements for qualified electronic signature.
In addition, certain 66PE products will receive application-specific certifications, or "type approvals", for credit card and electronic purse applications for VISA, MasterCard CAST and the "Geldkarte" (money card) of the German Central Credit Control Committee of Banks (Zentraler Kreditausschuss, ZKA), as well as Mondex.
