Lattice Semiconductor Corp. always has had a reputation for driving down the cost of both FPGA and CPLD design, but its two introductions on April 18 deserve special attention.  For the mid-range ECP3 family, Lattice launched a $99 Versa development kit that allows affordable use of an FPGA with DSP slices, configurable Serdes, and support for Gigabit Ethernet interfaces (http://www.latticesemi.com/corporate/newscenter/productnews/2011/r110418announceslowestcos.cfm).  The entry-level MachXO2, meanwhile, gets a new release of the free Diamond tool suite, Version 1.2, that includes support for the Lattice Mico8 open-source microcontroller (http://www.latticesemi.com/corporate/newscenter/productnews/2011/r110418designtoolsprovide.cfm).

Some sticklers for definition might say that the ECP3 Versa development kit is of more relevance for this blog’s readers, since the MachXO and MachXO2 are entry-level programmable devices that are scarcely FPGAs in a strict sense.  But I would put both of these introductions on an equal plane, because the free version of Diamond software can now be used to design application-specific 8-bit microcontrollers.  Even though standard 8-bit MCUs are priced well below a dollar in volume, the arrival of embedded MCUs in the FPGA/CPLD market, with low device prices and essentially free EDA tools, can change the table stakes for microcontroller realms.

Make no mistake, Xilinx and Altera will continue to play in entry-level and mid-range domains, so Lattice will have to struggle, but at least the design-tool announcements of mid-April prove that the company is ready to play hardball with the big kids.  The Versa hardware kit and its associated IP Suite will be priced at $99 each, but this is a limited-time incentive, after which the Versa kit goes up to $299 and the IP Suite to $995. 

During the blue-light special, ECP3 users can get a $99 PCI Express board with dual Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, with device drivers for Windows and Linux, and demo tools that provide eye diagrams for the Serdes devices, and demonstrations for use in DDR3 memory and DSP applications.  The IP Suite includes all the defined cores resident on the Lattice IP Server – the cores can even be evaluated for free, then purchased on an annual node-locked license basis.

Meanwhile, Diamond EDA software users who are sticking with the MachXO and MachXO2 families can download the new release for free, and it now includes Lattice Mico8 for low-end microcontroller applications.  The microcontroller core is quite small, consuming as few as 200 lookup tables in its smallest instantiation.  The Diamond 1.2 release includes Synopsys’s Synplify Pro FPGA synthesis tool and Aldec’s Active-HDL simulator.  Now, if you want a full Diamond subscription license that includes support for ECP3 devices, you have to upgrade to the full version at $895 a year, but it still seems as though Lattice is taking some bold affordability steps on both FPGA and CPLD fronts.