ECE 448

Lecture 7

FPGA Devices

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

George Mason University

Reading
Required
P. Chu, FPGA Prototyping by VHDL Examples
Chapter 2.2, FPGA

Recommended
S. Brown and Z. Vranesic, Fundamentals of Digital
Logic with VHDL Design
Chapter 3.6.5 Field-Programmable Gate Arrays

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

Recommended Reading
Xilinx, Inc.
Spartan-3E FPGA Family
Module 1:
Introduction
Features
Architectural Overview
Package Marking
Module 2:
Configurable Logic Block (CLB)
and Slice Resources
Dedicated Multipliers
ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

Required Reading
Xilinx, Inc.
Spartan-3 Generation FPGA User Guide
Extended Spartan-3A, Spartan-3E, and Spartan-3
FPGA Families
Chapter 5 Using Configurable Logic Blocks (CLBs)
Chapter 6 Using Look-Up Tables as Distributed
RAM
Chapter 7 Using Look-Up Tables as Shift Registers
(SRL16) [up to Library Primitives]

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

Two competing implementation approaches

ASIC
Application Specific
Integrated Circuit

FPGA
Field Programmable
Gate Array

designed all the way

from behavioral description
to physical layout

no physical layout design;

design ends with
a bitstream used
to configure a device

designs must be sent

for expensive and time
consuming fabrication
in semiconductor foundry
ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

bought off the shelf

and reconfigured by
designers themselves
5

What is an FPGA?
Configurable
Logic
Blocks
Block RAMs

Block RAMs

I/O
Blocks
Block
RAMs

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

Which Way to Go?

ASICs

FPGAs

Off-the-shelf
High performance
Low development cost
Low power
Short time to market
Low cost in
high volumes

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

Reconfigurability

Other FPGA Advantages

Manufacturing cycle for ASIC is very costly,
lengthy and engages lots of manpower
Mistakes not detected at design time have
large impact on development time and cost
FPGAs are perfect for rapid prototyping of
digital circuits

Easy upgrades like in case of software

Unique applications
reconfigurable computing
ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

Major FPGA Vendors

SRAM-based FPGAs
Xilinx, Inc.
~ 51% of the market
Altera Corp. ~ 34% of the market
Lattice Semiconductor
Atmel

~ 85%

Flash & antifuse FPGAs

Actel Corp. (Microsemi SoC Products Group)
Quick Logic Corp.
ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

Xilinx

Primary products: FPGAs and the associated CAD

software

Programmable
Logic Devices

ISE Alliance and Foundation

Series Design Software

Main headquarters in San Jose, CA

Fabless* Semiconductor and Software Company

UMC (Taiwan) {*Xilinx acquired an equity stake in UMC in 1996}

Seiko Epson (Japan)
TSMC (Taiwan)
Samsung (Korea)

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

10

Xilinx FPGA Families

High-performance families
Virtex (220 nm)
Virtex-E, Virtex-EM (180 nm)
Virtex-II (130 nm)
Virtex-II PRO (130 nm)
Virtex-4 (90 nm)
Virtex-5 (65 nm)
Virtex-6 (40 nm)
Virtex-7 (28 nm)
Low Cost Family
Spartan/XL derived from XC4000
Spartan-II derived from Virtex
Spartan-IIE derived from Virtex-E
Spartan-3 (90 nm)
Spartan-3E (90 nm) logic optimized
Spartan-3A (90 nm) I/O optimized
Spartan-3AN (90 nm) non-volatile,
Spartan-3A DSP (90 nm) DSP optimized
Spartan-6 (45 nm)
Artix-7 (28 nm)

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

11

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

12

CLB Structure

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

George Mason University

General structure of an FPGA

Programmable
interconnect
Programmable
logic blocks

The Design Warriors Guide to FPGAs

Devices, Tools, and Flows. ISBN 0750676043
Copyright 2004 Mentor Graphics Corp. (www.mentor.com)

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

14

Xilinx Spartan 3E CLB

Configurable logic block (CLB)

CLB

CLB

CLB

CLB

Slice

Slice

Logic cell

Logic cell

Logic cell

Logic cell

Slice

Slice

Logic cell

Logic cell

Logic cell

Logic cell

The Design Warriors Guide to FPGAs

Devices, Tools, and Flows. ISBN 0750676043
Copyright 2004 Mentor Graphics Corp. (www.mentor.com)

