Xilinx acknowledges the demands of its power-conscious customers with its latest Spartan-3A FPGAs, which target digital displays, set-top boxes, wireless routers, and other applications where a small footprint and extreme cost sensitivity are issues.
Dual power-management modes help reduce power consumption, which could spell the elimination of heatsinks and voltage regulators. The devices use up to 40% less static power in suspend mode and up to 99% less in hibernate mode. The suspend mode retains all data states, and the devices may be woken quickly by using a designated multifunction pin.
The company has released four Spartan-3A devices. The XC3S50A and XC3S200A, available in VQ100 packaging, go for less than $1.50 and $3.00, respectively. The XC3S700A and XC3S1400A, available in FT256 packaging, cost less than $6.00 and $9.00, respectively. All pricing is based on 100,000-unit volumes.
The company has also significantly improved the Virtex-5 FPGA family’s power consumption. For more information, see “Reducing FPGA Power Consumption” at www.electronicdesign.com, ED Online 18074.
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