Lattice Semiconductor has added two new devices to its small, low-power Lattice Certus-NX FPGA family, namely the Certus-NX-28 and Certus-NX-09 available in multiple packages and designed for communications, computing, industrial, and automotive applications.
The Certus-NX FPGAs enable power-efficient PCIe Gen 2 with up to 4 times lower power compared to other FPGAs, and ultra-small form factor with up to 2 times more I/O per mm2 and PCIe and Gigabit Ethernet implementation in packages as small as 36 mm2. The company also claims high reliability and security with up to 100 times lower soft error rate, built-in SEC (Soft Error Correction) and memory block ECC for SEU (Single-Even Upset) protection, and up to 12 times faster instant-on configuration performance.
The Lattice Certus-NX family is now comprised of four SKUs: LFD2NX-9, LFD2NX-17, LFD2NX-28, and LFD2NX-40 whose main highlights are shown in the comparison table below.
| Features | LFD2NX-9 | LFD2NX-17 | LFD2NX-28 | LFD2NX-40 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Logic Cells | 9K | 17K | 28K | 39K |
| Embedded Memory (EBR) Bits (kb) | 270 | 432 | 1054 | 1512 |
| Large Memory (LRAM) Bits (kb) | 1536 | 2560 | 1024 | 1024 |
| 18 X 18 Multipliers | 12 | 24 | 40 | 56 |
| ADC Blocks | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| GPLL | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| 5 Gb/s PCIe Gen2 Hard IP | — | — | 1 | 1 |
| Full-chip Configuration Time1 (ms) | 7 | 8 | 12 | 14 |
| Temperature Grades | C, I, A | C, I, A | C, I, A | C, I, A |
The Certus-NX are available in various packages each with a different number of I/Os, ADC input, and up to 1x PCIe Lane.
| Total I/O (Wide Range, High Performance, ADC3) / PCIe Lane | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Package | LFD2NX-9 | LFD2NX-17 | LFD2NX-28 | LFD2NX-40 |
| 121 csfBGA (6 x 6 mm)2 | 77 (23, 48, 6) / 0 | 77 (23, 48, 6) / 0 | 81 (23, 58, 0) / 1 | 81 (23, 58, 0) / 1 |
| 196 caBGA (12 x 12 mm)2 | 77 (23, 48, 6) / 0 | 77 (23, 48, 6) / 0 | 156 (92, 58, 6) / 0 | 156 (92, 58, 6) / 0 |
| 256 caBGA (14 x 14 mm)2 | — | — | 191 (111, 74, 6) / 1 | 191 (111, 74, 6) / 1 |
The 6×6 mm packages feature 0.5mm pitch I/Os, while the larger 12x12mm packages come with 0.8mm pitch I/Os.
Some applications for the Certux-NX FPGA include PCIe Gen2 to SGMII (Gigabit Ethernet) bridge, PCIe control plane bridge (PCIe to UART, SPI, I2C, MDIO…, PCIe-connected co-processor with DDR3 or LPDDR2 interface, and motor control for the SKUs without PCIe.
Several Certux-NX FPGA development boards are available with Lattice Semi’s own Certus-NX Versa Evaluation Board, Adiuvo Galaxia Space Development board, and Trenz Electronics CRUVI Certus-NX base board with Lattice Certus-NX FPGA and 8 MB RAM all equipped with the Certux-MX-40 FPGA.
The Certus-NX FPGA devices are supported by the company’s Radiant design software suite available for Windows or Linux.
The new Certus-NX-09 and Certus-NX-28 FPGAs are available now. The Certus-NX Versa Evaluation Board sells for $275, the Galaxia Space Development board for 750 GBP ($970 US), and the CRUVI Certus-NX Base Board for 79 Euros. Further information may be found on the product page and in the press release.
Thanks to TLS for the tip.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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