43.3.1 Public Key Cryptography Library (PUKCL) Application Programming Interface (API)

The Public Key Cryptography Controller (PUKCC) is a peripheral that can be used to accelerate public key cryptography, and processes public key cryptography algorithm calculus in both Prime field (GF(p)) and Binary field (GF(2ⁿ)). Different functionalities of the PUKCC are accessed with the help of the Public Key Cryptography Library (PUKCL), which is embedded into a dedicated ROM inside the microcontroller.

The PUKCL provides access to many algorithms and functions. The features provided, start from basic addition or comparison, up to the RSA or ECDSA complete computation. The library can be utilized by including the PUKCL Driver in the application and passing parameters through the Application Programming Interface (API). The PUKCC Driver is available in Atmel START within Drivers > Cryptography. This library can be used in conjunction with a SSL software stack to improve performance and helps to reduce the RAM usage and time taken to perform different cryptographic functions.