AN 556: Using the Design Security Features in Intel FPGAs

ID 683269
Date 5/21/2021
Public
Document Table of Contents

Step 3: Configuring the 40-nm, 28-nm, or 20-nm FPGAs with Encrypted Configuration Data

The final step is to configure the protected 40-nm, 28-nm, or 20-nm FPGAs with the encrypted configuration file.

During configuration, the encrypted configuration data is sent to the 40-nm, 28-nm, or 20-nm FPGAs. Using the previously stored key, the FPGA decrypts the configuration data and uses the unencrypted data to configure itself. Only configuration files encrypted using the correct key are accepted by the FPGA for successful configuration. Without a correct key, a stolen encrypted file is useless.