As discussed in Parts 1 through 4 of this article series, the earliest PLDs evolved along easily traced genetic lines that started with Harris Semiconductor’s programmable diode arrays from the 1960s and progressed through bipolar PROMs, the Signetics 82S100 FPLA, MMI’s PALs, and finally the transcendent CMOS replications of PAL devices created by Altera and Lattice Semiconductor. By contrast, FPGAs (called “Logic Cell Arrays” in the first press release) came from a similar concept, field-programmable logic, but from an entirely different direction.

While working at microprocessor pioneer Zilog … Read More → "How the FPGA Came To Be, Part 5"

By the end of the 1970s, PALs had become the PLD (programmable logic device) of choice for system designers. They were an immensely successful product for Monolithic Memories Inc (MMI). They were also a great target for every other IC maker that wanted to enter the PLD arena. Several did just that. 

Bob Hartmann co-founded Source III in 1980. The consultancy specialized in the design of gate arrays, because the early 1980s was definitely a golden time for gate-array development. The major gate-array vendors of … Read More → "How the FPGA came to be, Part 4"

Part 2 of this article series discussed the development of the first successful programmable logic device, the Signetics 82S100 FPLA (field programmable logic array). A Signetics salesperson tried to convince John Birkner, a minicomputer designer at Computer Automation in Irvine, California, to use the 82S100 in his designs, but Birkner saw that the device was too costly, too big, and too slow. He thought he should go to Silicon Valley to set the IC vendors straight.

John Birkner soon got the chance to “go up there and tell them … Read More → "How the FPGA Came To Be, Part 3"

Part 1 of this article series discussed the earliest programmable ICs that could be used to implement logic circuits. Not quite programmable logic, Harris Semiconductor’s programmable diode arrays and PROMs laid the groundwork for PLDs (programmable logic devices) to come.

This is where we return to Napoleone Cavlan, Ronald Cline, and the story of how Signetics developed the first commercially successful FPLA (field programmable logic array). Cline and Cavlan both had memory IC design experience and both joined Signetics at just the right time to participate in the … Read More → "How the FPGA came to be, Part 2"

I started designing engineering workstations in 1981 for Cadnetix in Boulder, Colorado. The top computer-aided engineering (CAE) vendors of the day – Daisy Systems, Mentor Graphics, and Valid Logic (I called them the DMV) – were all founded in 1981, like Cadnetix, and each developed their own proprietary CAE software suite. The five proprietary Cadnetix workstations that I helped to design, introduced from 1982 to 1985, were all based on versions of Motorola Semiconductor’s 68000 microprocessor family (the 68000, 68010, and 68020) running a proprietary, stripped-down version of Unix (which I privately called Eunuch as an inside joke).

Daisy’ … Read More → "How the FPGA Came to Be, Part 1"