Flex Logix™ Technologies, Inc., the leading supplier of embedded FPGA (eFPGA) IP and software, announced today that three interconnect patents have been issued to Cheng Wang, co-founder of Flex Logix. These patents highlight the breakthrough interconnect technology that enables Flex Logix to design eFPGA in a new process node in ~six months and achieve high densities similar to FPGA chips. Cheng’s Interconnect technology also allows eFPGA to be GDS-compatible across incremental process variations and across almost all metal stacks, enabling Flex Logix to use the same silicon-proven GDS to deliver any size eFPGA array a customer wants.
The fabric in traditional FPGA chips is 70-80% programmable interconnect and only 20-30% of the area is programmable logic. Cheng developed a new interconnect that cuts area almost in half while also significantly reducing the layers of metal required and increasing utilization.
“Traditional interconnect technology used by our competition is not capable of achieving the density, portability and scalability that our unique interconnect technology can deliver,” said Geoff Tate, CEO and co-founder of Flex Logix. “Cheng’s innovative approach combined with other innovations by the Flex Logix team is what enables Flex Logix to deliver breakthrough eFPGA solutions with the best combination of features and risk-reduction for customers.”US Patent 9,817,933 was issued to Cheng Wang and Dejan Markovic and was assigned to UCLA, with Flex Logix as the exclusive worldwide licensee. This patent covers FPGA interconnect inventions made while at UCLA by Wang and Markovic, before starting Flex Logix. This interconnect was described in the 2014 ISSCC paper by Wang and Markovic that was awarded the conference’s prestigious Outstanding Paper Award.
US Patents 9,503,092 and 9,793,898 were issued to Cheng Wang and are assigned to Flex Logix. These patents cover critical improvements to FPGA interconnect networks which were made at Flex Logix during development of Flex Logix’s EFLXÒ eFPGA. These patents bring the total number of patents issued to Flex Logix to seven, with more in the application process.
About Flex Logix
Flex Logix, founded in March 2014, provides solutions for reconfigurable RTL in chip and system designs using embedded FPGA IP cores and software. The company’s technology platform delivers significant customer benefits by dramatically reducing design and manufacturing risks, accelerating technology roadmaps, and bringing greater flexibility to customers’ hardware. Flex Logix has secured approximately $13 million of venture backed capital, is headquartered in Mountain View, California and has sales rep offices n China, Europe, Israel, Japan, Taiwan and Texas. More information can be obtained at http://www.flex-logix.com or follow on Twitter at @efpga.