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Microsemi IGLOO FPGAs in Handheld Devices

Overview

Industry's Lowest-Power FPGAs

The Microsemi IGLOO series of low power FPGAs includes IGLOO/e, IGLOO nano, and IGLOO PLUS devices—the industry's lowest-power FPGAs. IGLOO devices are reprogrammable, full-featured flash, low-power FPGAs designed to meet the demanding power and area requirements of today's portable and power-conscious electronics. Based on Microsemi nonvolatile flash technology and single-chip ProASIC®3/E FPGA architecture, the 1.2 V / 1.5 V operating voltage family offers the industry's lowest power consumption, smallest footprint, and competitive prices.

The IGLOO low-power FPGA families support up to 3 million system gates with up to 504 kbits of true dual-port SRAM, up to 6 embedded PLLs, and up to 620 user I/Os. Low-power applications that require 32-bit processing can use the ARM® Cortex™-M1 processor without license fee or royalties in M1 IGLOO devices. Developed specifically for implementation in FPGAs, Cortex-M1 offers an optimal balance between performance and size to minimize power consumption.

Key Features

Ultra-low power in Flash*Freeze mode
Low power active capability
Variety of small footprint packages as small as 3x3 mm
Many products under $0.99
Known good die supported
Reprogrammable flash technology
1.2 V to 1.5 V operation
High capacity, advanced I/Os
Clock conditioning circuit (CCCs) and PLLs
Embedded SRAM and nonvolatile memory (NVM)
In-system programming (ISP) and security

The IGLOO series includes:

IGLOO/e with ARM Cortex-M1

IGLOO nano

IGLOO PLUS

Device Comparison

IGLOO Family	IGLOO/e	IGLOO nano	IGLOO PLUS
ARM-Enabled	M1 IGLOO/e
Overview	The ultra-low-power, programmable solution	The industry's lowest-power, smallest-size solution	The low-power FPGA with enhanced I/O capabilities
System Gates	15,000 - 3,000,000	10,000 - 250,000	30,000 - 125,000
Max User I/Os	620	71	212
Power Consumption	5 µW	2 µW	5 µW

Flash*Freeze Technology

Flash*Freeze Mode Control on IGLOO Low Power FPGA

The Flash*Freeze technology used in IGLOO devices enables easy entry and exit from ultra-low power mode, which consumes as little as 2 µW, while retaining SRAM and register data. Flash*Freeze technology simplifies power management through I/O and clock management without a need to turn off voltages, I/Os, or clocks at the system level.

In Flash*Freeze mode, power drops to as low as 2 µW, and no additional components are required to turn off I/Os or clocks while preserving the design information, SRAM content, and registers. I/Os can maintain their state during Flash*Freeze mode. Entering and exiting Flash*Freeze mode takes less than 1 µs.

ProASIC3 Low Cost, Low Power FPGA Die Additionally, the Low Power Active capability (static idle) allows for ultra-low power consumption while the IGLOO device is completely functional in the system by maintaining I/Os, SRAM, registers, and logic functions. I/Os can maintain their state during Flash*Freeze mode. This allows the IGLOO device to control the system power management based on external inputs (e.g., scanning for keyboard stimulus) while consuming minimal power.

Microsemi IGLOO low-power FPGAs can provide more than ten times the battery life of their nearest low-power competitor.

IGLOO Low Power FPGA Battery Life Chart - 95%

Small Footprint

Microsemi IGLOO low-power FPGAs are true single-chip devices, do not require configuration or other support components, and offer a variety of small-footprint packages with high I/O pin count to match design needs.

The Microsemi IGLOO family is offered in a small form factor (3x3, 4x4, 5x5, 6x6, and 8x8 mm), high-density, chip-scale package and quad flat no-lead package.

Design Software

Libero® Integrated Design Environment (IDE) is Microsemi's comprehensive software toolset for designing with IGLOO low-power FPGAs, enabling you to quickly manage and optimize your design to its lowest power capabilities and further reduce power consumption using automatic power-driven layout (PDL). Libero IDE's next generation SmartDesign tool ensures fast time-to-market with its advanced features for creation of simple designs or complex processor-based and bus-based designs. Libero IDE also includes cutting edge power analysis capability with SmartPower, which identifies specific points in the design where power can be reduced.

Microsemi's SoftConsole is a free software development environment, enabling the rapid production of C and C++ executables for ARM Cortex-M1 processors, and is compatible with the Libero IDE design flow.

ProASIC3 designs can be migrated to attain the low-power benefits of IGLOO devices, or new designs can be created from the start. Learn more about Libero IDE flows and tools.