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

15

CLB Slice = 2 Logic Cells

COUT
YB
G4
G3
G2
G1

Y
Look-Up
O
Table

Carry
&
Control
Logic

CK
EC

F5IN
BY
SR
XB

F4
F3
F2
F1

X
Look-Up
Table O

CIN
CLK
CE

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

Carry
&
Control
Logic

S
D

CK
EC

SLICE

16

Xilinx Multipurpose LUT (MLUT)

16-bit SR
16 x 1 RAM
4-input
LUT
16 x 1 ROM
(logic)

The Design Warriors Guide to FPGAs

Devices, Tools, and Flows. ISBN 0750676043
Copyright 2004 Mentor Graphics Corp. (www.mentor.com)

17

CLB Structure

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

18

CLB Slice Structure

Each slice contains two sets of the
following:
Four-input LUT
Any 4-input logic function,
or 16-bit x 1 sync RAM (SLICEM only)
or 16-bit shift register (SLICEM only)

Carry & Control

Fast arithmetic logic
Multiplier logic
Multiplexer logic

Storage element

Latch or flip-flop
Set and reset
True or inverted inputs
Sync. or async. control

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

19

Multipurpose Look-Up Table (MLUT)

COUT
YB
G4
G3
G2
G1

Y
Look-Up
O
Table

Carry
&
Control
Logic

CK
EC

F5IN
BY
SR
XB

F4
F3
F2
F1

CIN
CLK
CE

X
Look-Up
Table O

Carry
&
Control
Logic

S
D

CK
EC

SLICE

20

MLUT as 16x1 ROM

16-bit SR
16 x 1 RAM
4-input
LUT
16 x 1 ROM
(logic)

The Design Warriors Guide to FPGAs

Devices, Tools, and Flows. ISBN 0750676043
Copyright 2004 Mentor Graphics Corp. (www.mentor.com)

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

21

LUT (Look-Up Table) in the Basic ROM

Mode
x1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

x2
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1

x3
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
1

x4
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1

x1
x2
x3
x4

y
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0

LUT

x1 x2 x3 x4

x1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

x2
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1

x3
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
1

x4
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1

y
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
1
1
0
0

Look-Up tables
are primary
elements for
logic
implementation
Each LUT can
implement any
function of
4 inputs

x1 x2
y
y

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

22

5-Input Functions implemented using

two LUTs
One CLB Slice can implement any function of 5 inputs
Logic function is partitioned between two LUTs
F5 multiplexer selects LUT
A4
A3

LUT
ROM
RAM

A2
A1

WS

DI

F5
0

F4

A4

F3

A3

F2

A2

F1

A1

BX

WS

DI
D

F5
GXOR

LUT
ROM
RAM

nBX
BX
1
0

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

23

5-Input Functions implemented using two LUTs

X5 X4 X3 X2 X1
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 1
0 0 0 1 0
0 0 0 1 1
0 0 1 0 0
0 0 1 0 1
0 0 1 1 0
0 0 1 1 1
0 1 0 0 0
0 1 0 0 1
0 1 0 1 0
0 1 0 1 1
0 1 1 0 0
0 1 1 0 1
0 1 1 1 0
0 1 1 1 1
1 0 0 0 0
1 0 0 0 1
1 0 0 1 0
1 0 0 1 1
1 0 1 0 0
1 0 1 0 1
1 0 1 1 0
1 0 1 1 1
1 1 0 0 0
1 1 0 0 1
1 1 0 1 0
1 1 0 1 1
1 1 1 0 0
1 1 1 0 1
1 1 1 1 0
1 1 1 1 1

Y
0
1
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
0

LUT

OUT

LUT

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

24

MLUT as 16x1 RAM

16-bit SR
16 x 1 RAM
4-input
LUT
16 x 1 ROM
(logic)

The Design Warriors Guide to FPGAs

Devices, Tools, and Flows. ISBN 0750676043
Copyright 2004 Mentor Graphics Corp. (www.mentor.com)

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

25

Distributed RAM
RAM16X1S

CLB LUT configurable as

Distributed RAM
A single LUT equals 16x1
RAM
Two LUTs Implement Single
and Dual-Port RAMs
Cascade LUTs to increase
RAM size

Synchronous write
Synchronous/Asynchronous
read
Accompanying flip-flops used
for synchronous read

D
WE
WCLK
A0
A1
A2
A3

LUT

RAM32X1S
D
WE
WCLK
A0
A1
A2
A3
A4

LUT

=
LUT

or

RAM16X2S
D0
D1
WE
WCLK
A0
A1
A2
A3

O0
O1

or

RAM16X1D
D

WE
WCLK
A0

SPO

A1

A2
A3
DPRA0 DPO
DPRA1
DPRA2
DPRA3

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

26

MLUT as 16-bit Shift Register (SRL16)

