ChipSHOUTER Users Manual
: Device Architecture
16
active, the device will prevent “arming” (turning on the
high-voltage circuit) until the condition is cleared, and
possibly acknowledged by the user.
This microcontroller can also generate pulse waveforms.
These waveforms can either be basic pulses of a specified
lengths, or more complicated patterns involving switching
the high voltage on/off in 21nS time-steps.
To reduce the delay between a trigger event and the
pulse injection, a special hardware trigger is also present
that directly drives the high-voltage switch. This hardware
trigger allows entirely arbitrary on/off pulses to be sent
into the injection tip. This hardware trigger can be used
with general-purpose test equipment or specific power analy-
sis equipment such as the ChipWhisperer.
The output connector is a SMA connector jack. For safety
reasons the device uses “high-side” switching, which means
the high voltage is present ONLY during the pulse operation
itself. The output includes two current-limiting resistors
to prevent device destruction even when discharging into a
direct short, and two catch diodes to absorb the reverse
voltage spike generated by the collapsing magnetic field.
