
Re vi s i on 18
1-1
1 – General Description
Axcelerator devices offer high performance at densities of up to two million equivalent system gates.
Based upon the Microsemi AX architecture, Axcelerator has several system-level features such as
embedded SRAM (with complete FIFO control logic), PLLs, segmentable clocks, chip-wide highway
routing, and carry logic.
Device Architecture
AX architecture, derived from the highly-successful SX-A sea-of-modules architecture, has been
designed for high performance and total logic module utilization (
Figure 1-1). Unlike in traditional FPGAs,
the entire floor of the Axcelerator device is covered with a grid of logic modules, with virtually no chip
area lost to interconnect elements or routing.
Programmable Interconnect Element
The Axcelerator family uses a patented metal-to-metal antifuse programmable interconnect element that
channels of routing and interconnect resources between logic modules (as implemented on traditional
FPGAs) and enables the efficient sea-of-modules architecture. The antifuses are normally open circuit
and, when programmed, form a permanent, passive, low-impedance connection, leading to the fastest
signal propagation in the industry. In addition, the extremely small size of these interconnect elements
gives the Axcelerator family abundant routing resources.
The very nature of Microsemi's nonvolatile antifuse technology provides excellent protection against
design pirating and cloning (FuseLock technology). Typical cloning attempts are impossible (even if the
security fuse is left unprogrammed) as no bitstream or programming file is ever downloaded or stored in
the device. Reverse engineering is virtually impossible due to the difficulty of trying to distinguish
between programmed and unprogrammed antifuses and also due to the programming methodology of
Figure 1-1
Sea-of-Modules Comparison
Switch
Matrix
Routing
Logic Block
Logic
Modules
Sea-of-Modules
Architecture
Traditional FPGA
Architecture