The logic function of ASIC is specified in a similar way as in the case of FPGAs, using hardware description languages such as Verilog or VHDL. Its logic function cannot be changed to anything else because its digital circuitry is made up of permanently connected gates and flip-flops in silicon. It is meant to function as a CPU for its whole life. For example, the CPU inside your phone is an ASIC.

They are designed for one sole purpose and they function the same their whole operating life. As the name implies, ASICs are application specific. What is ASIC?ĪSIC stands for Application Specific Integrated Circuit. These dedicated hardware blocks are critical in competing with ASICs. A recent trend is providing a hard-silicon processor core (such as ARM Cortex A9 in case of Xilinx Zynq) inside the same FPGA die itself so that the processor can take care of mundane, non-critical tasks whereas FPGA can take care of high-speed acceleration which cannot be done using processors. Apart from CLBs, and routing interconnects, many FPGAs also contain dedicated hard-silicon blocks for various functions such as Block RAM, DSP Blocks, External Memory Controllers, PLLs, Multi-Gigabit Transceivers etc. They can implement complex logic functions. The CLBs are primarily made of Look-Up Tables (LUTs), Multiplexers and Flip-Flops. The designs running on FPGAs are generally created using hardware description languages such as VHDL and Verilog.įPGA is made up of thousands of Configurable Logic Blocks (CLBs) embedded in an ocean of programmable interconnects. So, an FPGA working as a microprocessor can be reprogrammed to function as the graphics card in the field, as opposed to in the semiconductor foundries. As implied by the name itself, the FPGA is field programmable. It means it can work as a microprocessor, or as an encryption unit, or graphics card, or even all these three at once. It is an integrated circuit which can be “field” programmed to work as per the intended design. Content:įPGA stands for Field Programmable Gate Array. Here’s a table of contents so you can easily navigate to the subtopic of your interest. We will outline each one’s advantages and disadvantages so that you can make an informed decision on which one to use depending on your application needs. This article will define what is FPGA and what is ASIC and we’ll attempt to elucidate the questions on FPGAs vs ASICs, we will cover the similarities and differences between them. Source: Wikipedia Introductionįor a person new to the field of VLSI and hardware design, it’s often one of the very first questions: What’s the difference between FPGA, ASIC, and CPLD? In another post, we have tried to answer the differences between FPGA and CPLD. VL82C486 Single Chip 486 System Controller ASIC.

Fpga lut asic gates