Abstract

new types of sophisticated fieldprogrammable devices (FPDs) has dramatically changed the process of designing digital hardware. Unlike previous generations of hardware technology in which board level designs included large numbers of SSI (small-scale integration) chips containing basic gates, virtually every digital design produced today consists mostly of high-density devices. This is true not only of custom devices such as processors and memory but also of logic circuits such as state machine controllers, counters, registers, and decoders. When such circuits are destined for high-volume systems, designers integrate them into high-density gate arrays. However, the high nonrecurring engineering costs and long manufacturing time of gate arrays make them unsuitable for prototyping or other lowvolume scenarios. Therefore, most prototypes and many production designs now use FPDs. The most compelling advantages of FPDs are low startup cost, low financial risk, and, because the end user programs the device, quick manufacturing turnaround and easy design changes.

Citations