The ispMACH 4000V automotive temperature grade family provides four logic density solutions from 32 to 256 macrocells, the broadest automotive CPLD product offering in the industry. The devices support 7.5ns pin-to-pin delay (tPD) and 168MHz operating frequencies (fMAX). Typical standby power consumption for the four devices is approximately 40mW, allowing these devices to support power-conscious applications as well. The family includes multiple density-I/O combinations in Thin Quad Flat Pack (TQFP) packages ranging from 44 to 176 pins.

"We are pleased to be able to offer our industry-leading ispMACH 4000V CPLD product family to the automotive design community," said Stan Kopec, Lattice vice president of corporate marketing. "The ispMACH 4000V family delivers the performance and flexibility required to implement next-generation automotive electronics systems cost-effectively."

The ispMACH 4000V automotive family provides optimal logic implementation for many glue logic, state machine, decoder, bridging, power-up, and signal handshaking functions. These functions are critical for the implementation of many automotive applications. Adding extra value, the in-system programmable nature of these devices allows their logic functions to be quickly reconfigured or upgraded over time via a simple IEEE 1149.1-compatible Boundary Scan port, minimizing maintenance costs. Full Boundary Scan test capability also helps to minimize the time required to diagnose problems within automotive electronics systems that use the devices.

Supports LVTTL and Multiple LVCMOS Standards
The ispMACH 4000V automotive devices also have two I/O banks, each with their own power supply pin that can be set at the appropriate voltage to support LVTTL and LVCMOS 3.3, 2.5, and 1.8-volt outputs. Device input buffers have programmable thresholds that support the above standards independent of the I/O bank output voltage. In addition, the devices can also tolerate 5V-input voltages on pins programmed for LVCMOS 3.3 operation, a key capability in interfacing with older 5V-based modules. Through these features, the devices can support the multiple voltage requirements found increasingly in automotive systems.

Design Tools
The ispMACH 4000V automotive family is supported by Lattice's ispLEVER design tools. The ispLEVER tools, Lattice's platform for next-generation logic design, provide designers with rapid access to the performance of the ispMACH 4000V devices while maximizing resource utilization. This is achieved through timing driven placement & routing coupled with optimized synthesis support from vendors such as Exemplar and Synplicity. Additional third-party EDA tool support is provided through industry standard EDIF netlist import and export. The ispLEVER software is available in PC as well as UNIX workstation versions.

It looks like the automotive market is beginning to draw some real interest from PLD suppliers. Like Xilinx, Lattice has qualified some members of an existing device family for -40 to 125ºC operation. Lattice has qualified a portion of its ispMACH 4000V family for automotive temperature grade applications. The regular ispMACH 4000V family has six devices ranging in size from 32 to 512 macrocells. Automotive temperature grade devices only cover the 32 to 256 macrocell range.

In addition, Lattice is offering automotive temperature grade ispMACH 4000V devices with a propagation delay of 7.5 ns. Commercial temperature grade devices have propagation delays as low 2.5 ns. This is interesting in that Xilinx claims their CPLDs do not experience a drop in performance when operated over the wider range. The performance of the FPGAs, however, drops by about 15%.

Xilinx is planning a broader approach to this market than Lattice as it has already qualified members of the XC9500XL and Spartan XL families to the automotive temperature range. During 3Q02, Xilinx intends to qualify members of the CoolRunner XPLA3 and Spartan-II series for the wider temperature range. It will also, by 4Q02, qualify parts from its newest low-cost CoolRunner-II and Spartan-IIE families for automotive use.

Lattice is targeting "the full range of automotive applications including 'in-cabin' electronics and telematics (cell phones, navigation, radio, networking and PC) as well as harsher 'under-the-hood' applications such as engine and powertrain control systems management." Xilinx seems to be restricting its effort to in-cabin applications such as automotive intelligence and infotainment products such as GPS navigation systems, DVD players, and in-cabin digital processing and imaging systems.