Spartan3E data sheets

Apr 03, 2006 1 Replies

Rate this thread:

The newest version (3.0) of the Spartan3E complete data sheet came out a week or two ago. I just wanted to give my Kudos to the Xilinx folks for adding the DESIGN NOTE boxes complete with bright yellow attention symbol to address the design issues that wouldn't be apparent to the casual data sheet reader.

I've noted before that designers would appreciate full attention to detail in the data sheet as opposed to relying on the answer records or help line calls. The notes don't appear to detract from the technical "confidence" in the devices at all, at least for this engineer. It's fantastic to see the full disclosure.

Once the device tables specify "logic cells" as opposed to "equivalent logic cells" I won't have anything to complain about!

- John_H

I second the kudos. I've seen up close the process of creating datasheets and humongous hardware and software reference manuals for a couple of large ASICs projects I've worked on. I've also designed the reference design/development kit boards that were sold to customers. The process was painful, and a real eye-opener for me. It is extremely difficult to do this stuff well, especially when you're fabless and work with a foundry, which means the detailed characteristics for I/O, PLLs, and other major blocks come from the foundry and/or from IP vendors. At the same time, being through this taught me to not assume that data sheets and app notes are always correct. Never forget that human beings write these things, and not always the super-savvy human beings that some may assume.

Rob

Spartan3E data sheets

Join the Discussion

Didn't find your answer?