16-bit SR
16 x 1 RAM
4-input
LUT
16 x 1 ROM
(logic)

The Design Warriors Guide to FPGAs

Devices, Tools, and Flows. ISBN 0750676043
Copyright 2004 Mentor Graphics Corp. (www.mentor.com)

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

27

Shift Register
LUT

Each LUT can be

configured as shift register

IN
CE
CLK

Serial in, serial out

Dynamically addressable
delay up to 16 cycles
For programmable
pipeline
Cascade for greater cycle
delays
Use CLB flip-flops to add
depth

LUT

D
CE

D
CE

D
CE

D
CE

OUT

DEPTH[3:0]

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

28

Using Multipurpose Look-Up Tables

in the Shift Register Mode (SRL16)

Inferred from behavioral description in VHDL

for shift-registers with
- one serial input, one serial output
- no reset, no set
ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

29

Cascading LUT Shift Registers into Shift

Registers Longer than 16 bits

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

30

Shift Register
12 Cycles
64

Operation A

Operation B

4 Cycles

8 Cycles

64

Operation C
3 Cycles
3 Cycles

9-Cycle imbalance

Register-rich FPGA
Allows for addition of pipeline stages to increase
throughput

Data paths must be balanced to keep desired

functionality
ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

31

Logic Cell = of a CLB Slice

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

32

CLB Slice = 2 Logic Cells

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

33

Examples:
Determine the amount of
Spartan 3 resources needed
to implement a given circuit

George Mason University

Circuit 1:
Top level

m
0

run

R0
R1

R2
R3
R4
R5
R6
R7
R8
R9
R10
R11
R12
R13
R14
R15

clk

a
b
c
d

Circuit 1:
F function

a
b
a
b
c
d

y3
w1
y2
w0
y1
En
y0
2-to-4 Decoder

x3

y3

x2

y2

<<<3

x1

y1

x0

y0

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

1
e

1
0

f
g
s

cout
Full
Adder

cin
y

g h

Circuit 2:
Top level

run

R0
R1

R2
R3
R4
R5
R6
R7
R8
R9
R10
R11
R12
R13
R14
R15

clk

a
b
c
d
e

Circuit 2:
F function

a
e
a

w3
y1

w2
y0

c
w1

w0 Encoder
Priority

a
b
c

x3

y3

x2

y2 g

x1

y1 h

>>2

d
x0

y0

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

1
g

1
0

i
cout
Half
Adder

Carry & Control Logic

COUT
YB
G4
G3
G2
G1

Y
Look-Up
O
Table

Carry
&
Control
Logic

CK
EC

F5IN
BY
SR
XB

F4
F3
F2
F1

X
Look-Up
Table O

CIN
CLK
CE

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

Carry
&
Control
Logic

S
D

CK
EC

SLICE

39

Full-adder
cout

FA

x
y
cin

x + y + cin = ( cout s )2

x
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1

y
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
1

cin cout
0 0
1 0
0 0
1 1
0 0
1 1
0 1
1 1

s
0
1
1
0
1
0
0
1

Full-adder
Alternative implementations

x
0
0
1
1

y
0
1
0
1

cout
0
cin
cin
1

s
cin
cin
cin
cin

Full-adder
Alternative implementations
Implementation used to generate fast carry logic
in Xilinx FPGAs
x
0
0
1
1

y
0
1
0
1

cout
y
cin
cin
y

Cout
0

S
x
y

A2

p=xy
g=y
s= p cin = x y cin

XOR

A1

g
Cin

Carry & Control Logic in Spartan 3 FPGAs

LUT
Hardwired (fast) logic

Critical Path for an

Adder Implemented Using
Xilinx Spartan 3/Spartan 3E
FPGAs

Number and Length of Carry Chains

for Spartan 3E FPGAs

Bottom Operand Input to Carry Out Delay

TOPCYF

0.9 ns for Spartan 3

Carry Propagation Delay

tBYP

0.2 ns for Spartan 3

Carry Input to Top Sum Combinational Output Delay

TCINY

1.2 ns for Spartan 3

Fast Carry Logic

Each CLB contains separate
logic and routing for the fast
generation of sum & carry
signals

MSB
Carry Logic
Routing

Increases efficiency and

performance of adders,
subtractors, accumulators,
comparators, and counters

Carry logic is independent of

normal logic and routing
resources

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

LSB

49

Accessing Carry Logic

All major synthesis tools can infer carry

logic for arithmetic functions

Addition (SUM <= A + B)

