Synthesizable FPGA fabrics targetable by the Verilog-to-Routing (VTR) CAD flow

Abstract

We consider implementing FPGAs using a standard cell design methodology, and present a framework for the automated generation of synthesizable FPGA fabrics. The open-source Verilog-to-Routing (VTR) FPGA architecture evaluation framework [1] is extended to generate synthesizable Verilog for its in-memory FPGA architectural device model. The Verilog can be synthesized into standard cells, placed and routed using an ASIC design flow. A second extension to VTR generates a configuration bitstream for the FPGA; that is, the bitstream configures the FPGA to realize a user-provided placed and routed design. The proposed framework and methodology opens the door to silicon implementation of a wide range of VTR-modelled FPGA fabrics. In an experimental study, area and timing-optimized FPGA implementations in 65nm TSMC standard cells are compared with a 65nm Altera commercial FPGA.