A 90nm low-power FPGA for battery-powered applications

ABSTRACT

Programmable logic devices such as FPGAs are useful for a wide range of applications. However, FPGAs are not commonly used in battery-powered applications because they consume more power than ASICs and lack power management features. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of Pika, a low-power FPGA core targeting battery-powered applications such as those in consumer and automotive markets. Our design uses the Xilinx Spartan-3 low-cost FPGA as a baseline and achieves substantial power savings through a series of power optimizations. The resulting architecture is compatible with existing commercial design tools. The implementation is done in a 90nm triple-oxide CMOS process. Compared to the baseline design, Pika consumes 46% less active power and 99% less standby power. Furthermore, it retains circuit and configuration state during standby mode, and wakes up from standby mode in approximately 100ns.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  B. Hardware
  B.7 INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
      B.7.1 Types and Design Styles
          Subjects: Advanced technologies

Additional Classification:
  B. Hardware
  B.7 INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
      B.7.1 Types and Design Styles
          Subjects: VLSI (very large scale integration); Gate arrays

General Terms:
Design

Keywords:
FPGAs, field-programmable gate arrays, low-power design, programmable logic