ProASICPLUS APA Family
2 Advanced v0.3
General Description
The ProASICPLUS family enhance upon the performance
and reputation of Actel’s ProASIC 500K family. It combines
the advantages of ASICs with the benefits of programmable
devices through nonvolatile Flash technology, thus enabling
engineers to create high-density systems using existing ASIC
or FPGA design flows and tools. In addition, the
ProASICPLUS family offers a unique clock conditioning
circuits based on two on-board phase lock loops (PLLs). The
family offers up to 1 million system gates, supported with up
to 198kbits of 2-port SRAM and up to 712 user I/Os, all
providing 50MHz PCI performance.
The advantages to the designer extend beyond
performance. Four levels of routing hierarchy simplify
routing, while the use of Flash technology allows all
functionality to be available at power up. No external Boot
PROM is required to support device programming. While
on-board security mechanisms prevent all access to the
program information, reprogramming (even in-system) is
still easy enough to support future design iterations and
field upgrades. The device’s architecture mitigates the
complexity of ASIC migration at higher user volume, making
ProASICPLUS a cost-effective solution for applications in
the networking, communications, computing and avionics
markets.
The ProASICPLUS family achieves its nonvolatility and
reprogrammability through an advanced Flash-based 0.22µ
LVCMOS process with four-layer metal. Standard CMOS
design techniques are used to implement logic and control
functions, including the PLLs and LVPECL inputs. The
result is predictable performance fully compatible with gate
arrays.
The proprietary ProASICPLUS architecture provides a
granularity comparable to gate arrays. The device core
consists of a Sea-of-TilesTM. Each tile can be configured as a
flip-flop, latch, or any 3-input/1-output logic function
(except a 3-input XOR), by programming the appropriate
Flash switches. The combination of fine granularity, flexible
routing resources, and abundant Flash switches allow 100%
utilization and over 95% routability for highly congested
designs. Gates and larger functions are interconnected
through a 4-level routing hierarchy. Embedded 2-port SRAM
blocks with built-in FIFO/RAM control logic can
user-defined depth and width. Users can also select
programmed for synchronous or asynchronous operation, as
well as parity generations or checking.
The clock conditioning circuitry is unique. Each chip
contains two clock conditioning blocks, each with a PLL
core, delay lines, phase shifts (90°, 180°, 270°), and clock
multipliers/dividers. In short, this is all the circuitry needed
to provide bidirectional access to the PLL, and operation up
to 240 MHz. The PLL block contains four programmable
frequency dividers which allow the incoming clock signal to
be divided by a wide range of factors of up to 64. The clock
conditioning circuit will also delay or advance the up to 4 ns
(in increments of 0.25 ns) relative to the positive edge of the
incoming reference clock. The PLL can be configured
internally or externally during operation without
redesigning or reprograming the part. In addition to the PLL
there are two LVPECL differential input pairs to
accommodate high speed clock and data inputs.
To support customers’ needs for more comprehensive, lower
cost board-level testing, Actel’s ProASICPLUS devices are
fully compatible with IEEE Standard 1149.1 for test access
port and boundary-scan test architecture. For more details
on the Flash FPGA implementation please refer to the
ProASICPLUS APA Family data sheet.
ProASICPLUS devices are available in a variety of
high-performance plastic packages. Those packages, and the
performance features discussed above are described in
more detail in the following sections of this document:
•“Features and Benefits” on page 1
•“ProASICPLUS APA Architecture” on page 4
•“Routing Resources” on page 5
•“Clock Trees” on page 8
•“Input/Output Blocks” on page 9
•“LVPECL Input Pads” on page 9
•“Boundary Scan” on page 10
•“User Security” on page 13
•“Embedded Memory Floorplan” on page 13
•“Design Environment” on page 16
•“Package Thermal Characteristics” on page 18
•“Operating Conditions” on page 19
•In-system programming (TBD)
•“DC Electrical Specifications (VDDP = 2.5V)” on page 20 –
page 22
•“AC Specifications (3.3V PCI Operation)” on page 23
•“Clock Conditioning Circuit” on page 24
•“Embedded Memory Specifications” on page 34
•“Package Pin Assignments” on page 54 – page 76