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Glitch Amplifier II

Introduction

Fault injection on most embedded devices requires controllable and noise-free power. Glitch Amplifier II is designed to meet this requirement, making your fault injection tests possible for a wide range of embedded targets. The Glitch Amplifier II can be easily connected to Spider or VC Glitcher to produce sharp and accurate glitches on the target and to an Oscilloscope to measure and view the glitches that you generate. Parameterization and configuration of the glitching scenarios are done by configuring Spider or VC Glitcher from the Inspector FI software. Please refer to our Spider and VC Glitcher data sheets for more information on the specifications.

The Glitch Amplifier II has 50 Ω input for connection to Spider or VC Glitcher. The Glitch Amplifier II has virtually 0 Ω output impedance, designed to drive the input pin of an embedded processor. The Glitch Amplifier II can operate as a single power supply between 0 and 4V. This voltage is set in Inspector and controlled via Spider or VC Glitcher.

The Glitch Amplifier II has an amplification factor of 2. When setting a continuous voltage level of e.g. 2 Volts and a glitch peak voltage of e.g. 3 Volts, the voltage levels between Spider or VC Glitcher and Glitch Amplifier II are respectively 1 and 1.5 V. The voltage levels between Glitch Amplifier II and embedded processor consequently are respectively 2 and 3 Volts.

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Key features

Increased glitch success rate due to sharper glitches.

Allows glitching embedded devices such as FPGA’s and SOC’s.

Easy to position closely above your target.

Integrated current and power monitor.

Easy connection to your target via one of the three output connectors that Glitch Amplifier II offers.

Can be used in combination with EM probe station baseplate. Glitch Amplifier II exactly fits to the baseplates grid.

Amplifies glitches produced by the Spider or VC Glitcher up to 1.5 A peak-to-peak.

 

How to use Glitch Amplifier II

One of the output connectors of the Spider or VC Glitcher is the ‘analog glitch’ output. Inspector controls its constant output voltage and the additional glitch voltage, duration, timing, and pattern. The output impedance is 50 Ohm, which makes it suitable for transport of the glitch pulse over a long 50 Ohm coaxial cable. The output impedance does not allow direct connection to a power input pin of an embedded processor. The Glitch Amplifier II interfaces between the VC Glitcher and the Target of Evaluation e.g. an embedded processor.

 

The wiring between the Glitch Amplifier II and the embedded processor should be as short as possible and the preferred option is to use copper strips that can be soldered to Glitch Amplifier II and the target. The buffer capacitance over the power input pin of the embedded processor should be as low as possible. These two quantities usually determine the rise and fall times of the power glitch.

 

Technical specifications

Signal in

  • Input impedance 50 Ω.
  • voltage range: -0.5 V .. +2 V.
  • Pulse generator with 50 Ω output impedance must be connected via 50 Ω cable. As a result, ‘signal in 50 Ω ‘ voltage will be half of generator voltage. This is compensated by a 2x amplification.

Signal out

  • Voltage range -1V .. +4V.
  • Low noise < 10 mV.
  • Amplification: 2x. As a result ‘out’ voltage will match generator voltage.
  • Bandwidth: DC .. 300 MHz @ -3dB.
  • Capable of sourcing and sinking up to 1.5 A peak and 1 A continuously.
  • Connection cable between ‘out’ and target must be as short as possible (low inductance).

Current monitor 50 Ω

  • Impedance 50 Ω.
  • Enabling detailed power consumption monitoring.
  • Spectrum: 1 MHz – 1000MHz.
  • Output voltage: -400 mV .. +400 mV.
  • Oscilloscope with 50 Ω input impedance must be connected via 50 Ω cable.

Voltage monitor 50 Ω

  • 50Ω Tap on the out-port for connection to an oscilloscope.
  • Enabling detailed monitoring of the voltage glitch.
  • Oscilloscope with 50 Ω input impedance must be connected via 50 Ω cable. As a result, ‘voltage monitor 50 Ω’ signal will be half of ‘out’ voltage.
  • Output voltage: -0.5 V .. +2 V.

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