Read an Excerpt
FPGAs: Instant Access
By Clive "Max" Maxfield
Newnes
Copyright © 2008 Elsevier Ltd.
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-08-056011-3
Chapter One
The Fundamentals
In an Instant
Why Use FPGAS?
Applications
Some Technology Background Fusible-link Technology FPGA Programming Technologies
Instant Summary
FPGA Definitions
• Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are digital integrated circuits (ICs) that contain configurable (programmable) blocks of logic along with configurable interconnects between these blocks. Design engineers can configure, or program, such devices to perform a tremendous variety of tasks.
• Depending on how they are implemented, some FPGAs may only be programmed a single time, while others may be reprogrammed over and over again. Not surprisingly, a device that can be programmed only one time is referred to as one-time programmable (OTP).
• The "field programmable" portion of the FPGA's name refers to the fact that its programming takes place "in the field" (as opposed to devices whose internal functionality is hardwired by the manufacturer). This may mean that FPGAs are configured in the laboratory, or it may refer to modifying the function of a device resident in an electronic system that has already been deployed in the outside world. If a device is capable of being programmed while remaining resident in a higher-level system, it is referred to as being in-system programmable (ISP).
• In this book, we'll be referring to programmable logic devices (PLDs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), application-specific standard parts (ASSPs), and—of course—FPGAs.
WHY USE FPGAS?
Various aspects of PLDs, ASICs, and FPGAs will be discussed later in more detail. For now, we need only be aware that PLDs are devices whose internal architecture is predetermined by the manufacturer, but are created in such a way that they can be configured by engineers in the field to perform a variety of different functions. In comparison to an FPGA, however, these devices contain a relatively limited number of logic gates, and the functions they can be used to implement are much smaller and simpler.
At the other end of the spectrum are ASICs and ASSPs that can contain hundreds of millions of logic gates and can be used to create incredibly large and complex functions. ASICs and ASSPs are based on the same design processes and manufacturing technologies. Both are custom-designed to address a specific application, the only difference being that an ASIC is designed and built to order for use by a specific company, while an ASSP is marketed to multiple customers.
Although ASICs offer the ultimate in size (number of transistors), complexity, and performance, designing and building one is an extremely time-consuming and expensive process, with the added disadvantage that the final design is "frozen in silicon" and cannot be modified without creating a new version of the device.
Thus, FPGAs occupy a middle ground between PLDs and ASICs because their functionality can be customized in the field like PLDs, but they can contain millions of logic gates and be used to implement extremely large and complex functions that previously could be realized using only ASICs.
—Technology Trade-offs—
• The cost of an FPGA design is much lower than that of an ASIC (although the ensuing ASIC components are much cheaper in large production runs).
• Implementing design changes is much easier in FPGAs.
• Time to market for FPGAs is much faster.
FPGAs make many small, innovative design companies viable because—in addition to their use by large system design houses—FPGAs facilitate "Fred-in-the-shed"-type operations. This means they allow individual engineers or small groups of engineers to realize their hardware and software concepts on an FPGA-based test platform without having to incur the enormous nonrecurring engineering (NRE) costs or purchase the expensive toolsets associated with ASIC designs. Hence, there were estimated to be only 1,500 to 4,000 ASIC design starts and 5,000 ASSP design starts in 2003 (these numbers are falling dramatically year by year), as opposed to an educated "guesstimate" of around 450,000 FPGA design starts in the same year.
APPLICATIONS
When they first arrived on the scene in the mid-1980s, FPGAs were largely used to implement glue logic, medium-complexity state machines, and relatively limited data processing tasks. During the early 1990s, as the size and sophistication of FPGAs started to increase, their big markets at that time were in the telecommunications and networking arenas, both of which involved processing large blocks of data and pushing that data around. Later, toward the end of the 1990s, the use of FPGAs in consumer, automotive, and industrial applications underwent a humongous growth spurt.
FPGAs are often used to prototype ASIC designs or to provide a hardware platform on which to verify the physical implementation of new algorithms. However, their low development cost and short time-to-market mean that they are increasingly finding their way into final products (some of the major FPGA vendors actually have devices they specifically market as competing directly against ASICs).
High-performance FPGAs containing millions of gates are currently available. Some of these devices feature embedded microprocessor cores, high-speed input/output (I/O) devices, and the like. The result is that today's FPGAs can be used to implement just about anything, including communications devices and software-defined radio; radar, image, and other digital signal processing (DSP) applications; and all the way up to system-on-chip (SoC) components that contain both hardware and software elements.
