ML-DSA Digital Signature | Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC)

Overview

Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature

The MLDS-B235 IP Core implements the NIST Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Standard (ML‑DSA) in FPGA, SoC, and ASIC technologies.

Derived from the CRYSTALS-Dilithium scheme, ML-DSA is believed to be secure against large-scale quantum computers to generate and verify digital signatures.

The IP core is compliant with FIPS 204 and supports the three security levels of the NIST standard (ML‑DSA‑44, ML‑DSA-65, ML-DSA-87).

Portable to any AMD (Xilinx), Intel (Altera), or Microchip (Microsemi) device, the IP Core is also compliant with FIPS 140-3 and provides the highest performance in a minimum area.

MLDS-B235 includes AMBA AXI interfaces and a user‑programmable register map to select the ML‑DSA operation and parameter set. ANSI C drivers are provided for a fast integration into the target platform.

MLDSA Crypto Core Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC)

Performance

Digital Signature Operations

Operation	Estimated Performance, op/s @300 MHz
Operation	ML-DSA-44	ML-DSA-65	ML-DSA-87
Key Generation	16,200	10,250	7,100
Signing ^Average	1,650	1,000	850
Verifying	11,150	7,600	5,200

Resources

Device Family		LUT	Register
AMD Xilinx	Spartan-7, Artix-7, Kintex-7, Virtex-7	10.2K	8.1K
	Kintex/Virtex Ultrascale	10.1K	8.1K
	Artix/Kintex/Virtex Ultrascale+	10.1K	8.1K
	Versal ACAP	9.4K	8.1K
Intel Altera	MAX 10 / Cyclone 10 ^LP	18.6K^LE	8.0K
	Cyclone V	7.7K^ALM	8.0K
	Arria 10	8.0K^ALM	8.5K
	Stratix V	7.8K^ALM	8.5K

Key Features

Digital Signature Operations

MLDS-B235 implements the set of algorithms for digital signature according to FIPS 204 Module-Lattice-Based Standard.

This Post‑Quantum Cryptography (PQC) IP core includes a sequencer that manages the Polynomial Arithmetic Unit and a high‑performance SHAKE Extendable-Output Function (XOF).

Key Generation, Signing, and Verifying algorithms are configured through the integrated register map. The following parameter sets are available to balance security and performance:

ML‑DSA-44 (Security Level 2, equivalent to SHA3-256)
ML-DSA-65 (Security Level 3, equivalent to AES-192)
ML-DSA-87 (Security Level 5, equivalent to AES-256)

Security Strength Categories are defined in FIPS 204.

Attack Resistance

In addition to the inherent robustness of ML-DSA against Side-Channel Attacks (SCA), the IP core includes specific countermeasures to resist timing and Simple Power Analysis (SPA) attacks.

To improve message data confidentiality, a random seed may be provided to implement the Hedged variant of the signing algorithm.

Automatic and on-demand zeroization of internal memories and registers are also available.

Interfaces

The IP Core implements five AXI4‑Stream interfaces for high-speed data transfer. One AXI4-Lite provides access to the register map to select the MLDSA operation and parameter set. Status and Verification ports are available for events and signature validity notifications.

Licensing

The IP Core is provided as encrypted netlist for one device family, under a perpetual Site Licence. It includes 12 months of maintenance and integration support into the target platform.