Xilinx Spartan-7 detailed introduction and buying guide

FPGAKey today brings you a detailed introduction of Xilinx Spartan-7, and also includes a purchase guide. Spartan-7 continues the 28nm process and further strengthens Xilinx's leading position at 28nm. What are the characteristics and advantages of Spartan-7? The most important thing is, as users, how should we choose to use this new device.

Not long ago, Xilinx achieved another milestone achievement-the sales of Spartan series devices exceeded 1 billion! This is an important milestone that Xilinx's other product portfolio has not yet reached.

As the flagship model in Xilinx's cost-optimized product series, Spartan series devices have always been favored by the industry. Each generation of products can bring new cutting-edge features to industrial, consumer, and automotive applications, including arbitrary connection, sensor fusion, and embedding Style vision. The first Spartan device was launched in 1998. Since then, Xilinx has continuously introduced a new generation of Spartan devices to provide new solutions and flexible technology to meet industry needs.

Spartan-7 uses TSMC 28nm HPL mature process, so the power consumption is naturally much lower than Spartan-6. The basic architecture continues the 7 series CLB architecture, enhances the performance of DSP and BlockRAM, and cuts off the high-speed serial transceiver. , So the product positioning is lower than Artix-7, and the market positioning is still a cost-sensitive area.

Application areas

• Machine Vision Interfacing
  

• Single-Axis Motor Control
  

• Cryptographic Engine for V2X Applications

• Automotive Data Format / Standard Conversion

• Adaptive LED Lighting System

Features of Spartan-7

• Reduce power consumption

  The total power is 50% lower than that of the 45nm generation equipment. Xilinx worked closely with TSMC in the development of 7 series (Artix-7, Kintex-7, and Virtex-7) devices to jointly develop the 28nm HPL process. The high dielectric metal gate (HKMG) process provides the best combination of high performance and low power consumption. Spartan-7 FPGA uses the same 28nm HPL process as the mature 7 series and the same device structure, making it a structure Compact and cost-optimized FPGA series devices.

  
  

• Better performance

  With the high-efficiency, 7 series CLB architecture, enhanced DSP, and Block RAM, the system clock frequency is increased by more than 30%, and the number of logic resources is 6000~102000, which can realize complex functions. The enhanced DSP module can provide up to 551MHz frequency. The performance of 176 GMAC, MicroBlaze softcore processor running speed exceeds 200DMIPS.

  
  

• Higher logic to IO ratio

  For low-cost devices, a good logic-to-IO ratio helps reduce the overall cost of the system. Compared with previous generation products, Spartan-7 has more logic resources, and reduces the package size of the device, thereby reducing the system The complexity of the package; the smallest package size is only 8mm, which is very lethal for applications where size and power consumption are limited.

  A higher-speed soft memory controller can support DDR3-800. The picture below shows the package diagram of the Spartan-7 series.

  
  

• Security and encryption

  Support the device's DNA serial number, which is a 57-bit binary sequence, which is burned into the chip when the device is produced, and each chip is a unique identification. The user can read this sequence through JTAG, and then encrypt the design. It also supports AES256 CBC Mode bitstream decryption and SHA-256 bitstream symmetric authentication, which is very helpful for protecting intellectual property rights.

• Analog XDAC support

  XADC contains two 12-bit, 1MSPS ADCs with independent track and holds amplifiers, an on-chip multiplexer, up to 17 external analog inputs, and on-chip thermal sensors and power sensors.

  
  

• Vivado development process

  Vivado's expert-level placement and routing technology achieve faster timing closure and a 20% utilization improvement. Many design reuse functions can be used to package a part of the design or IP built for a certain device or a certain series so that it can be reused in another device or series with a similar architecture in the future. For example, designers can create IP cores used in Spartan-7 FPGAs. With the continuous improvement of system requirements, designers can reuse this IP core in Artix-7 FPGA.

After we understand the characteristics and application areas of Spartan-7, how to choose? please watch the following part.

Spartan-7 buying guide

• Suppliers of electronic components will be classified according to their products, which can be searched according to the website map or searched on the site;

• After finding Spartan-7, select the model you want (for easy searching, you can use Ctrl+F to enter the model you need);

• Pay attention to check the product details on the specific product page, such as packaging form, inventory quantity, price, etc.;

• Taking FPGAKey Spartan-7 as an example, customers only need to select the required model to submit an inquiry, and FPGAKey will send the customer's inquiry to the featured distributors, provide fast and comprehensive quotations, and obtain more favorable prices without the need for customers Compare the prices of various electronic component suppliers to save time and money.

  
  

Conclusion

Spartan-7 devices have reduced power consumption, increased logic resources per package area, and added many useful functions. If the price is right, it is still very competitive compared to previous generation products.