FPGA
(Field Programmable Gate Array) A type of gate array that is programmed in the field rather than in a semiconductor fab. Containing up to hundreds of thousands of gates, there are a variety of FPGA architectures on the market. Some are very sophisticated, including not only programmable logic elements, but programmable interconnects and switches between the elements. The interconnects take up a lot of FPGA real estate, resulting in a chip with very low gate density compared to ASICs. In 2008, Altera introduced its Stratix IV FPGA with 2.5 billion transistors and 680K logic elements.
The vast majority of FPGAs are SRAM-based, although there are some flash and antifuse versions. The antifuse varieties are of interest to aerospace designers because they are more radiation hardened (rad hard). See PLD and adaptive computing.
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| An Excellent Resource |
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| Everything you wanted to know about FPGAs and more is in Clive "Max" Maxfield's book. Written in Maxfield's inimitable style, which makes it thoroughly enjoyable, the book is the definitive guide to the subject. (Newnes, 2004, ISBN 0-7506-7604-3) |