SOME TECHNOLOGY BACKGROUND
The first FPGA devices contained only a few thousand simple logic gates (or the equivalent), and the flows used to design these components—predominantly based on the use of schematic capture—were easy to understand and use. By comparison, today's FPGAs are incredibly complex, and there are more design tools, flows, and techniques than you can swing a stick at. In this section we'll look at some technology basics.
Fusible-link Technology
Let's first consider a very simple programmable function with two inputs called a and b and a single output y (Figure 1-1).
The inverting NOT gates associated with the inputs mean that each input is available in both its true (unmodified) and complemented (inverted) form. Observe the locations of the potential links. In the absence of any of these links, all of the inputs to the AND gate are connected via pull-up resistors to a logic 1 value. In turn, this means that the output y will always be driving a logic 1, which makes this circuit a very boring one in its current state. To make this function more interesting, we need a mechanism that allows us to establish one or more of the potential links. This mechanism is fusible-link technology. In this case, the device is manufactured with all of the links in place, with each link referred to as a fuse (Figure 1-2).
These fuses are similar to the fuses you find in household products like a television. If anything untoward occurs such that the television starts to consume too much power, its fuse will burn out, resulting in an open circuit, which protects the rest of the unit from harm. Of course, the fuses in silicon chips are formed using the same processes that are employed to create the transistors and wires on the chip, so they're microscopically small.
Although fusible-link technology is not used in today's FPGAs, it sets the stage for understanding technologies that are, so we'll explore it briefly. When you purchase a programmable device based on fusible links, all the fuses are initially intact. This means that, in its unprogrammed state, the output from our example function is always logic 0. (Any 0 presented to the input of an AND gate will cause its output to be 0, so if input a is 0, the output from the AND will be 0. Alternatively, if input a is 1, then the output from its NOT gate—which we shall call !a—will be 0, and once again the output from the AND will be 0. A similar situation occurs in the case of input b.)
The point is that design engineers can selectively remove undesired fuses by applying pulses of relatively high voltage and current to the device's inputs. For example, consider what happens if we remove fuses Faf and Fbt (Figure 1-3).
Removing these fuses disconnects the complementary version of input a and the true version of input b from the AND gate (the pull-up resistors associated with these signals cause their associated inputs to the AND to be presented with logic 1 values). This leaves the device to perform its new function, which is y = a & !b. (The "&" character in this equation is used to represent the AND, while the "!" character is used to represent the NOT.) This process of removing fuses is typically called programming the device, but it may also be called blowing the fuses or burning the device.
FPGA Programming Technologies
Three different major technologies are in use today for programming FPGAs: antifuse, SRAM, and FLASH EPROM.
Antifuse Technology
As a diametric alternative to fusible-link technologies, we have their antifuse counterparts, in which each configurable path has an associated link called an antifuse. In its unprogrammed state, an antifuse has such a high resistance that it may be considered an open circuit (a break in the wire).
—Technology Trade-offs—
• Not surprisingly, devices based on antifuse technologies are OTP, because once an antifuse has been grown, it cannot be removed, and there's no changing your mind.
• Antifuse devices tend to be faster and require lower power.
SRAM-based Technology
There are two main versions of semiconductor RAM devices: dynamic RAM (DRAM) and static RAM (SRAM). DRAM technology is of very little interest with regard to programmable logic, so we will focus on SRAM.
The "static" qualifier associated with SRAM means that—once a value has been loaded into an SRAM cell—it will remain unchanged unless it is specifically altered or until power is removed from the system.
—Technology Trade-offs—
• A disadvantage of SRAM-based programmable devices is that each cell consumes a significant amount of silicon real estate because the cells are formed from four or six transistors configured as a latch.
• Another disadvantage is that the device's configuration data (programmed state) will be lost when power is removed from the system, so these devices always have to be reprogrammed when the system is powered on.
• Advantages are that such devices can be reprogrammed quickly and easily, and SRAM uses a standard fabrication technology that is always being improved upon.
FLASH-based Technologies
A relatively new technology known as FLASH is being used in some FPGAs today. This technology grew out of an earlier technology known as erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) that allows devices to be programmed, erased, and reprogrammed with new data. We will first look at how EPROMs work before discussing FLASH.
An EPROM transistor has the same basic structure as a standard MOS transistor, but with the addition of a second polysilicon floating gate isolated by layers of oxide (Figure 1-8).
—Technology Trade-offs—
• FLASH FPGAs are nonvolatile like antifuse FPGAs, but they are also reprogrammable like SRAM FPGAs.
• FLASH FPGAs use a standard fabrication process like SRAM FPGAs and use lower power like antifuse FPGAs.
• FLASH FPGAs are relatively fast.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from FPGAs: Instant Access by Clive "Max" Maxfield Copyright © 2008 by Elsevier Ltd.. Excerpted by permission of Newnes. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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