Design Hardware

The IGLOO nano Starter Kit provides a miniature modular board that provides all I/O pins on headers for the largest of the IGLOO nano low-power FPGAs to allow users to prototype for any IGLOO nano design and to monitor power consumption through the detailed current monitoring capabilities built into the evaluation board supplied with the kit. This RoHS-compliant kit includes a low cost programming stick, Libero IDE software and other resources. By being footprint-compatible with the ProASIC3 nano series of devices, this kit can also be used to prototype designs for ProASIC3 nano, as well as for IGLOO nano.

IGLOO Starter Kits provide complete evaluation solutions and demonstrate the ultra-low power of Microsemi IGLOO and ARM Cortex-M1-enabled IGLOO low-power FPGAs. They are low-cost, RoHS-compliant, and include a development board, Libero IDE software, on-board programmer, and other resources. The detailed current-monitoring capabilities of the starter kit allow you to directly measure this low current consumption and validate your design's performance when using IGLOO devices.

The IGLOO Icicle Kit is a modular, low-cost, portable, fully RoHS-compliant demonstration platform powered by built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery, USB cable, or external power. The kit includes the evaulation board, FlashPro3 programmer built into a low-cost programming stick (LCPS), Libero IDE software, and other resources. The kit is ideal for testing the operation of signals, device interactions, and system functions during Flash*Freeze mode.

FlashPro3 is the ideal low-cost programmer for in-system programming of IGLOO low-power FPGAs. Up to 15 of these programmers may be cascaded in parallel via powered USB hubs to give a volume ISP solution for pre-assembled boards featuring IGLOO devices.

Silicon Sculptor 3 programmer is the ideal engineering pre-programmer for IGLOO low-power FPGAs, where each device can be programmed without having it assembled into a PCB. The Silicon Sculptor 3 includes a high-speed USB 2.0 interface that allows a customer to connect as many as 12 programmers to a single PC.

Identify Microsemi Edition (AE) logic analysis software from Synplicity® provides embedded debug capbilities for IGLOO devices. It is included in the Libero IDE Windows DVD or is available for download.

IP and Solutions

Search for available IP Cores for each IGLOO device:

Technology Solutions
	IGLOO low-power FPGAs offer Flash*Freeze technology and the lowest static power, sleep mode power, and dynamic power consumption, achieving the lowest system power. The IGLOO family of FPGAs maximizes power savings with very limited power-on current surge and no high-current transition period, both of which occur on many FPGAs. » More
Small Footprint	Wide selection of small size packages optimize logic and I/O design needs while minimizing board size.
Low Cost	With many devices under $0.99, IGLOO devices offer industry-leading unit cost and the lowest total system cost. » More
	Does not require additional nonvolatile memory in order to load the device configuration data at every system power-up, which reduces cost and increases security and system reliability.
	Greatly simplifies system design, making the device available to perform critical system setup tasks and reducing bill-of-materials costs and PCB area. » More
	Utilizes a 128-bit flash-based lock and inherent flash technology features, providing the most impenetrable security for programmable logic designs. » More
	Flash cell configuration element cannot be altered by high-energy neutrons and is therefore immune, unlike SRAM-based FPGAs. » More
Secure ISP	Supports a built-in AES decryption engine and industry-leading flash-based AES-128 key for secure remote field updates over public networks with encrypted bitstream.
User Nonvolatile Memory	1,024 bits of on-chip, user-accessible, nonvolatile FlashROM can be used in diverse system applications.
ARM® Cortex™-M1 Processor	Uses industry-standard FPGA-optimized Cortex-M1 with no upfront licensing fees and royalties. » More

Portable Applications

IGLOO low-power FPGAs are ideal for the portable market—offering low active and static power consumption, ultra-low power mode support, small footprint packages, and low cost. Combined with reprogrammability and high-end features, Microsemi enables fast time-to-market with turnkey low-power solutions.

Microsemi IGLOO low-power FPGAs address the portable market needs in consumer, industrial, medical, automotive, computing, communications, and military and aerospace.

To learn more about Microsemi's offering in the portable market, refer to the Portable Solutions web page.

A wide variety of LCD displays with rapidly changing display technologies are available in the market. To meet the needs of short design cycle time to integrate newer display devices, Microsemi offers a wide range of flexible Display Solutions with IGLOO low-power FPGAs.

Solutions

Microsemi offers the optimal solution for your portable design with its FPGAs, design solutions, and intellectual properties (IP). Validated and proven solutions and IP enable quick development of portable designs with solutions supporting storage, display and imaging, and human machine interface, and miniature motor controls.

Microsemi IGLOO devices can manage interfaces between the VLIO or AMBA bus and the different types of storage devices.

IGLOO Low Power FPGA Storage Diagram

To learn more about Microsemi's solutions, visit one of the following:

Microsemi