Microchip PolarFire® Core FPGAs– PTM | DigiKey

Welcome to this Product Training Module for Microchip PolarFire® Core FPGAs and SoC FPGAs. The nonvolatile FPGA and SoC FPGA provide a cost- and power-optimized option in the PolarFire platform for embedded designs that require reliability, robust security, and deterministic operation.

PolarFire Core devices are offered as 2 variants.

The PolarFire® Core FPGA provides just the core features including the FPGA fabric, GPIOs, high-speed IOs, and key security functions. The FPGA fabric scales from 48 thousand to 481 thousand logic elements and 150 to 1480 math blocks, with SEU immune configuration cells for enhanced reliability. The IOs support a DDR4 memory interface, SGMII and 1.6 gigabit per second LVDS.

The PolarFire® Core SoC FPGA features a slightly reduced logic element range but adds a quad-core, 64-bit RISC-V processor with a separate monitor core, up to 2 megabytes of memory, a native DDR4 interface, plus gigabit ethernet, CAN, USB, and other connectivity options. This enables applications with Linux and deterministic real-time systems on the same chip.

PolarFire Core FPGAs and SoC FPGAs are built on a 28 nanometer non-volatile process. Compared to SRAM-based FPGAs, PolarFire Core reduces power consumption by up to 50 percent. This reduction can eliminate complex thermal management such as heatsinks and fans, and lower system-level costs through reduced thermal requirements, helping engineers meet aggressive design constraints.

The non-volatile platform also eliminates configuration volatility and provides instant-on capability without external boot devices, enabling immediate recovery from power interruptions.

While PolarFire Core lacks a cryptographic processor of other PolarFire devices, it does include bitstream encryption, secure key provisioning, advanced tamper detection and other features to protect against physical and side-channel attacks.

PolarFire Core is a streamlined PolarFire offering intended to optimize performance-per-watt and cost-per-function. By strategically removing features such as the SerDes and PCI Express interfaces, the hardened crypto processor, and the military-grade temperature support, PolarFire Core offers ultra-low static and dynamic power consumption, significant cost savings, and reduced design complexity in applications that don’t demand those features. However, PolarFire Core is pin-to-pin compatible with other PolarFire FPGA devices, providing platform flexibility.

For evaluation and prototyping, PolarFire Core FPGAs and SoC FPGAs are compatible with existing PolarFire development boards, software tools including the Libero SoC Design Suite, and a wide range of RISC-V tools and platforms within Microchip’s Mi-V ecosystem. This provides users a quick way to validate FPGA and SoC-based embedded workloads.

Typical applications include industrial automation, motor control, automotive control systems, ADAS, medical imaging and diagnostics, secure communications and defense systems, and other edge computing and real-time embedded controls.