Actel Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif., has devised a 0.22-µm antifuse field programmable gate array (FPGA) technology. It claims to offer a 20% reduction in die size, along with substantially less power dissipation. Also, it has a 10% higher performance level than the company's 0.25-µm antifuse devices. As a result, antifuse and mainstream FPGA procedures seem to be at parity with one another.
The technology was developed on an advanced 0.22-µm CMOS process. It features an advanced metal-to-metal antifuse and a "sea-of-modules" approach. This accounts for the increased speeds and smaller die size.
A method of chemical and mechanical polishing is partially responsible for the success of this technique. Another contributor is the narrowing difference in mask sets between standard and antifuse operations. Together, these factors have helped significantly reduce the complexity and time involved in bringing up new processes. Actel is already making plans for its next-generation antifuse products based on a 0.15-µm geometry.
Samples of antifuse FPGA devices created from this development are currently available. Volume production is expected by the second quarter. For more information, go to Actel's web site at www.actel.com.