I have to develop some electronics that will probably fit nicely into a spartan3 device xc3s200 or xc3s400. Which series / package should I choose for long availability? I am considering the TQFP144 or PQ208 package, I try to avoid BGA. Will there be any differences in the long-term availability between spartan 3, spartan 3A, spartan 3E, or even spartan 3AN? Thanks, Thomas
Spartan3 device with long availability
Started by ●November 20, 2010
Reply by ●November 20, 20102010-11-20
> I try to avoid BGA.Don't. It has many advantages over the other packages, among them - better yield in soldering. - less EMI - less ground bounce - less board space - better cooling Kolja
Reply by ●November 20, 20102010-11-20
Thomas Heller <theller@ctypes.org> wrote:> I have to develop some electronics that will probably fit nicely into > a spartan3 device xc3s200 or xc3s400. Which series / package should > I choose for long availability?> I am considering the TQFP144 or PQ208 package, I try to avoid BGA. > Will there be any differences in the long-term availability > between spartan 3, spartan 3A, spartan 3E, or even spartan 3AN?No hints for availability, but 3E and 3A configure from cheap commodity serialflash and 3A and 3AN can run with only 3.3/1.2 Volt, while S3 and S3E always need 2.5 Volt. Otherwise S2 was introduced around 2000, but still seems running strong, so thi may indicate whats happening with S3... -- Uwe Bonnes bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de Institut fuer Kernphysik Schlossgartenstrasse 9 64289 Darmstadt --------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------
Reply by ●November 20, 20102010-11-20
Kolja Sulimma <ksulimma@googlemail.com> wrote:> > I try to avoid BGA.> Don't. > It has many advantages over the other packages, > among them > - better yield in soldering. > - less EMI > - less ground bounce > - less board space > - better coolingAnd if you go th BGA, you might now consider S6. S6 in QFP still is _not_ available... -- Uwe Bonnes bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de Institut fuer Kernphysik Schlossgartenstrasse 9 64289 Darmstadt --------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------
Reply by ●November 20, 20102010-11-20
On Nov 20, 8:12=A0am, Uwe Bonnes <b...@elektron.ikp.physik.tu- darmstadt.de> wrote:> Thomas Heller <thel...@ctypes.org> wrote: > > I have to develop some electronics that will probably fit nicely into > > a spartan3 device xc3s200 or xc3s400. =A0Which series / package should > > I choose for long availability? > > I am considering the TQFP144 or PQ208 package, I try to avoid BGA. > > Will there be any differences in the long-term availability > > between spartan 3, spartan 3A, spartan 3E, or even spartan 3AN? > > No hints for availability, but 3E and 3A configure from cheap commodity > serialflash and 3A and 3AN can run with only 3.3/1.2 Volt, while S3 and S=3E> always need 2.5 Volt. > > Otherwise S2 was introduced around 2000, but still seems running strong, =so> thi may indicate whats happening with S3... > -- > Uwe Bonnes =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0b...@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-dar=mstadt.de> > Institut fuer Kernphysik =A0Schlossgartenstrasse 9 =A064289 Darmstadt > --------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------S3A is the newest of the S3 series, and likely to survive longest. It is also cheapest per LUT. I would stay away from the S3AN which is a die-stack FPGA / SPI flash combo. You can do the same thing with a very inexpensive external SPI flash chip, and you don't have to worry about Xilinx's own long term arrangement to obtain the stacked flash device. S3A also has some architectural advantages over the older versions including better IDELAY elements, but be careful to read the I/O restrictions, because part of the price reduction was to make the top/bottom banks have different subsets of the I/O capabilities than the left/right banks. If you can get all of the I/O you need in the available packages, then the S3A is probably the best choice. Regards, Gabor
Reply by ●November 21, 20102010-11-21
Am 20.11.2010 13:03, schrieb Kolja Sulimma:>> I try to avoid BGA. > > Don't. > It has many advantages over the other packages, > among them > - better yield in soldering. > - less EMI > - less ground bounce > - less board space > - better cooling > > KoljaHow are you doing prototyping with BGA packages? Thomas
Reply by ●November 21, 20102010-11-21
Thomas I would expect the XC3S200 and XC3S400 to have a long life even though it is 6-7 years or so since there were first available. I won't be surprised if these are still available in 10 years time. What is likely is that they will get more expensive, and maybe have longer lead times, in the coming years as Spartan-6, and later, take over as main low cost families. II would also consider Spartan-6 as it will have an even longer lifetime. Most of Spartan-6 is available now in small numbers if not large numbers. Digikey are showing stock in the TQFP package. John Adair Enterpoint Ltd. - Home of Drigmorn3. The Cost Effective Spartan-6 Development Board. On Nov 20, 9:27=A0am, Thomas Heller <thel...@ctypes.org> wrote:> I have to develop some electronics that will probably fit nicely into > a spartan3 device xc3s200 or xc3s400. =A0Which series / package should > I choose for long availability? > > I am considering the TQFP144 or PQ208 package, I try to avoid BGA. > Will there be any differences in the long-term availability > between spartan 3, spartan 3A, spartan 3E, or even spartan 3AN? > > Thanks, > Thomas
Reply by ●November 21, 20102010-11-21
John Adair <g1@enterpoint.co.uk> wrote: ..> large numbers. Digikey are showing stock in the TQFP package.... with a constant lead time 6 weeks in the future. -- Uwe Bonnes bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de Institut fuer Kernphysik Schlossgartenstrasse 9 64289 Darmstadt --------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------
Reply by ●November 21, 20102010-11-21
Thomas Heller <theller@ctypes.org> wrote:>Am 20.11.2010 13:03, schrieb Kolja Sulimma: >>> I try to avoid BGA. >> >> Don't. >> It has many advantages over the other packages, >> among them >> - better yield in soldering. >> - less EMI >> - less ground bounce >> - less board space >> - better cooling >> >> Kolja > >How are you doing prototyping with BGA packages?Get your own reflow oven kit like this: http://www2.conrad.nl/goto.php?artikel=530330 I'm pretty sure similar (much cheaper) kits are offered on Ebay. I never tried it but it looks usefull for prototyping. -- Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply indicates you are not using the right tools... nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.) --------------------------------------------------------------
Reply by ●November 22, 20102010-11-22
Uwe Spartan-6 availability is improving very rapidly and in many cases is now on shorter lead time than Spartan-3 parts. We have a considerable amount here now of the parts we use most awaiting some time on our line to build more development boards. 4-6 weeks is usually the standard lead time value, usually quoted in better times, on Spartan families if you buy them in any numbers. The general components shortage is only starting to improve and Xilinx are doing a much better job than most vendors. It's not quite a paradise yet but I expect Q1/2011 we will be back to nearly normal supply conditions and almost certainly for FPGA availability. John Adair Enterpoint Ltd. On Nov 21, 9:12=A0pm, Uwe Bonnes <b...@elektron.ikp.physik.tu- darmstadt.de> wrote:> John Adair <g...@enterpoint.co.uk> wrote: > > .. > > > large numbers. Digikey are showing stock in the TQFP package. > > ... with a constant lead time 6 weeks in the future. > > -- > Uwe Bonnes =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0b...@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-dar=mstadt.de> > Institut fuer Kernphysik =A0Schlossgartenstrasse 9 =A064289 Darmstadt > --------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------
