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FPGA/PCB co-design increases fabrication yields: when integrating FPGAs into PCB design every signal and pin has a measureable effect on production yield.

Article Excerpt
PCB designs with field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are often done more empirically than systematically--the board is designed and then "tweaked" by altering component placement, component orientation, PCB layer stack up, PBC signal layer pairs, trace routing, and even manufacturing materials.

As FPGAs have become a more dominant design component, the concept that the FPGA pinout can be optimized for both internal and external FPGA signal integrity (in PCB design) provides a flexibility not available with competing technologies. Taking advantage of that flexibility throughout the design process can measurably increase PCB yields and increase profit. Incorporating FPGA/PCB co-design and paying special attention to FPGA placement and routing can reduce "tweaking" time by 20-50%, increase fabrication yields, and ultimately increase the end-product's profitability.

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FPGA Devices Dominate New Designs

A decade ago, ASICs were the dominant definable component found in design starts. Today the flexibility, rapid deployment, and lower development costs of FPGAs have resulted in the dramatic increase of their use in new designs.

As FPGAs have matured as circuit elements, pin count has risen significantly. The increase in pin count represents a factorial-increased complexity to the PCB design. This complexity increases with greater numbers of traces, vias and tighter tolerances, plus signal integrity and timing constraint issues. The increased pin count also creates the need for additional layers as well, each adding 10-20% to the manufacturing cost of a completed board.

Typical Design...

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