ACT™ 2 Family FPGAs
and load device inputs. An additional component of the
active power dissipation is the totem-pole current in CMOS
transistor pairs. The net effect can be associated with an
equivalent capacitance that can be combined with
frequency and voltage to represent active power dissipation.
r2
= Fixed capacitance due to second routed array
clock
CEQM = Equivalent capacitance of logic modules in pF
CEQI = Equivalent capacitance of input buffers in pF
CEQO = Equivalent capacitance of output buffers in pF
Equivalent Capacitance
CEQCR = Equivalent capacitance of routed array clock in
pF
The power dissipated by a CMOS circuit can be expressed by
the Equation 1.
Power (µW) = CEQ * VCC2 * F
(1)
CL
fm
fn
= Output lead capacitance in pF
Where:
CEQ is the equivalent capacitance expressed in pF.
CC is the power supply in volts.
= Average logic module switching rate in MHz
= Average input buffer switching rate in MHz
= Average output buffer switching rate in MHz
= Average first routed array clock rate in MHz
= Average second routed array clock rate in MHz
V
fp
F is the switching frequency in MHz.
fq1
fq2
Equivalent capacitance is calculated by measuring ICC
active at a specified frequency and voltage for each circuit
component of interest. Measurements have been made over
a range of frequencies at a fixed value of VCC. Equivalent
capacitance is frequency independent so that the results
may be used over a wide range of operating conditions.
Equivalent capacitance values are shown below.
Fixed Capacitance Values for Actel FPGAs
(pF)
r1
r2
Device Type
routed_Clk1
routed_Clk2
A1225A
A1240A
A1280A
106
134
168
106.0
134.2
167.8
CEQ Values for Actel FPGAs
Determining Average Switching Frequency
To determine the switching frequency for a design, you must
have a detailed understanding of the data input values to
the circuit. The following guidelines are meant to represent
worst-case scenarios so that they can be generally used to
predict the upper limits of power dissipation. These
guidelines are as follows:
Modules (CEQM
Input Buffers (CEQI
Output Buffers (CEQO
Routed Array Clock Buffer Loads (CEQCR
)
5.8
12.9
23.8
3.9
)
)
)
To calculate the active power dissipated from the complete
design, the switching frequency of each part of the logic
must be known. Equation 2 shows a piece-wise linear
summation over all components.
Power = VCC2 * [(m * CEQM* fm)modules +(n * CEQI* fn)inputs
+ (p * (CEQO+ CL) * fp)outputs + 0.5 * (q1 * CEQCR
fq1)routed_Clk1 + (r1 * fq1)routed_Clk1 + 0.5 * (q2 * CEQCR
fq2)routed_Clk2
Logic Modules (m)
80% of modules
# inputs/4
Inputs switching (n)
Outputs switching (p)
First routed array clock loads (q1)
# outputs/4
*
40%of
*
sequential
modules
+ (r2 * fq2)routed_Clk2
]
(2)
Second routed array clock loads (q2)
40%of
Where:
sequential
modules
m
n
= Number of logic modules switching at fm
= Number of input buffers switching at fn
= Number of output buffers switching at fp
Load capacitance (CL)
35 pF
p
Average logic module switching rate (fm) F/10
q1
= Number of clock loads on the first routed array
clock
Average input switching rate (fn)
Average output switching rate (fp)
Average first routed array clock rate (fq1)
F/5
F/10
F
q2
r1
= Number of clock loads on the second routed
array clock
Average second routed array clock rate F/2
(fq2)
= Fixed capacitance due to first routed array
clock
6
v4.0
ACTEL [ Actel Corporation ]
