Maximizing FPGA Functionality: Design Concepts and Implementation Guide

1. ASIC 120: Digital Systems and Standard-Cell ASIC Design Tutorial 4: Digital Systems Concepts November 16, 2005

2. Outline • Summary of previous tutorial • The FPGA: LEs, buffers and routing • Other FPGA resources: clocks, memories, memory interfaces, multipliers, etc. • Soft- and hard-processors in FPGAs • Bus interfaces • Register files

3. Summary of Previous Tutorial • Other signal values besides ‘0’ and ‘1’ • More VHDL data types • Attributes, type definitions • Generics • Splitting a VHDL project across multiple design units and files • if … generate, for … generate • VHDL 1987 vs. 1993 vs. 2000 • Test benches • time, procedures, variables, file access, etc.

4. The FPGA • FPGA stands for Field Programmable Gate Array • reprogrammable hardware • FPGAs contain • Logic Elements (LEs) which do calculations • Routing resources between LEs • Other specialized functions (memory, multipliers, etc.)

5. The FPGA: Origins • The FPGA is the latest in the family of Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs) • First came the Programmable Logic Array (PLA) or Programmable Array Logic (PAL) • implements combinational (non-clocked) logic using array of AND and OR gates • hundreds to thousands of gates • Then, the Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD) • ability to do sequential circuits • unlike FPGAs, non-volatile • thousands to tens of thousands of gates • Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) • tens of thousands to millions of gates • often include other resources besides pure logic

6. FPGA vs. ASIC • FPGA • reprogrammable • cheap in small quantities • ASIC • mistakes are costly and time consuming to fix • cheap in large quantities • better power consumption • smaller for same functionality

7. FPGA vs. PSoC or SoC • System on a Chip (SoC) or System on a Programmable Chip (PSoC) • Integrates several functional blocks onto one silicon wafer • Could include • Microprocessor • RAM, ROM, EEPROM • USB interface • Ethernet interface • Graphics controller • DSP • etc.

8. FPGA vs. PSoC or SoC • SoC is implemented in an ASIC • PSoC is implemented in an FPGA • Another alternative: “Structured ASICs” • Pre-fab ASICs that take a design implemented and tested in an FPGA and put it into an ASIC • Example: Altera HardCopy and HardCopy II • http://altera.com/products/devices/hardcopyii/hr2-index.jsp • Features • Power usage and speed characteristics of an ASIC • Time from order to production can be as fast as several weeks (as opposed to months for an ASIC) • Cost savings

9. The FPGA

10. The FPGA

11. The FPGA

12. An FPGA Datasheet • Datasheets of any ASIC contain detailed specifications and technical data • FPGAs are no exception • Before you start any design, know the FPGA resources • size limitations • speed limitations • number of I/O pins • clock pins and resources • special features • You can never have enough FPGA resources

13. Components of an FPGA • Logic Elements (LEs) • Routing • Input/Output logic • Extra features • clocking • memory • memory interfaces • multipliers

14. The Logic Element • Two main parts • Look-Up Table (LUT) • Flip Flop (FF) • Other characteristics • load/clear logic • carry chain logic • LUT/FF bypass logic • clock enable • other routing

15. The Logic Element • Look-Up Table • generally four inputs and one output • can implement any four input boolean expression • LEs maintain their configuration while power is applied to the FPGA • need to be re-programmed after power-up or global reset, and before using

16. Routing • Routing logic connects LEs to • other LEs • specialized FPGA resources • input/output pins • Different kinds of routing logic • short lines • long lines • carry chains • clock routing

17. How a Design Goes from VHDL to FPGA • Synthesis ( “compilation”) • VHDL to intermediate representation • Translate • intermediate representation mapped to LUTs and FFs • Map • fit translated design into available resources on FPGA • Place and Route • place mapped LUTs and FFs into locations on FPGA • determine best routing subject to timing constraints • Programming • generate a bit stream (binary file) which can be loaded into the FPGA at programming time

18. How a Design Goes from VHDL to FPGA • This entire process is extremely non-deterministic • much more so than software compilation • Terms and steps on previous slide are “generic” • individual FPGA companies have their own terms and slightly different design flows

19. Input/Output Logic • I/O buffers • input • output • tri-state (“output enable”) • Specialized I/O • memory interfaces • high speed differential signalling • Modern FPGAs can be wired directly (with appropriate analog support components) to • RAM chips • 10/100/1000Base-T Ethernet • SD-SDI, HD-SDI drivers (up to 1.5 Gbps) • etc.

20. Extra FPGA Features • Clock features • Phase/Delay Locked Loops (PLLs/DLLs) • Special routing resources • Memory • Block RAM • Distributed RAM • Memory interfaces • SD-RAM, DDR, DDR2, etc. • Configuration devices • Multipliers

21. Clocks • Modern FPGAs feature multiple onboard PLLs that can be used for • phase/frequency synchronization • frequency multiplication • arbitrary duty cycles • Clock routing logic • dedicated clock lines that run to all LEs • reduce clock jitter and skew • Generally external clocks must be connected to one of several special pins to use these features

22. Memory

23. Block RAM

24. Distributed RAM

25. RAM Inference

26. Memory Interfaces

27. FPGA Configuration • What happens to an FPGA on power-up? • LEs and RAM values are random, or some initialization value such as all 0 • An FPGA must be configured before it can be used • Configured by a microprocessor • Dedicated configuration device • CPLD using a non-volatile Flash RAM device

28. Multipliers

29. Hard- and Soft-Processors

30. Soft Processor Exmple:Altera NIOS-II

31. Hard Processor Example:PowerPC

32. Interfacing with FPGA Features in VHDL

33. Buses • A bus allows multiple entities to communicate over the same “wires” • External buses interface between physical ASICs or FPGAs • Internal buses interface between different components within an ASIC or FPGA

34. An Idle Bus

35. Bus Read Cycle

36. Bus Write Cycle

37. External Bus Interfaces

38. Internal Buses • Separate read and write buses

39. Buses: What I’ve Skipped • Bus arbitration • multiple masters • Direct Memory Access (DMA) • Bus mastering • See the E&CE 324 course notes for more on buses

40. Register Files • Also called register blocks

41. What I’ve Skipped • Blocks, Libraries/Packages • other modularity features • we’ve had a taste of libraries and packages: library ieee; … • Configurations • way to select among multiple architectures • Constants • like generics, but within one file • File access • useful for test benches, not synthesizable • Functions, procedures, variables

42. Preview of Next Tutorial • Digital Systems Concepts • The FPGA: LEs, buffers and routing, other resources • Bus interfaces • Register files • Other FPGA resources: clocks, memories, memory interfaces, multipliers, etc. • Soft- and hard-processors in FPGAs

43. Summary • Summary of previous tutorial • Other signal values besides ‘0’ and ‘1’ • More VHDL data types • Attributes, type definitions • Generics • Splitting a VHDL project across multiple design units and files • if … generate, for … generate • VHDL 1987 vs. 1993 vs. 2000 • Test benches • time, procedures, variables, file access, etc.

44. UW ASIC Design Team • www.asic.uwaterloo.ca • reference material • Accolade VHDL reference (excellent!): http://www.acc-eda.com/vhdlref/ • many of today’s examples came from here • Bryce Leung’s tutorials (UW ASIC website) • Mike Goldsmith’s tutorials (UW ASIC website) • your course notes • my contact info: Jeff Wentworth, jswentwo@engmail.uwaterloo.ca