Manufacturers
ACTEL
TAMS Semiconductor Limited is a distributor of ACTEL all series ICs.
Actel Corporation (formerly NASDAQ:ACTL) (now Microsemi) is a manufacturer of nonvolatile, low-power field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),[4] mixed-signal FPGAs,[5] and programmable logic solutions.[6][7][8] It is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with offices worldwide.
Contents
- 1 History and competition
- 2 Technologies
- 3 Controversy
- 4 References
- 5 External links
History and competition
Actel became a publicly traded company in 1985 and became known for its high-reliability and antifuse-based FPGAs, dominating the military and aerospace markets.[9]
In 2000, Actel acquired GateField which expanded Actel's antifuse FPGA offering to include flash-based FPGAs. In 2004, Actel announced it had shipped the one-millionth unit of its flash-based ProASICPLUS FPGA.[10]
In 2005, Actel introduced a new technology known as Fusion to bring FPGA programmability to mixed-signal solutions. Fusion was the first technology to integrate mixed-signal analog capabilities with flash memory and FPGA fabric in a monolithic device.[11]
In 2006, to address the tight power budgets of the portable market, Actel introduced the IGLOO FPGA. The IGLOO family of FPGAs was based on Actel's nonvolatile flash technology and the ProASIC 3 FPGA architecture.[12] Two new IGLOO derivatives were added in 2008: IGLOO PLUS FPGAs with enhanced I/O capabilities, and IGLOO nano FPGAs, the industry's lowest power solution at 2 µW. A nano version of ProASIC3 also became available in 2008.
In 2010, Actel introduced the SmartFusion line of FPGAs. SmartFusion includes both analog components and a programmable flash-based logic fabric within the same chip. SmartFusion was the first FPGA product to additionally include a hard ARM processor core.[13]
Altera and Xilinx are the other key players in the market, however their main focus is on SRAM FPGAs. Lattice Semiconductor is another competitor.[14][15]
In November 2010, Actel Corporation was acquired by Microsemi Corporation.[16][17][18]
Technologies
Actel's portfolio of FPGAs is based on two types of technologies: antifuse-based FPGAs (Axcelerator, SX-A, eX, and MX families) and flash-based FPGAs (Fusion, IGLOO, and ProASIC3 families).
Actel's antifuse FPGAs have been known for their nonvolatility, live at power-up operation[citation needed], single-chip form factor[clarification needed][citation needed], and security[citation needed]. Actel's flash-based FPGA families include these same characteristics[citation needed] and are also reprogrammable and low power.[citation needed]
Actel also develops system-critical FPGAs (RTAX and ProASIC3 families), including extended temperature automotive, military, and aerospace FPGAs, plus a wide variety of space-class radiation-tolerant devices. These flash and antifuse FPGAs have high levels of reliability[citation needed] and firm-error immunity[clarification needed][citation needed].
Controversy
In March 2012, researchers from Cambridge University discovered that a backdoor exists in the JTAG interface of the ProASIC3 family of low-powered FPGAs. .[19] They defended their theory at a cryptography workshop held in Belgium in September 2012.[20]
