Configurable IC's with dual carry chains

• US 8,350,591 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2010
• Issued: 01/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Altera Corporation (Intel Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Tabula Incorporated
• Inventors: Teig, Steven, Redgrave, Jason
• Primary Examiner(s): Ismail, Shawki
• Assistant Examiner(s): WHITE, DYLAN C
• Application Number:
  US12/949,775
• Publication Number:
  US 20110202586A1
• Time in Patent Office: 782 Days
• Field of Search: 326 37- 41, 326/47, 708/130, 708/490, 708/710, 708/230, 708/625
• US Class Current: 326/41
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/32145 the bodies being stacked
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/32225 the item being non-metallic, e.g. insulating substrate with or without metallisation
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/48091 Arched
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/48227 connecting the wire to a bond pad of the item
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/73265 Layer and wire connectors
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2225/0651 Wire or wire-like electrical connections from device to substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 24/73 Means for bonding being of different types provided for in two or more of groups H01L24/10, H01L24/18, H01L24/26, H01L24/34, H01L24/42, H01L24/50, H01L24/63, H01L24/71
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 25/0657 Stacked arrangements of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 25/18 the devices being of types provided for in two or more different subgroups of the same main group of groups H01L27/00 - H01L33/00, or in a single subclass of H10K, H10N
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00012 Relevant to the scope of the group, the symbol of which is combined with the symbol of this group
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00014 the subject-matter covered by the group, the symbol of which is combined with the symbol of this group, being disclosed without further technical details
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01019 Potassium [K]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/14 Integrated circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/15311 being a ball array, e.g. BGA
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/16152 Cap comprising a cavity for hosting the device, e.g. U-shaped cap
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 19/17736 Structural details of routing resources

Abstract

A configurable integrated circuit (“IC”) that includes several configurable tiles, each of which has a set of configurable logic circuits and a set of configurable routing circuits for routing signals between configurable logic circuits. The configurable IC provides a set of associated configurable logic circuits for performing a particular portion of a larger arithmetic operation. The configurable IC provides a carry circuit for generating a carry out signal for the particular portion of the larger arithmetic operation. A configurable storage element is for configurably storing the carry out signal and for providing the stored carry out signal to the carry circuit for performing a subsequent portion of the larger arithmetic operation. The configurable IC provides a configurable interconnect/storage element for configurably routing a carry signal from a first carry chain to a second carry chain and for storing the routed carry signal.

Claims

1. An integrated circuit (“

IC”

) comprising;

a set of associated configurable logic circuits for performing a particular portion of a larger arithmetic operation;

a carry circuit for generating a carry out signal for the particular portion of the larger arithmetic operation performed by the set of associated configurable logic circuits; and

a configurable storage element for configurably storing the carry out signal and for providing the stored carry out signal to the carry circuit for performing a subsequent portion of the larger arithmetic operation.

2. The IC of claim 1, wherein the carry circuit comprises a first carry chain and a second carry chain, the first carry chain generating a first carry signal in a particular order, the second carry chain generating a second carry signal in a reverse order to the first carry chain.

3. The IC of claim 2, wherein the first and second carry chains share a same set of inputs from the set of associated configurable logic circuits, wherein the same set of inputs comprises propagate and generate signals.

4. The IC of claim 1, wherein the set of associated configurable logic circuits performs (i) the particular portion of the larger arithmetic operation in a particular order and (ii) the subsequent portion of the larger arithmetic operation in a reverse order to the particular order.

5. The IC of claim 1, wherein the set of associated configurable logic circuits is configured to perform the particular portion of the larger arithmetic operation in a first clock cycle and reconfigured to perform the subsequent portion of the larger arithmetic operation in a second clock cycle.

6. The IC of claim 1, wherein the configurable storage element is part of a configurable interconnect/storage element for configurably storing and routing signals to the carry circuit.

7. An electronic device comprising:

an integrated circuit (“

IC”

) comprising;

a set of associated configurable logic circuits for performing a particular portion of a larger arithmetic operation;

a carry circuit for generating a carry out signal for the particular portion of the larger arithmetic operation performed by the set of associated configurable logic circuits;

a configurable storage element for configurably storing the carry out signal and for providing the stored carry out signal to the carry circuit for performing a subsequent portion of the larger arithmetic operation; and

a memory device for providing data to the IC.

8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the carry circuit comprises a first carry chain and a second carry chain, the first carry chain generating a first carry signal in a particular order, the second carry chain generating a second carry signal in a reverse order to the first carry chain.

9. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the first and second carry chains share a same set of inputs from the set of associated configurable logic circuits, wherein the same set of inputs comprises propagate and generate signals.

10. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the set of associated configurable logic circuits performs (i) the particular portion of the larger arithmetic operation in a particular order and (ii) the subsequent portion of the larger arithmetic operation in a reverse order to the particular order.

11. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the set of associated configurable logic circuits is configured to perform the particular portion of the larger arithmetic operation in a first clock cycle and reconfigured to perform the subsequent portion of the larger arithmetic operation in a second clock cycle.

12. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the configurable storage element is part of a configurable interconnect/storage element for configurably storing and routing signals to the carry circuit.

13. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the data provided by the memory device comprises configuration data for configuring the set of associated configurable logic circuits.

14. An integrated circuit (“

IC”

) comprising;

a plurality of configurable logic circuits, wherein the plurality of configurable logic circuits include a plurality of sets of associated configurable logic circuits, wherein each set of associated configurable logic circuits comprises;

a first carry chain; and

a configurable interconnect/storage element for configurably routing a carry signal from the first carry chain to a second carry chain and for storing the routed carry signal.

15. The IC of claim 14, wherein the set of associated configurable logic circuits further comprises the second carry chain.

16. The IC of claim 15, wherein the first carry chain generates a first carry signal through the set of associated configurable logic circuits in a particular order and the second carry chain generates a second carry signal through the set of associated configurable logic circuits in a reverse order to the particular order.

17. The IC of claim 16, wherein the first and second carry chains share a same set of inputs, wherein the same set of inputs comprises propagate and generate signals from configurable logic circuits in the set of associated configurable logic circuits.

18. The IC of claim 14, wherein the second carry chain uses the routed carry signal from the configurable interconnect/storage element to continue a particular arithmetic operation from the first carry chain.

19. The IC of claim 18, wherein the first carry chain performs a first portion of the particular arithmetic operation in a first clock cycle, and the second carry chain performs a second portion of the particular arithmetic operation in a second clock cycle.

20. The IC of claim 19, wherein the set of associated configurable logic circuits performs (i) the first portion of the particular arithmetic operation in a particular order and (ii) the second portion of the particular arithmetic operation in a reverse order to the particular order.

21. The IC of claim 19, wherein the set of associated configurable logic circuits is reconfigured to perform the second portion of the particular arithmetic operation.

22. The IC of claim 14, wherein the configurable interconnect/storage element comprises a latch.