Lattice Semiconductor [1]Corporation (NASDAQ: LSCC), the low power programmable leader, today launched the new Lattice Certus™-NX family of FPGAs. The devices leadthe general-purpose FPGA market in I/O density, delivering up to twice
the I/O density per mm2 in comparison to similar competing FPGAs, andprovide best-in-class power savings, small size, reliability, instant-onperformance, and support fast PCI Express (PCIe) and Gigabit Ethernetinterfaces to enable data co-processing, signal bridging, and systemcontrol. Certus-NX FPGAs target a range of applications, from dataprocessing in automated industrial equipment to system management incommunications infrastructure. The Certus-NX devices are the secondfamily of FPGAs developed on the Lattice Nexus™ platform, theindustry’s first low power FPGA platform using 28 nm FD-SOI processtechnology. With the launch of Certus-NX, Lattice marks the release ofthe second device family developed under Lattice’s new product development strategy in just six months.
“Certus-NX delivers unique and innovative capabilities that set itapart,” said Linley Gwennap, Principal Analyst at The Linley Group.”Compared to competing FPGAs of similar gate counts, Lattice offers amuch smaller package, greater I/O density, and lower power.”
“Thanks to innovations at the system, architecture, and circuit levelin our Lattice Nexus development platform, we are releasing new productsat a faster pace and giving our customers more options to choose from asthey evaluate the performance and power needs of their applications,”said Gordon Hands, Director of Product Marketing, Lattice Semiconductor.“Certus-NX has clearly reset expectations for what developers shouldlook for in general-purpose FPGAs by providing a compelling blend ofparallel processing performance and flexible I/O support that enables creative new device designs.”
Technology trends like industrial automation and 5G have developersacross markets looking to add processing and connectivity to
applications that operate at the network Edge. To successfully supportthese trends, devices require low power processing hardware with supportfor popular interfaces like PCIe and Gigabit Ethernet. Device developersalso need easy-to-use development platforms from a single source thatprovide the hardware, software, and IP they need to get products to market quickly.
“As an FPGA-centric design house, we’re seeing increasing adoptionof serial protocols like PCIe and Gigabit Ethernet for chip-to-chipconnectivity in many end applications, including 5G and IoT systems,”said Sanjeev Kumar, CEO, Logic Fruit Technologies. “The latestgeneration of FPGAs by Lattice, Certus-NX, supports these standards andprovides a high density of I/Os while keeping power consumption andoverall device footprint in check. These FPGAs will allow us to rapidlyadapt to the challenging and evolving connectivity and performance needsof our customers.”
Key features of the Lattice Certus-NX FPGA family include:Up to 3x smaller form factor – Certus-NX FPGAs easily fit
into compact designs with minimal impact on overall design footprint.For example, Certus-NX FPGAs can enable a complete PCIe solution with asize of only 36 mm2. Even when using the smallest package available inthe family, Certus-NX FPGAs deliver up to twice the I/O density per mm2in comparison to similar competing FPGAs to enable greater designflexibility and robust support for bridging applications.
Robust I/O interfacing capability – Certus-NX developerswill have access to Lattice’s extensive IP library. Notable IP blocks available on Certus-NX include:
o 1.5 Gbps differential I/O with performance that is up to 70 percenthigher than competing FPGAs.
o 5 Gbps PCIe, 1.5 Gbps SGMII, and 1066 Mbps DDR3. Developers can testthese IP blocks on Certus-NX development boards for the fast implementation of interfaces commonly used in Certus-NX FPGAs’ target applications
Strong authentication and encryption – To secure thedevices’ bitstream against unauthorized access/alteration/copying,Certus-NX FPGAs support AES-256 encryption with best-in-class ECDSAauthentication to protect devices throughout their lifecycles.
Up to 4x lower power consumption – Certus-NX FPGAs use aprogrammable back bias to enable user-selectable high performance or lowpower operating modes, depending on the needs of their application. Thedevices can provide power consumption up to 4x lower than similar FPGAs.
Instant-on performance – The devices also offer ultra-fastdevice configuration from SPI memory that is up to 12x faster thansimilar competing FPGAs, with individual I/Os able to configure in just3 ms, and full-device startup in only 8-14 ms depending on device capacity
High reliability – Reliable performance is key forsafety-critical industrial and automotive applications where devicesmust perform as expected to avoid damage/injury. Certus-NX FPGAs offerup to 100 times better soft-error rate (SER) performance than similarFPGAs. Certus-NX FPGAs are temperature-rated for use in industrialapplications. They also support ECC and SEC in hardware.
Ease of use/design – Certus-NX FPGAs support LatticeRadiant® software, an easy-to-use, unified FPGA design environment that integrates best-in-class tools and features to help users develop their applications quickly and efficiently.
Lattice has already shipped sample devices to select customers. For more information, please visit http://www.latticesemi.com/Cer
