1 General description

A30 is a secure authentication IC for IoT platforms, electronic accessories, and consumable devices such as

home electronic devices, mobile accessories, and medical supplies.

A30 contains ECC key pairs, which can be generated by the IC itself to make sure that private keys are never

exposed outside the IC. Also it performs cryptographic operations for security critical communication and control

functions.

A30 has Common Criteria EAL 6+ security certification with AVA_VAN.5 on product level [1] and supports a

generic Crypto API providing AES, ECDSA, ECDH, SHA, HMAC, and HKDF cryptographic functionality to

users. Asymmetric cryptography features support 256-bit ECC over the NIST P-256 and brainpoolP256r1

curves. Symmetric cryptography features support both AES-128 and AES-256. Also it supports PKI-based

mutual authentication including certificate handling. The CC security certification ensures that the IC security

measures and protection mechanisms have been evaluated against sophisticated noninvasive and invasive

attack scenarios.

A30 supports an I2C contact interface with two GPIOs.

A30 supports a low-power design, and consumes only 5 μA at Halt mode when an external VDD is supplied.

2.1 Use cases

A30 can be used for

• Secure key(s) and certificate(s) storage

• PKI (public key infrastructure) based authentication and communication

• Device only, device-to-device, device-to-cloud authentication

• Secure connection for consumer devices, industrial machines, and medical devices

• Battery passport and/or Digital product passport

• Device to meet strengthening cybersecurity requirements

2.2 Key features

A30 is designed to support many IoT applications and solves the problems in IoT applications' full life cycle.

• ECC key generation on the IC, and provisioning item level certificate(s) in NXP, or in the field.

• The following crypto primitives are supported: AES-128/256 (ECB, CBC, CMAC, CCM, GCM), ECDSA, and

ECDH over NIST P-256 and brainpoolP256r1, SHA-256/384, HMAC, and HKDF.

This allows to support advanced crypto protocols such as SIGMA-I, TLS1.3 and Matter.

• Nonreversible monotonic counter as the usage counter

• Delivery of the list of UID and certificates at shipping from NXP

• I2C target operates at 100 kHz (standard mode), 400 kHz (fast mode), or 1 MHz (Fast-mode Plus)

• Two configurable GPIOs; 1 GPIO can be used for power downstream - up to 10 mW for batteryless

applications

• 1 V operation with 1.5 V battery

• Small footprint on PCB with WLCSP16