Novel switch block architecture using non-volatile functional pass-gate for multi-context FPGAs

Abstract

Dynamically-programmable gate arrays (DPGAs) promise lower-cost implementations than conventional FPGAs since they efficiently reuse limited hardware resources in time. One of typical DPGA architectures is a multi-context one. Multi-context FPGAs (MC-FPGAs) have multiple memory bits per configuration bit forming configuration planes for fast switching between contexts. The additional memory planes cause significant overhead in area and power consumption. To overcome the overhead, a fine-grained reconfigurable architecture called reconfigurable context memory (RCM) is presented based on the fact that there are redundancy and regularity in configuration bits between different contexts. A floating-MOS functional pass-gate, where storage and switch functions are merged, is used to construct the RCM area-efficiently.