A dual-field elliptic curve cryptographic processor with a radix-4 unified division unit

To enhance the data security in network communications, this paper presents a dual-field elliptic curve crypto- graphic processor (DECP) supporting all finite field operations and elliptic curve (EC) functions. Based on the fast radix-4 unified division algorithm, the execution time can be significantly reduced by a factor of three. By exploiting the hardware sharing and the ladder selection techniques, the proposed 160-bit and 256-bit DECP can have competitive execution cycle with only 0.29mm² and 0.45mm² silicon area in 90nm CMOS technology. In addition, the operating frequency in dual field can be increased by applying the data-path separation method and the degree checker. Our proposed DECP is over 2~6 times better in area- time product than relative works.