Symmetric adiabatic logic circuits against differential power analysis

Abstract

We investigate the possibility of using adiabatic logic as a countermeasure against differential power analysis (DPA) style attacks to make use of its energy efficiency. Like other dual-rail logics, adiabatic logic exhibits a current dependence on input data, which makes the system vulnerable to DPA. To resolve this issue, we propose a symmetric adiabatic logic in which the discharge paths are symmetric for data-independent parasitic capacitance, and the charges are shared between the output nodes and between the internal nodes, respectively, to prevent the circuit from depending on the previous input data. © 2010 ETRI.