November 2010
Updated Lattice Diamond FPGA Design Software Supports New MachXO2 PLDVersion 1.1 Provides Expanded Support, Enhanced Performance and Productivity for Low Power, Cost Sensitive Applications; Delivers an Average Fmax Improvement of 20% on Larger Designs.
Version 1.1 of the Lattice Diamond FPGA design software, the flagship design environment for Lattice FPGA products, is now available and ready for download. This important update includes support for the new MachXO2 PLD family, completion of support for the LatticeECP3 FPGA family, and the initial release of Lattice’s own synthesis engine with support for the MachXO and MachXO2 product families.
Lattice Diamond 1.1 software includes support for the entire MachXO2 PLD family. The Lattice Diamond design environment enables users to easily explore design alternatives as they target cost-sensitive, low-power, high-volume applications – the type of application ideally suited for the MachXO2 family.
For MachXO2 and MachXO device families the new Lattice Synthesis Engine (LSE) is available for exploring how to achieve the best results. LSE is the result of several years of development initially focused on Lattice's internal FPGA architecture development. LSE supports both Verilog and VHDL languages and uses SDC format for constraints. It is integrated into the Lattice Diamond design software as a synthesis tool choice when a supported device family is selected.
This release supports the final production power, timing and SSO analysis values for the entire LatticeECP3 FPGA family, including the recently released ECP3-17EA device. Notably, ongoing improvements to the synthesis, MAP and PAR implementation engines have resulted in an average Fmax improvement of 20% on larger designs, such as those targeted to the ECP3-150EA device. Enhancements to the targeting of behavioral HDL to the sysDSP block’s cascading feature have resulted in improved performance, specifically a 30% performance improvement for the Lattice FIR Filter IP Core.
Lattice Diamond 1.0 incorporated an intuitive, modern GUI that enabled several new concepts that help users quickly explore design alternatives to meet their cost, power and performance goals. Diamond 1.1 further builds on this approach, with several design flow enhancements that include even faster recalculation of static timing analysis in the Timing Analysis View.
All Lattice Diamond free software users now have the ability to simulate mixed language designs and access more simulator capacity to handle even larger designs. Previously this capability was available only to users that purchased the Lattice Diamond subscription license.
Synopsys’ Synplify Pro advanced FPGA synthesis is included for all operating systems supported, and the Aldec Active-HDL Lattice Edition II simulator is included for Windows.
In addition to the tool support for Lattice devices provided by the OEM versions of Synplify Pro and Active-HDL, Lattice devices are also supported by the full versions of Synopsys Synplify Pro and Aldec Active-HDL. Mentor Graphics ModelSim SE and Precision RTL synthesis also support Lattice devices.
Lattice Diamond software is available now for download from the Lattice web site for both Windows and Linux. Once downloaded and installed, it can be used with either the Lattice Diamond free license or the Lattice Diamond subscription license. The Lattice Diamond free license can be immediately generated upon request from the Lattice web site and provides no-cost access to many popular Lattice devices such as the MachXO2 and MachXO PLD families, the LatticeXP2 FPGA family and the LatticeECP2 FPGA family. The Lattice Diamond free license enables Synopsys Synplify Pro for Lattice synthesis and now, with the Lattice Diamond 1.1 release, the Aldec Lattice Edition II mixed language simulator, with increased capacity and performance previously available only with the Lattice Diamond subscription license.
Purchase of the Lattice Diamond subscription license adds support for all Lattice FPGAs, including the latest LatticeECP3 devices. It enables Synopsys Synplify Pro for Lattice synthesis and the Aldec Lattice Edition II mixed language simulator. The Lattice Diamond subscription license enables both the new Lattice Diamond software and existing ispLEVER software from a single license.
© Lattice Semiconductor Corporation 2012
