Many young engineers often start by considering programmable logic when exploring design options at work. However, the growing dependence on programmable logic has also led to overlooked challenges in circuit design education, which has left many engineers unaware of alternative technologies that could better address their system requirements. This lack of awareness is often tied to limited hands-on experience with different design approaches. As a result, their ability to create high-performance, cost-effective products can be significantly impacted.
Figure 1: 40Gbps solution for high-performance routers
One of the clearest examples of this trend is the use of embedded buffer memory. For years, FIFOs and multiport memories have been the go-to solutions for experienced engineers looking to build efficient data buffering systems. However, as FPGA memory density increases, more designers are turning to on-chip memory instead of discrete components like FIFOs or multiport memories.
For advanced systems, integrating discrete FIFO or multiport memory functions into an FPGA makes sense. Combining multiple data buffers and control functions into a single chip offers even better results. The main advantage is reducing component count and saving board space. To support this, FPGA vendors provide standardized design blocks that speed up development.
That said, these solutions come at a price. High-density FPGAs can be expensive, especially when dealing with data bus speeds above 100MHz and higher buffer requirements. Performance can also become an issue. Some limitations aren't immediately obvious when integrating FIFOs or multiport memories into programmable logic. In some cases, using discrete components or smaller FPGAs might offer a more optimal solution.
The problem often goes unnoticed. Because educational institutions focus heavily on programmable logic, many engineers today are not aware of the latest developments in discrete, dedicated memory solutions such as FIFOs and multiport memories. Semiconductor manufacturers now offer FIFO devices with densities up to 18Mb, featuring fully independent read and write ports operating at speeds up to 250MHz. With DDR support, they can reach up to 20Gbps per port. These devices offer flexible configurations, allowing users to choose bus width, I/O voltage, data rate, and whether to operate synchronously or asynchronously. Integrated flag operations add extra functionality, while pin compatibility across the product line simplifies upgrades to higher densities and speeds.
Multiport memory has seen similar advancements. Engineers can select different bus widths per port and choose from devices supporting 8 to 72 bits. These devices operate at up to 200MHz in synchronous mode or 10ns in asynchronous mode, with densities up to 36Mb. They support core voltages of 5V, 3.3V, 2.5V, or 1.8V, and I/O voltages can be set to 5V, 3.3V, 2.5V, or 1.8V. Additional features include full-boundary counters, independent byte enable, collision detection, interrupts, semaphores, and busy arbitration.
Performance Limitations of Embedded Data Cache
Engineers who were trained using FPGAs tend to design FIFOs directly within them. However, many are unaware that increasing the number of FIFOs in their designs can expose them to performance constraints. Typically, they rely on vendor tools to automatically map multiple FIFOs into a single physical memory module, generating the logic needed for time-domain multiplexing between user FIFOs. However, because each FIFO port must be multiplexed, the maximum operating frequency of each port decreases as more FIFOs are added.
Figure 2: Low-power dual-port devices are ideal for multimedia smartphones
When each FIFO operates independently with its own clock, the total memory bandwidth shared between data, control inputs, and status flags becomes a bottleneck. When a read or write operation is initiated, the sequencer accesses the physical memory in a fast TDM clock domain, then transfers the information back to the FIFO’s clock domain. This clock domain crossing inherently limits performance, depending on the sequencer speed and the number of FIFOs used. Some leading FPGA vendors even recommend limiting the number of FIFOs to around 10 in high-performance designs.
There are also performance issues when using an FPGA as a dual-port memory. In many applications, FPGAs are connected to ASICs, and performance is affected by three main factors: the intrinsic speed of the dual-port memory, the settling time of the ASIC input, and the speed at which the external ASIC can access the dual-port data.
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