Firstly the authors; describe the evolution of smart cards: the first experiment was the two-chip card in France, with only small capability (for the memory and cryptographic algorithms); then physical security was much augmented with the one-chip card; the next step was the smart card with DES capability and its full use of the power of secret key algorithms; now it is time for the smart card including the RSA capability, opening the door for public key algorithms (signature, key exchange, identification using zero-knowledge protocols). A typical organization of a smart card with fast RSA capability, CORSAIR, Chip Organization for RSA In a Rush, is described and some detailed are given about the technical specifications and the expected performance.
Quisquater, J.-J., de Waleffe, D., & Bournas, J. P. (1991). CORSAIR: a chip card with fast RSA capability. In Chaum, D.; (ed.), Smart Card 2000. Selected Papers from the Second International SmartCard 2000 Conference (p. p. 199-206). North-holland. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/222428