For over 20 years, Actel has delivered the most reliable field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) in the industry. Actel's high-reliability FPGAs have overall antifuse reliability ratings of less than 10 failures-in-time (FITs) and have a lifespan of more than 40 years. Actel FPGAs are production-proven, with more than 5 million devices shipped and more than 1 trillion antifuses manufactured. Actel devices are fully tested prior to shipment, with an outgoing defect level of only 122 ppm (further reliability data is available in the
Actel Reliability Report). Additionally, the programmable architecture of these devices offers high performance, design flexibility, and fast and inexpensive prototyping—all without the expense of test vectors, NRE charges, long lead times, and schedule and cost penalties for design refinements.
RT1020
The RT1020 device contains the same architecture as the A1020, A1020A, and A1020B devices. The architecture, a combinatorial logic module, is a logic structure with 8 inputs and 1 output. The logic itself is comprised of a 4-input MUX. In addition, since the RT1020 device contains the same number of gates and I/Os and has the same operating voltage as its commercial equivalent (A1020B), an inexpensive commercial grade A1020B-CQ84 device can be used during the prototype phase, and replaced by the RT1020 in the flight units.
RT1280
The RT1280A device uses the A1280A die from the
ACT 2 family of FPGAs. It utilizes a 2-module architecture, consisting of combinatorial modules (C-modules) and sequential modules (S-modules) optimized for both combinatorial and sequential designs. Based on Actel's patented channeled array architecture, the RT1280A has 8,000 ASIC-equivalent gates and 140 user I/Os.
RT ACT 3
The RT1425A, RT1460A and RT14100A devices use the A1425A, A1460A and A14100A dies, respectively. These devices are derived from the ACT 3 family of FPGAs, which also utilizes the two-module channeled array architecture, and offers faster performance than the RT1280A. These devices also have fully pin- and function-compatible, commercially-equivalent devices for easy and inexpensive prototyping. The A1425A-CQ132C is used for the RT1425A, the A1460A-CQ196C is used for the RT1460A, and the A14100A-CQ256C is used for the RT14100A.
Key Features
- 4,000 to 20,000 logic equivalent gates
- 2,000 to 10,000 ASIC equivalent gates
- Up to 85 MHz internal performance
- Up to 60 MHz system performance
- Up to 228 user I/Os
- Up to four fast, low-skew clock networks
- Packages: 84-pin, 132-pin, 172-pin, 196-pin, and 256-pin ceramic quad flat pack
- Offered as Class B and E-Flow (Actel Space Level Flow)
- QML certified devices
- 100% military temperature tested (–55°C to +125°C)
Radiation Performances
- Tested Total Ionizing Dose (TID) survivability level
- No Single Event Latch-Up (SEL) below a minimum Linear Energy Transfer (LET) threshold of 80 MeV-cm2/mg for all RT (RadTolerant) devices
Radiation Survivability
Total dose results are summarized in two ways. The first method summarizes by the maximum total dose level that is reached when the parts fail to meet a device specification but remain functional. For Actel FPGAs, the parameter that exceeds the specification first is the standby supply current (I
CC). The second method summarizes by the maximum total dose that is reached prior to the functional failure of the device. The Actel RT devices have varying total-dose radiation survivability. The ability of these devices to survive radiation effects is both device- and lot-dependent. You must evaluate and determine the applicability of these devices for specific design and environmental requirements. Typical results for the RT1020 device are ~100krads (Si) for standby I
CC and >100 krads for functional failure. The RT1280A device has results from 4 to 10 krads (Si) for standby I
CC, and 7 to 18 krads for functional failure. Typical results for
ACT 3 devices are 10 to 28 krads for I
CC, and 20 to 77 krads for functional failure. Actel will provide total dose radiation testing along with the test data on each pedigreed lot that is available for sale. This summary also shows single event upset (SEU) and single event latch-up testing that has been performed on Actel FPGAs.
| Devices |
RT1020 |
RT1280A |
RT1425A |
RT1460A |
RT14100A |
| Capacity |
| System Gates |
6,000 |
24,000 |
7,500 |
18,000 |
30,000 |
| Logic Gates |
4,000 |
16,000 |
5,000 |
12,000 |
20,000 |
| ASIC Equivalent Gates |
2,000 |
8,000 |
2,500 |
6,000 |
10,000 |
| PLD Equivalent Gates |
5,000 |
20,000 |
6,250 |
15,000 |
25,000 |
| TTL Equivalent Gates |
50 |
200 |
60 |
150 |
250 |
| 20-pin PAL Equivalent Packages |
20 |
80 |
25 |
60 |
100 |
| Logic Modules |
547 |
1,232 |
310 |
848 |
1,377 |
| S-Modules |
N/A |
624 |
160 |
432 |
697 |
| C-Modules |
547 |
608 |
150 |
416 |
680 |
| Maximum User I/Os |
69 |
140 |
100 |
168 |
228 |
| Performance |
| System Speed (Maximum) |
20 MHz |
40 MHz |
60 MHz |
60 MHz |
60 MHz |
| Speed Grades |
Std., -1 |
Std., -1 |
Std., -1 |
Std., -1 |
Std., -1 |
| Temperature Grades |
E, B |
E, B |
E, B |
E, B |
E, B |
| Packages (by pin count) |
| CQFP |
84 |
172 |
132 |
196 |
256 |
| Technology Solutions |
 |
Does not require additional configuration
nonvolatile memory in order to load the device configuration
data at every system power-up, which reduces
cost and increases security and system reliability. |
 |
Antifuse programmable technology is inherently protected against reverse engineering and unauthorized duplication. » More |
| Firm Error Immune |
Antifuse configuration elements cannot be altered by high-energy heavy ions that abound in space and are therefore suitable for different types of space applications. |
 |
Greatly simplifies system design, making the device available to perform critical system setup tasks and reduce bill-of-materials costs and PCB area. » More |
The Legacy RT devices are fully supported by Actel Libero IDE, a design management environment that guides the user through the FPGA design flow and provides seamless design tool integration as well as project, data file, and log file management. Libero IDE enables users to integrate both schematic and HDL synthesis into a single flow and verify the entire design in a single environment. The Actel Designer toolset is included for backend product implementation and programming file generation.
Prototyping
An inexpensive commercial grade A1020B-CQ84 device can be used during the prototype phase, and replaced by the RT1020 in the flight units. The RT1280A device is fully pin- and function-compatible with the commercially-equivalent A1280A-CQ172C device for easy, inexpensive prototyping. The RT ACT3 devices also have fully pin- and function-compatible, commercially-equivalent devices for easy and inexpensive prototyping. The A1425A-CQ132C is used for the RT1425A, the A1460A-CQ196C is used for the RT1460A, and the A14100A-CQ256C is used for the RT14100A.
Programmers
Programming support for Legacy RT devices is provided through Actel's
Silicon Sculptor 3, a PC-based programmer that delivers high data throughput and promotes ease of use, while lowering the overall cost of ownership. Actel offers a unique in-system diagnostic and verification capability with
Silicon Explorer II, Actel's integrated verification and logic analysis tool.
Datasheets
Packaging Data
Application Notes
