Flex Logix Qualifies Serial I/O IP From CAST And SOC Solutions For EFLX Embedded FPGA

UARTs, SPI and I2C Serial Interface IP Cores now available for use with EFLX

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 6, 2017 -- Flex Logix Technologies, Inc. announced today that it has qualified several Serial I/O IP cores from CAST, Inc. and SOC Solutions, LLC, two major suppliers of a range of IP for FPGA and ASICs, for use in EFLX Embedded FPGA. As the first embedded FPGA supplier to offer qualified serial I/O IP, Flex Logix enables customers to speed time to market with confidence and reduce development costs by eliminating the need to write their serial I/O code from scratch. Details including LUT counts and frequencies for specific processes are available in a Flex Logic Reconfigurable Serial IO application note.

One common use of EFLX Embedded FPGA is as a customizable I/O block that allows serial I/O to be programmable rather than hard-wired in MCUs, IoT, and SoC applications. Today, an IC company either has to do many mask versions — each needing qualification — or it fails to meet the needs of all customers and loses potential business. Each end application has varying serial I/O requirements, and having EFLX embedded FPGA supported with pre-qualified serial I/O IP gives semiconductor companies flexibility in supporting those requirements with confidence.

"Many customers have asked us about professionally designed IP for a range of Serial I/O IP standards such as several types of UARTs, SPI and I²C," said Geoff Tate, chief executive officer at Flex Logix. "We engaged with CAST and SoC solutions beccause they are the best IP suppliers and we have already run their cores through our software to determine LUT counts and frequencies in 40nm. We appreciate the technical support and cooperation of CAST and SoC Solutions, and are pleased to offer our customers two qualified sources of Serial I/O IP."

Flex Logix's customers to date are primarily IC companies and the large systems companies that design their own ICs. In most cases, they have their own RTL IP such as Verilog and VHDL code for implementing key functions. But in some cases, they are interested in acquiring RTL IP.

The I²C and SPI bus controlers and UART cores are part of the broad line of digital IP cores and subsystems offered by CAST, which includes processors, video and data compression, peripherals, interfaces, and more. See www.cast-inc.com for technical and sales information. Several of these cores are sourced SoC Solutions; see www.socsolutions.com.

About the EFLX Embedded FPGA IP Cores

EFLX is a digital architecture for embedded FPGAs, in a wide range of sizes, for integration into SoCs, ASICs and MCUs. The EFLX arrays are programmed using VHDL or Verilog, and the EFLX compiler takes the output of a synthesis tool such as Synopsys Synplify and does packing, placement, routing, timing and bitstream generation. The bitstream, when loaded into the array, programs it to execute the desired RTL.

EFLX embedded FPGAs are available now in 40nm, 28nm and 16nm process nodes and Flex Logix is responding to customer requests for other process nodes. Over time, EFLX will be available on all of the popular process nodes from 180nm to 7nm.

About Flex Logix

Flex Logix, founded in March 2014, provides solutions for reconfigurable RTL in chip and system designs using embedded FPGA IP cores and software. The company's technology platform delivers significant customer benefits by dramatically reducing design and manufacturing risks, accelerating technology roadmaps, and bringing greater flexibility to customers' hardware. Flex Logix recently secured $8M million of venture backed capital. It is headquartered in Mountain View, California and has sales rep offices in China, Europe, Japan, Israel, Taiwan and Texas. More information can be obtained at http://www.flex-logix.com or follow on Twitter at @efpga.