_CPLD Integrated Circuits Department

The main difference between CPLD  and  FGPA microchips 

Researcher  and author:  Dr. (   Afshin Rashid)




FPGA is an abbreviation of "Field-Programmable Gate Array", which is placed in the category of programmable logic chips. And it must be said that they are one of the best in this field so that almost any digital function can be programmed for them. FPGA architecture allows the chip to have very high logic capacity. FPGAs are usually used in designs that require a lot of gates and their delay is almost impossible to guess. FPGAs are known as fine-grained because FPGAs contain a large number of small logic blocks, in some cases as many as 100,000, all of which come  with "flip-flops" and combinational logic and memory. which in their example are needed for complex programs.

CPLD chips (difference; performance; application)

On the other side, CPLD which stands for "Complex Programmable Logic Device" are designed with "EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory)". And they are more suitable for cases where we need smaller gates. Since the architecture of these chips is simpler, it is easier to predict the delay in them than FPGAs. CPLDs are generally used for programs with simple logic. And the cards contain less blocks that sometimes reach 100 gates.

It should be said that CPLDs are known as coarse grains because they are cheaper and have faster input and output.  FPGAs have cheaper gates, but due to the large number of gates, they end up being more expensive than CPLDs. In the end, working with FPGAs requires the use of special methods because they are "RAM-based".

Some of the most important similarities:

  • Both are programmable logic processors.
  • Both are used for digital design.
  • In both, there is programming in hardware languages ​​(such as VHDL, Verilog).
  • In both, there is a design capability in the schematic environment.
  • Both support the Maxplus library. (Library of logic gates and TTL series digital parts and some other special parts...)

Researcher  and author: Dr.   (   Afshin Rashid)

Specialized doctorate in nano-microelectronics