ATECC608:

ATECC608 Breakout – STEMMA QT / Qwiic

This product consists of an encryption chip that can be used to securely store your private keys. You will find that it is ideal for its intended purpose, as many microcontrollers are not designed to protect against malicious actors.

When your private key is securely stored within the ATECC608 breakout board, no one will be able to read it. You will simply need to send it ‘challenge-response’ authentication queries. Consequently, if someone gains access to your hardware, they will only be able to read the firmware, but the contents of the microcontroller will remain secure.

This product features Microchip’s very latest cryptographic chip, the ATECC608. It communicates via I2C to send and receive commands. Once you have locked the chip with your data, you can use it for ECDH and AES-128 encryption/decryption and signing protocols. Random number generation and SHA-256/HMAC hash functions (which allow you to significantly speed up encryption operations on a slower microcontroller) are also supported by the hardware.

These secure element chips are starting to appear in various types of products. They are inexpensive and can be used to control peripherals: you certainly won’t have any security issues.

At present, only a summary sheet for the ATECC608 chip is available, but not yet a full datasheet. However, you can consult the ATECC508 datasheet, which is essentially just the previous version, until Adafruit publishes the new one.

Nevertheless, you can already access software support. If you intend to use this product with Arduino, check out the Arduino ATECCx08 library. Conversely, if you intend to use it with Python and C/C++, check out Microchip’s Cryptoauthlib.

The ATECC608 chip is integrated into a PCB breakout board with the necessary support circuitry. The breakout features STEMMA QT connectors compatible with SparkFun Qwiic. It can be used with pre-assembled boards, so no soldering is required.

This product is compatible with many development boards as the ATECC608 chip operates with 3.3V or 5V microcontrollers.

The I2C address is fixed at 0x60. Microchip recommends using it at higher I2C speeds, such as 400 kHz, if there are other devices on the I2C bus, to avoid bus-related issues.

Please note: This product includes only the ATECC608 breakout board and header. The other items shown in the photos are not included with this product.

Technical details of the ATECC608 breakout board

• Product dimensions: 25.5×17.7×4.7mm / 1.0″x0.7″x0.2″
• Product weight: 1.8g / 0.1oz
• ATECC608 chip datasheet

Useful information:
See the Adafruit guide for the ATECC608 breakout board for further information on this product.

Adafruit name: ATECC608 Breakout Board – STEMMA QT / Qwiic [ADA4314]