These applications include digital displays, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), rear-seat entertainment and satellite navigation systems.
"By achieving production qualification across the Spartan-3A within five months since introduction is a testament to the stability and efficiency of our proven 90 nm process technology - the optimum node for high-volume FPGAs [field programmable gate arrays]," said Christophe Chene, Xilinx senior director of marketing and applications for the general products division.
"Having a well-established 90 nm process and proven tight process controls has resulted in an excellent combination of low power, high performance and low cost for high-volume applications," Chene said.
Xilinx said it also achieved substantial power reduction in its Spartan-3 generation FPGAs through higher yields and fine-tuning of its 90 nm process technology.
Quiescent current, also known as static current, was reduced by up to 40% in Spartan-3 FPGAs and up to 57% in Spartan-3E FPGAs. Individual power rail requirements were reduced by up to 90%.
According to Xilinx, every reduction in quiescent current reduces operating current by the same amount. Reduced current can provide for lower-cost power supplies and less heat in the system.
