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1 – ProASIC3L Device Family Overview
General Description
The ProASIC3L family of Microsemi flash FPGAs dramatically reduces dynamic power consumption by
40% and static power by 50% compared to the equivalent ProASIC3 device. These power savings are
coupled with performance, density, true single-chip, 1.2 V to 1.5 V core and I/O operation as low as
1.2 V, reprogrammability, and advanced features.
Using Microsemi's proven Flash*Freeze technology enables users to shut off dynamic power
instantaneously and switch the device to static mode without the need to switch off clocks or power
supplies while retaining internal states of the device. This greatly simplifies power management on a
board done through I/Os and clocks. In addition, optimized software tools using power-driven layout
provide instant push-button power reduction.
Nonvolatile flash technology gives ProASIC3L devices the advantage of being a secure, low-power,
single-chip solution that is Instant On. ProASIC3L offers dramatic dynamic power savings giving the
FPGA users flexibility to combine low power with high performance.
These features enable designers to create high-density systems using existing ASIC or FPGA design
flows and tools.
ProASIC3L devices offer 1 kbit of on-chip, reprogrammable, nonvolatile FlashROM storage as well as
clock conditioning circuitry (CCC) based on an integrated phase-locked loop (PLL). ProASIC3L devices
support devices from 250 k system gates to 3 million system gates with up to 504 kbits of true dual-port
SRAM and 620 user I/Os.
M1 ProASIC3L devices support the high-performance, 32-bit Cortex-M1 processor developed by ARM
for implementation in FPGAs. ARM Cortex-M1 is a soft processor that is fully implemented in the FPGA
fabric. It has a three-stage pipeline that offers a good balance between low-power consumption and
speed when implemented in an M1 ProASIC3L device. The processor runs the ARMv6-M instruction set,
has a configurable nested interrupt controller, and can be implemented with or without the debug block.
ARM Cortex-M1 is available for free from Microsemi for use in M1 ProASIC3L FPGAs.
The ARM-enabled devices have Microsemi SoC Products Group ordering numbers that begin with M1
and do not support AES decryption.
Flash*Freeze Technology
The ProASIC3L devices offer Microsemi's proven Flash*Freeze technology, which allows instantaneous
switching from an active state to a static state. ProASIC3L devices do not need additional components to
turn off I/Os or clocks while retaining the design information, SRAM content, and registers. Flash*Freeze
technology is combined with in-system programmability, which enables users to quickly and easily
upgrade and update their designs in the final stages of manufacturing or in the field. The ability of
ProASIC3L devices to support a wide range core voltage (1.2 V to 1.5 V) allows for an even greater
reduction in power consumption, which enables low total system power.
When the ProASIC3L device enters Flash*Freeze mode, the device automatically shuts off the clocks
and inputs to the FPGA core; when the device exits Flash*Freeze mode, all activity resumes and data is
retained.
The availability of low-power modes, combined with a reprogrammable, single-chip, single-voltage
solution, make ProASIC3L devices suitable for low-power data transfer and manipulation in portable
media, secure communications, radio applications as well as high performance portable, industrial, test,
scientific, and medical applications.