Ultra-low-power and low-cost family addresses low-density and high-volume applications

Renesas Electronics Corporation is entering the FPGA market with a new range of very low-cost, very low-power devices. The ForgeFPGA Family will meet the underserved market demand for relatively small amounts of programmable logic that can be swiftly and efficiently designed into cost-sensitive applications.

The devices will offer big cost savings versus other alternatives, including non-FPGA designs. By offering a high level of integration, they lessen overall board and system costs. Its projected price in volume of well below US$0.50, opens up applications that beforehand could not use FPGAs due to cost forces, including high-volume consumer and IoT applications.

The family will assist applications that need less than 5,000 gates of logic, with initial device sizes of 1K and 2K LUTs. Standby power of less than 20uA is predicted for the first devices, about half the power of competing devices. Users can download the development software at no cost and with no license fees. The software provides two development modes to support new and experienced FPGA developers: a 'macrocell mode' that employs a schematic capture-based development flow, and an 'HDL' mode that offers a familiar Verilog environment for FPGA veterans.

The family development team is the same group that launched the highly successful GreenPAK programmable mixed-signal devices at Silego Technology, recently added to the Renesas portfolio as part of the Dialog Semiconductor acquisition. The new FPGAs will utilise the same business model and infrastructure as the GreenPAK line: free, easy-to-use software with no license fees, and offered worldwide applications support. This model has shown to be very successful, with billions of GreenPAK devices already shipped amid continued growth.

"It’s exciting to see an established semiconductor vendor like Renesas tackling a long-ignored portion of the FPGA market: small, low-cost FPGAs that sip microwatts in standby mode,” said Steve Leibson, principal analyst, TIRIAS Research. “Having scooped up programmable device maker Silego with its acquisition of Dialog earlier this year, Renesas seems determined to repeat Silego’s previous success with its ultra-low-end GreenPAK line of programmable mixed-signal devices and super-simple design tools, this time in a low-end FPGA line that will appeal to many companies who just need a bit of programmable logic – a thousand gates or so – to get the job done in myriad products including billions of embedded sensors and IoT devices."

“We are eager to extend our leadership in the small, low-cost, programmable market into FPGAs,” said Davin Lee, vice president of the Mixed-Signal Division in Renesas’ IoT and Infrastructure Business Unit. “We know from experience and from direct conversations that these devices will appeal to companies large and small in numerous markets around the world.”