Subtraction (DIFF <= A - B)
Comparators (if A < B then)
Counters (count <= count +1)

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

50

Embedded Multipliers

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

George Mason University

RAM Blocks and Multipliers in Xilinx

FPGAs
RAM blocks
Multipliers
Logic blocks

The Design Warriors Guide to FPGAs

Devices, Tools, and Flows. ISBN 0750676043
Copyright 2004 Mentor Graphics Corp. (www.mentor.com)

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

52

Combinational and Registered Multiplier

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

53

Dedicated Multiplier Block

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

54

Interface of a Dedicated Multiplier

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

55

3 Ways to Use Dedicated Hardware

Three (3) ways to use dedicated
(embedded) hardware
Inference
Instantiation
CORE Generator

56

Inferred Multiplier
library ieee;
use ieee.std_logic_1164.all;
use ieee.numeric_std.all;
entity mult18x18 is
generic (
word_size
: natural
:= 17;
signed_mult : boolean
:= true);
port (
clk : in
std_logic;
a
: in
std_logic_vector(1*word_size-1 downto 0);
b
: in
std_logic_vector(1*word_size-1 downto 0);
c
: out
std_logic_vector(2*word_size-1 downto 0));
end entity mult18x18;
architecture infer of mult18x18 is
begin
process(clk)
begin
if rising_edge(clk) then
if signed_mult then
c
<= std_logic_vector(signed(a) * signed(b));
else
c
<= std_logic_vector(unsigned(a) * unsigned(b));
end if;
end if;
end process;
end architecture infer;

Unsigned vs. Signed Multiplication

Unsigned

Signed

1111
x 1111

15
x 15

1111
x 1111

-1
x -1

11100001

225

00000001

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

58

Forcing a particular implementation in VHDL

Synthesis tool: Xilinx XST
Attribute MULT_STYLE: string;
Attribute MULT_STYLE of

mult18x18: entity is block;

Allowed values of the attribute:

block dedicated multiplier
lut - LUT-based multiplier
pipe_block pipelined dedicated multiplier
pipe_lut pipelined LUT-based multiplier
auto automatic choice by the synthesis tool

CORE Generator

CORE Generator

FPGA Block RAM

62

Block RAM
Port B

Port A

Spartan-3
Dual-Port
Block RAM

Block RAM

Most efficient memory implementation

Dedicated blocks of memory

Ideal for most memory requirements

4 to 36 memory blocks in Spartan 3E
18 kbits = 18,432 bits per block (16 k without parity bits)

Use multiple blocks for larger memories

Builds both single and true dual-port RAMs

Synchronous write and read (different from distributed RAM)
63

RAM Blocks and Multipliers in Xilinx FPGAs

RAM blocks
Multipliers
Logic blocks

The Design Warriors Guide to FPGAs

Devices, Tools, and Flows. ISBN 0750676043
Copyright 2004 Mentor Graphics Corp. (www.mentor.com)
64

Spartan-3E Block RAM Amounts

65

Block RAM can have various configurations (port

aspect ratios)
1

4k x 4

8k x 2
4,095

16k x 1

8,191

8+1
0

2k x (8+1)
2047
16+2
0
1023

1024 x (16+2)

16,383
66

Block RAM Port Aspect Ratios

67

Single-Port Block RAM

DO[w-p-1:0]
DI[w-p-1:0]

68

Dual-Port Block RAM

DOA[wA-pA-1:0]
DIA[wA-pA-1:0]

DOA[wB-pB-1:0]
DIB[wB-pB-1:0]

69

Input/Output Blocks
(IOBs)

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

George Mason University

Basic I/O Block Structure

D Q
EC

Three-State
FF Enable
Clock

SR

Three-State
Control

Set/Reset
D Q
EC

Output
FF Enable

Output Path

SR
Direct Input
FF Enable

Registered
Input

D
EC

Input Path

SR

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

71

IOB Functionality
IOB provides interface between the
package pins and CLBs
Each IOB can work as uni- or bi-directional
I/O
Outputs can be forced into High Impedance
Inputs and outputs can be registered
advised for high-performance I/O

Inputs can be delayed

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

72

Spartan-3E Family Attributes

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

George Mason University

Spartan-3E FPGA Family Members

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

74

FPGA Nomenclature

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

75

FPGA device present on the

Digilent Basys2 board

XC3S100E-4CP132
Spartan 3E
100 k
family
equivalent
logic gates

ECE 448 FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

speed
grade
-4
= standard
performance

132 pins

package type

76