What You Need to Know About FPGA (2021): Beginner’s Guide

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are semiconductor devices that are based around a matrix of configurable logic blocks (CLBs) connected via programmable interconnects.

FPGAs can be reprogrammed to desired application or functionality requirements after manufacturing.

This feature distinguishes FPGAs from Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), which are custom manufactured for specific design tasks.

Although one-time programmable (OTP) FPGAs are available, the dominant types are SRAM based which can be reprogrammed as the design evolves

Introduction to FPGA:

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are semiconductor devices based around a matrix of configurable logic blocks (CLBs) connected via programmable interconnects.

FPGAs can be reprogrammed to desired application or functionality requirements after manufacturing.

This feature distinguishes FPGAs from Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), which are custom manufactured for specific design tasks.

Although one-time programmable (OTP) FPGAs are available, the dominant types are SRAM based which can be reprogrammed as the design evolves (Figure 1).

This distinction between FPGAs and ASICs plays a crucial role in their manufacturing process. In terms of raw silicon grams, FPGAs typically cost one-twelfth that of ASICs.

Some Advantages of FPGA:

FPGAs offer many advantages over ASICs, and the problem is which to use.

An FPGA allows you to expand the functionality of your ASIC by adding functions to an FPGA itself or by embedding the programmability into an ASIC.

In some cases FPGAs can be programmed to have a specific programmable logic block (PLB), which is implemented in a chip that uses its own electronics.

FPGAs offer many of the benefits of ASICs without the disadvantages. They are the faster and lower power way to implement or to implement a solution.

They are smaller, they take up less space, and they offer far better speed and bandwidth, and much greater logic functionality than ASICs.

Although an FPGA may be smaller and use less power, an ASIC can handle any required logic functionality.

Fast performance:

Open source ecosystem Low-power, long-life Long-life because the critical components are not packaged Roughly $1 per chip in 2010.

A large percentage of this cost is a packaging component Integrated network Dual-core Processor/CPU Multi-core Processor/CPU Simple Architecture Cost is almost completely the same as today’s low-end x86 processors.

New chip vendors such as Cadence Design Systems, Mentor Graphics and Xilinx have continued to advance the concept of using a single FPGA to perform multiple tasks.

Adding support for Wi-Fi, for example, allows the device to be attached to a wide range of wireless devices such as IP cameras and be used as a video controller.

Scalability

FPGAs are manufactured using similar processes as other semiconductors, but certain processing steps (specifically a process called mask melting) must be removed to create the optimum electronic functionality.

The process of liquid nitrogen deposition (LND) is one of the processes that minimizes a device’s volume.

The result is that the size of a typical FPGA can range from 5mm to 3.2mm.

The industrial market tends to use 2-3mm FPGAs for key applications such as MEMS and sensors, whereas the consumer electronics industry tends to go for 4mm.

FPGAs are normally processed on standard wafer production lines using a mixture of electrical and mechanical graduations.

High-Level Hardware Description Language

By far the most important and useful programming language for FPGAs is a language called RISC-V.

This language has been optimized for a wide range of FPGA architectures.

The language is not terribly complicated, but it has become the language of choice among engineers as a basis for defining an FPGA design.

Using RISC-V, you can define an FPGA on the same level as a high-level, general-purpose computer.

Here are the important properties of the language: Complexity of data structures: to store the complex data structures of an FPGA, RISC-V uses memory maps that contain multiple-byte pointers.

FPGA Design Flow

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are based on different principles than most integrated circuits, like custom made ASICs.

Most commonly, FPGAs are configurable devices based on Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs).

To make a good FPGA, the device has to be self configurable or, the change of its functionality must be programmable.

The device has to have flexibility to design many different characteristics of the FPGA at the same time.

The basic design flow that an FPGA Designer follows is to use source-code to define and design the various component blocks of the device.

The block layout is done with a CAD tool, and then the component blocks are placed on a silicon wafer.

Once the device is fabricated, the block layout can be controlled programmatically.