Flash Advantages
Reduced Cost of Ownership
Advantages to the designer extend beyond low unit cost, performance, and ease of use. Unlike SRAMbased FPGAs, flash-based ProASIC3E devices allow all functionality to be Instant On; no external boot
PROM is required. On-board security mechanisms prevent access to all the programming information
and enable secure remote updates of the FPGA logic. Designers can perform secure remote in-system
reprogramming to support future design iterations and field upgrades with confidence that valuable
intellectual property (IP) cannot be compromised or copied. Secure ISP can be performed using the
industry-standard AES algorithm. The ProASIC3E family device architecture mitigates the need for ASIC
migration at higher user volumes. This makes the ProASIC3E family a cost-effective ASIC replacement
solution, especially for applications in the consumer, networking/ communications, computing, and
avionics markets.
Security
The nonvolatile, flash-based ProASIC3E devices do not require a boot PROM, so there is no vulnerable
external bitstream that can be easily copied. ProASIC3E devices incorporate FlashLock, which provides
a unique combination of reprogrammability and design security without external overhead, advantages
that only an FPGA with nonvolatile flash programming can offer.
Feature
High Capacity
• 600 k to 3 Million System Gates
• 108 to 504 kbits of True Dual-Port SRAM
• Up to 620 User I/Os
Reprogrammable Flash Technology
• 130-nm, 7-Layer Metal (6 Copper), Flash-Based CMOS Process
• Instant On Level 0 Support
• Single-Chip Solution
• Retains Programmed Design when Powered Off
On-Chip User Nonvolatile Memory
• 1 kbit of FlashROM with Synchronous Interfacing
High Performance
• 350 MHz System Performance
• 3.3 V, 66 MHz 64-Bit PCI
In-System Programming (ISP) and Security
• ISP Using On-Chip 128-Bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Decryption via JTAG (IEEE 1532–compliant)
• FlashLock® Designed to Secure FPGA Contents
Low Power
• Core Voltage for Low Power
• Support for 1.5-V-Only Systems
• Low-Impedance Flash Switches
High-Performance Routing Hierarchy
• Segmented, Hierarchical Routing and Clock Structure
• Ultra-Fast Local and Long-Line Network
• Enhanced High-Speed, Very-Long-Line Network
• High-Performance, Low-Skew Global Network
• Architecture Supports Ultra-High Utilization
