Efficient AES S-boxes implementation for non-volatile FPGAs

The paper presents a new efficient method for implementation of the AES byte substitution function (S-box). It is aimed at the AES implementation in non-volatile FPGAs featuring volatile embedded RAM blocks. The method uses a pair of linear feedback shift registers to generate substitution tables into embedded RAMs. The proposed solution requires less space and is faster than the one implementing whole S-boxes in the logic area, and it is especially suited to a power-aware AES implementation. The complete AES cipher implemented in the Actel Igloo family and employing the proposed solution consumes two times less total power and more than 150-times less static power than the same cipher implemented in a competing volatile FPGA technology.