Design Tools

Programmable logic design has entered an era in which device densities are measured in the millions of gates, and system performance is measured in hundreds of megahertz. Given these system complexities, the critical success factor in the creation of a design is your productivity.

Xilinx offers complete electronic design tools that enable the implementation of designs in Xilinx PLDs. These development solutions combine powerful technology with a flexible, easy-to-use graphical interface to help you achieve the best possible designs within your project schedule – regardless of your experience level.

The “Design Tools Center” web pages cover both the Xilinx ISE tools suite as well as design tools from our software partners. It is arranged by the following topics:

DESIGN ENTRY

ISE software greatly improves your time to market and productivity by accelerating the design entry process.

ISE tools support today’s most popular methods for design capture, including HDL and schematic entry, integration of IP cores, and robust support for reuse of your own IP.

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This rich mixture of design entry capabilities provides the easiest-to-use design environment available today for all logic design.

SYNTHESIS

ISE advanced HDL synthesis engines produce optimized results for PLD synthesis, one of the most essential steps in your design methodology. It takes your conceptual HDL design definition and generates a logical or physical representation for the targeted silicon device.

A state-of-the-art synthesis engine is required to produce highly optimized results with a fast compile and turnaround time.

To meet this requirement, the synthesis engine must be tightly integrated with the physical implementation tool and proactively meet design timing requirements by driving the placement in the physical device.

In addition, cross probing between the physical design report and the HDL design code further enhances the turnaround time.

Xilinx ISE software provides seamless integration with leading synthesis engines from Mentor Graphics, Exemplar, Synopsys, and Synplicity.

The ISE product also includes Xilinx proprietary synthesis technology, or XST. With just the push of a button, you can start any leading synthesis engine within ISE. You can even use multiple synthesis engines to obtain the most optimized result of your programmable logic design.

IMPLEMENTATION AND CONFIGURATION

Programmable logic design implementation assigns the logic created during design entry and synthesis into specific physical resources.

The term "place and route" has historically been used to describe the implementation process for FPGA devices, while "fitting" has been used for CPLDs.

Implementation is followed by device configuration, where a bitstream is generated from the physical place and route information and downloaded into the target PLD.

To ensure that you get your product to market quickly, Xilinx ISE software provides several key technologies required for design implementation, including:

•Ultra-fast runtimes enable multiple "turns" per day

•ProActive Timing Closure drives high-performance results

•Timing-driven place and route combined with push-button ease.

BOARD-LEVEL INTEGRATION

ISE software provides intensive support to help you ensure your programmable logic design works within the context of the entire system.

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XILINX SOLUTIONS

Xilinx understands critical issues such as complex board layout, signal integrity, high-speed bus interface, high-performance I/O bandwidth, and electromagnetic interference for system-level designers.

To ease the these challenges, ISE software provides support to all Xilinx leading FPGA technologies:

•XCITE

•Digital clock management for system timing

•EMI control management for electromagnetic interference

•Complete pin configurations

•Packaging information for board-level integration

•ISE board-level verification

•IBIS models

•Stamp models

•LMG models

•ChipScope™ ILA.

VERIFICATION TECHNOLOGIES

ISE software includes verification support at all stages of your design, from design entry to board-level integration.

Static Verification

Static verification tools allow you to verify your design without requiring the creation of lengthy test vectors. Verification can be exhaustive or selective, allowing you to rapidly detect implementation errors in advance.

Static verification tools also deliver extensive diagnosis and debug capabilities. The following static verification tools are supported:

•Constraints Editor

•Delay Calculator

•Trace

•Timing Analyzer

•Prime Time

•XPower

•Formality

•Conformal™ LEC

•DRC

•Chip Viewer.

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Dynamic Verification

You can save time by using dynamic verification to intercept logical or HDL-based errors early in the design cycle. By exposing a design to realistic and extensive stimuli, you can find many functional problems at this stage.

The following dynamic verification tools are supported:

•HDL Bencher™

•ModelSim XE

•StateBench

•HDL Simulation Libraries.

Debug Verification

Debug verification tools speed up the process of viewing, identifying, and correcting design problems at different stages of the design cycle.

Debug verification includes the ability to view, “live,” all internal signals and nodes within an FPGA. These tools can also assist in HDL-based designs by checking coding style for optimum performance.

The following debug verification tools are supported:

•LEDA

•FPGA Editor Probe

•ChipScope ILA

•ChipScope Pro.

Board-Level Verification

Using board-level verification tools ensures that your design performs as intended once integrated with the rest of the system.

The Xilinx ISE environment supports the following board-level verification tools:

•IBIS Models

•Tau

•BLAST

•Stamp Models

•Impact.

ADVANCED DESIGN TECHNIQUES

As your FPGA requirements grow, your design problems can change. High-density design environments mean multiple teams working through distributed nodes on the same project, across the aisle or in different parts of the world.

ISE software’s advanced design options are targeted at making high-den- sity designs as easy to realize as the smallest glue logic.

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