
Data Sheet
June 1999
ORCA Series 2 FPGAs
14
Lucent Technologies Inc.
Programmable Logic Cells 
(continued)
Note: The lower address bits are not shown.
Figure 16. Synchronous RAM with Write-Port Enable (WPE)
UPPER
ADDRESS
BITS
ADDRESS
DECODE
LUT1
BANK_EN1
UPPER
ADDRESS
BITS
ADDRESS
DECODE
LUT2
BANK_EN2
WR
DI
WPE
DO
16 x 4 RAM +
4 BUFFERS/PFU
BIDI
DOUT
4
WR
DI
WPE
DO
16 x 4 RAM +
4 BUFFERS/PFU
DIN
WR
CLK
4
BIDI
4
4
5-4640(F)
To increase memory word depth above 16 (e.g., 32 x 
4), two or more PLCs can be used. The address and 
write data inputs for the two or more PLCs are tied 
together (bit by bit), and the data outputs are routed 
through the four 3-statable BIDIs available in each 
PFU. The BIDI outputs are then tied together (bit by 
bit), as seen in Figure 16.
The control signals of the 3-statable BIDIs, called RAM 
bank-enable (BANK_EN1 and BANK_EN2), are cre-
ated from a decode of upper address bits. The RAM 
bank-enable is then used to enable 4 bits of data from 
a PLC onto the read data (DOUT) bus. 
The Series 2 series now has a new AND function avail-
able for each PFU in RAM mode. The inputs to this 
function are the write-enable (WE) signal and the write-
port enable (WPE) signal. The write-enable signal is 
input on A4, while the write-port enable is input on C0 
or CIN. Generally, the WPE input is driven by the same 
RAM bank-enable signal that controls the BIDIs in each 
PFU. 
The selection as to which RAM bank to write data into 
does not require the use of LUTs from other PFUs, as 
in previous ORCA architectures. This reduces the num-
ber of PFUs required for RAMs larger than 16 words in 
depth. 
A special use of this method can be to increase word 
depth to 32 words. Since both the WPE input into the 
RAM and the 3-state input into the BIDI can be 
inverted, a decode of the one upper address bit is not 
required. Instead, the bank-enable signal for both 
banks is tied to the upper address bit, with the WPE 
and 3-state inputs active-high for one bank and active-
low for the other.
To increase the memory’s word size (e.g., 16 x 8), two 
or more PLCs are used again. The address, write-
enable, and write-port enable of the PLCs are tied 
together (bit by bit), and the data is different for each 
PLC. Increasing both the address locations and word 
size is accomplished by using a combination of these 
two techniques.