Spartan-3E FPGA Family: Functional Description
Production Stepping
The Spartan-3E FPGA family uses production stepping to
indicate improved capabilities or enhanced features.
Designs operating on the Stepping 0 devices perform
similarly on a Stepping 1 device.
Stepping 1 is, by definition, a functional superset of
Stepping 0. Furthermore, configuration bitstreams
generated for Stepping 0 are compatible with Stepping 1.
Differences Between Steppings
Table 71 summarizes the feature and performance
differences between Stepping 0 devices and Stepping 1
devices.
Table 71: Differences between Spartan-3E Production Stepping Levels
Stepping 0
Stepping 1
Production status
Production starting
March 2006
Production from 2005 to 2007
Speed grade and operating conditions
JTAG ID code
-4C only
-4C, -4I, -5C
Different revision fields. See Table 67.
DCM DLL maximum input frequency
90 MHz
(200 MHz for XC3S1200E)
240 MHz (-4 speed grade)
275 MHz (-5 speed grade)
DCM DFS output frequency range(s)
Split ranges at 5 – 90 MHz and
220 – 307 MHz
(single range 5 – 307 MHz for XC3S1200E)
Continuous range:
5 – 311 MHz (-4)
5 – 333 MHz (-5)
Supports multi-FPGA daisy-chain configurations from
SPI Flash
No, single FPGA only
No(1)
Yes
JTAG configuration supported when FPGA in BPI
mode with a valid image in the attached parallel NOR
Flash PROM
Yes
JTAG EXTEST, INTEST, SAMPLE support
Yes: XC3S100E, XC3S250E, XC3S500E
No(2): XC3S1200E, XC3S1600E
Yes
All Devices
Power sequencing when using HSWAP Pull-Up
PCI compliance
Requires VCCINT before VCCAUX
No
Any sequence
Yes
Notes:
1. Workarounds exist. See Stepping 0 Limitations when Reprogramming via JTAG if FPGA Set for BPI Configuration.
2. JTAG BYPASS and JTAG configuration are supported.
Ordering a Later Stepping
Software Version Requirements
-5C and -4I devices, and -4C devices (with date codes 0901
(2009) and later) always support the Stepping 1 feature set
independent of the stepping code. Optionally, to order only
Stepping 1 for the -4C devices, append an “S1” suffix to the
standard ordering code, where ‘1’ is the stepping number,
as indicated in Table 72.
Production Spartan-3E applications must be processed
using the Xilinx ISE 8.1i, Service Pack 3 or later
development software, using the v1.21 or later speed files.
The ISE 8.1i software implements critical bitstream
generator updates.
For additional information on Spartan-3E development
software and known issues, see the following Answer
Record:
Table 72: Spartan-3E Optional Stepping Ordering
Stepping
Number
Suffix Code
Status
•
Xilinx Answer #22253
http://www.xilinx.com/support/answers/22253.htm
0
1
None
S1
Production
Production
DS312 (v4.2) December 14, 2018
www.xilinx.com
Product Specification
112
XILINX [ XILINX, INC ]
