Programmable Corner

The evolution of FPGAs, from prototype to production By Danny Biran

FPGAs resemble traditional mask-programmed

gate arrays by their modular, extensible structure

that includes both logic and interconnect, but dif­

fer in that end users complete their programming

at their site. These programmable devices have

revolutionized the way system designers implement

logic. Once only considered “glue logic,” FPGAs

are now at the heart of the system, radically re­

ducing development time, cost, and system power

requirements while increasing overall performance

Figure 1

for systems around the world. The ultimate prototyping platform In its 40-plus years of existence, Moore’s Law has been friendly to programmable logic. At odds with the natural law of economics, Moore’s Law has allowed FPGA designers to pack more and more functionality into a single chip, while the cost per logic element continues to decrease at an average of 20 percent per year. Thanks to a giant leap in density and performance, DSP block and soft core processor integration, and constantly decreasing cost per function, FPGAs are now in every imaginable system, running our digital lifestyle.

But that wasn’t always the case. Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs) were born to be the ultimate prototyping platform. Big,

dense, and expensive, these devices were the designer’s dream. The ability to load up on features and functions, make a mistake, and start all over again for free provided a risk-free drawing board. In March 1984, Altera’s four founders invented the industry’s first programmable device, the Altera EP300 (Figure 1), which had 8 macrocells or 300 equivalent gates, with this specific notion in mind.

This product, which provided venture capitalists with a proof of concept, was manufactured using 3 micron Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM) technology and required ultraviolet light to erase programming. The PLD had a blazing speed of 90 ns and was designed for use in an oil well instrumentation control board.

Consumer influence Over the years, FPGAs have grown in density and performance and have been leveraged within their economic boundaries. With the advent of the Internet bubble in 1998, designers dispensed with the cost factor altogether and took these prototyping vehicles into small to mid-volume production. This frenzied attempt to beat the competition to market at any cost produced painful consequences when the bubble burst in 2001, forcing OEMs to pause and take a closer look at their technology and business challenges.

At the same time, consumer spending was becoming a major driving force in the semiconductor industry. Prior to the bubble, government and corporate spending accounted for more than 50 percent of semiconductor purchases. As the Internet, wireless communications, and Moore’s Law compelled form factors to shrink to palm-sized products, the consumer began to take over the driver’s seat. Today, consumers are prompting the majority of chip purchases. Almost overnight, system manufacturers’ number one requirement of their silicon vendors switched from time to market to cost.

Limitless design possibilities Paying close attention to these market dynamics, the product portfolios of today’s FPGA manufacturers address the wide spectrum from prototype to high-volume production applications. Both the wired and wireless communication infrastructure equipment markets are growing dramatically worldwide, and industrial applications continue to be the sweet spot for these high-performance, high-density FPGAs. With embedded DSP blocks, high-speed transceivers, and the availability of soft core microprocessors, the design possibilities are endless.

Astructured Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) allows designs prototyped on an FPGA to be migrated to a high-volume, pin-compatible device up to 70 percent smaller, delivering about 70-90 percent cost savings – a fraction of traditional ASICs’ cost and development time. With this FPGA as the front-end design platform for the structured ASIC, the design can be finalized later in the design cycle and verified in-system, eradicating the need

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Programmable Corner

for respins. Figure 2 shows the Altera Stratix II EP2S60 die (left) beside HardCopy II HC230 die.

What is even more compelling today about using FPGAs in consumer applications is the ability to add features and functions to the end product through updating the FPGA. When the majority of the design is finalized and ready for mega-volumes, it is not unusual to implement that design into an ASIC and then add a neighboring FPGA strictly to incorporate or update features and functions.

A low-cost FPGA family offers densities ranging from 3,000-120,000 logic elements. As the first FPGA designed spe-cifically for low cost, it opened the door to mass production for the entire FPGA industry. These FPGAs broke traditional boundaries and are now a staple of flat-panel display manufacturers and other cost-conscious, consumer-driven applications.

With global markets placing tremen-dous competitive pressure on system manufacturers, the ability to lower the total design cost, extend the design life cycle, and keep the design in the market longer, thereby beating the competition, is the perfect solution for a market-leading manufacturer. It is why FPGAs are being used today in an ever-increasing number of applications, from automobiles to servers to flat-panel display TVs to small handheld GPS systems.

Danny Biran is VP of product and corporate marketing at Altera Corporation, headquartered in San Jose, California. Danny has more than 20 years of semiconductor industry experience, including his most recent position as president, CEO, and member of the board of directors at Silverback Systems, a privately held company that develops silicon solutions for

Figure 2

storage networks. Prior to that, he maintained vice president and general management positions at LSI Logic and several engineering management and marketing positions at National Semiconductor. Danny holds BSEE and MBA degrees from Tel Aviv University.

Altera 408-544-7000

newsroom@altera.com

www.altera.com

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