Atmel Introduces World's First Field Programmable System On A Chip, And Eda Tools Solution

IP News Atmel Introduces World's First Field Programmable System On A Chip, And Eda Tools Solution
Enabling technology from Atmel bring System Level Integration to the desktop

SAN JOSE, CA OCTOBER 11, 1999 . . . Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) today introduced the world's first programmable system-on-a-chip. The company's AT94Kxx family of Field Programmable System Level Integrated Circuit (FPSLIC^TM) devices is the first of a new family of programmable system-level devices.

The programmable SRAM based AT94K FPSLIC devices integrate all the building blocks required for a system level design -- 40,000 gates of Atmel's AT40K (Field Programmable Gate Array) with FreeRAM^TM, 30+ MIPS AVR^TM RISC processor, 32 Kbytes of program SRAM memory, and frequently used on chip peripherals such as SPI, UARTs, timer/counters and a hardware multiplier.

FPSLIC devices are supported by Atmel's System Designer^TM EDA tool suite. The industry breakthrough System Designer offers designers a seamlessly integrated system-level design flow that supports hardware/software co-design of FPSLIC devices. System Designer's co-verification framework fully synchronizes FPGA hardware and RISC processor software execution, and provides source and assembly- level software debugging with full visibility into the FPSLIC's memory, registers and hardware logic. Place and route, macro generators, HDLPlanner^TM and extensive bitstream utilities provide a rapid logic design and development environment. FPSLIC's re-programmability and the unified software/hardware design environment allow designers to evaluate hardware/software trade-off to achieve more optimized designs and can reduce design time by 1-3 months.

In addition, FPSLIC devices are dynamically in-system reconfigurable and support very low active power consumption, making them ideal for multi-mode applications such as soft radios for third generation mobile phones that support multiple standards. Using Atmel's patented CacheLogic^TM software and hardware technologies, FPSLIC devices can load a new hardware configuration into the FPGA section without affecting system operation. This capability allows the same FPSLIC silicon to be re-used and saves significant power consumption.

According to Martin Mason, Atmel's Programmable System Level Integration Marketing Manager, "Atmel's FPSLIC devices and design tools enable a complete SLI solution on every designer's desktop. Now every designer can have the benefits of system-level integration and programmability in a single device, at a price that supports volume production. Until now long lead-time for first samples System-Level Integration has been limited to customers who had to pay large NREs, acquire expensive design tools, and run large volumes or pay very high unit costs.

"Most system level designs contain three basic digital building blocks: a processor, memory and logic. It made much more sense to integrate a hard-wired MCU, large block of instruction & data memory and peripherals with a block of AT40K FPGA on a single FPSLIC devices. Atmel has shortened the design cycle, improved silicon efficiency, minimized power consumption and with volume pricing at under $20, FPSLIC devices finally provide a real programmable SLI solution for volume production.", Mason concluded.

"Atmel is in the unique position of having large amounts of intellectual property (IP): FPGAs, memories, processors and logic building blocks," according to Joel Rosenberg, Product Line Director for Programmable System Level Integration Products. This IP, when combined with Atmel's extensive experience in ASICs, programmable logic software development and Application Specific Standard Product (ASSP) architectures puts Atmel in the unique position to be able to offer a cost effective, programmable SLI solution. We expect that FPSLIC will revolutionize the System-level-integration market today much as FPGAs did 10 years ago." Rosenberg concluded.

Product Road Map - The AT94K FPSLIC family of devices consists of three members with 40K, 20K and 10K of FPGA logic gates. The AT94K FPSLIC device family is the first of an entire portfolio of FPSLIC devices that Atmel will introduce in the next several years. Future generations of FPSLIC devices will provide various combinations of programmable logic with a variety of MCU architectures, memory densities and peripherals.

Pricing and Availability - AT94K FPSLIC devices will be sampled in January and are priced from $19.90 in volumes of 20,000 or more.

The System Designer EDA tools suite works on Windows^® 95/98/200/NT platforms, is available now, and is priced at an annual subscription price of $495.

Founded in 1984, Atmel Corporation is headquartered in San Jose, California with principal manufacturing facilities in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Nantes and Rousset, France and Heilbronn, Germany. Atmel designs, manufactures and markets on a worldwide basis advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory, and RF semiconductors. Atmel is also a leading provider of system level integration semiconductor solutions using advanced CMOS, BiCMOS, BiPolar and SiGe process technologies.

Atmel product and financial information can be retrieved from its Fax-on-Demand service. In North America call 1-(800) 292-8635. International, from a fax phone, call 1-(408) 441-0732. You can send your request via e-mail to literature@atmel.com or visit Atmel's Web site at http://www.atmel.com

© Atmel Corporation 1999. All rights reserved. Atmel, the Atmel logo, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Atmel Corporation. AVR, Field Programmable System Level IC, FPSLIC and the FPSLIC logo are a trademark of Atmel Corporation. Terms and product names in this document may be trademarks of others.

Press contacts:
Martin Mason, Programmable System Level Integration Marketing Manager. Martin@atmel.com Tele: (408) 436 4178

Joel Rosenberg, Programmable System Level Integration Product Line Director. Jrosenberg@atmel.com Tele: (408) 436 4290