FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
 
XILINX ANNOUNCES MOST ADVANCED CHIP SCALE PACKAGING
 
New technology for FPGAs and CPLDs reduces board space, increases I/Os
 

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 18, 1999—Continuing its leadership position in packaging technology, Xilinx, Inc., (NASDAQ:XLNX), today announced new and smaller packages with higher pin counts for the company's mainstream programmable logic devices. This new technology dramatically reduces board space and increases I/O counts for customers. 

Xilinx announced new 144-ball and 280-ball, 0.8-millimeter pitch chip scale packages for the company's SpartanXL FPGA and XC9500 CPLD families. In addition, new 1.0-millimeter FinePitch packages with ball grid arrays ranging from 256 to 680 balls are available for Virtex FPGAs, as is a 144-ball chip scale package for the two smallest Virtex devices. Pitch refers to the center-to-center distance between adjacent solder balls. 

"Today Xilinx provides more I/Os in less space than any competitor in the industry," said Sandeep Vij, vice president of marketing and general manager of the High Volume FPGA Business Unit at Xilinx. "We also are the first programmable logic company to be able to offer 100,000 system gates in a compact chip scale package, a remarkable achievement in itself." 

Chip Scale Packaging Leadership 

Last year, Xilinx was the first programmable logic supplier to offer a 0.8-mm pitch, 48-ball package for the XC9536 CPLD, providing the smallest form factor package in the industry. The proven chip scale packaging (CSP) technology now is available for all members of the XC9500 CPLD and SpartanXL FPGA families. The CSP 144–ball package is also available for the Virtex XCV50 and XCV100 devices, which offer 50,000 and 100,000 system gates, respectively. The chip scale packages are designated as the CS48, CS144 and CS280. 

Chip scale packages are ideal for applications requiring low power and small form factors. The packages are targeted at high-volume, cost-sensitive designs such as digital modems, DVDs and camcorders. CSP packaging for Xilinx CPLDs and FPGAs offers higher I/O density in less board space than 1.0 millimeter pitch offerings available from competing programmable logic devices. Xilinx is the first programmable logic supplier to offer the CSP package for an FPGA that meets the JEDEC Level 3 moisture sensitivity level requirements. This level of reliability enables customers to reduce standard manufacturing cycle times and further minimize overall system cost. 

FinePitch Packaging for Virtex FPGAs 

The new FinePitch ball grid arrays for the Virtex FPGAs feature a 1-millimeter pitch versus the 1.5- and 1.27-millimeter pitches of the conventional BGAs and are gaining wide market acceptance. The Virtex series is the first Xilinx FPGA family to fully support these advanced FinePitch BGA packages. The FinePitch BGAs are available in 256-, 456-, 676-, and 680-ball arrays, require less than half the board space of the previous generation of BGAs, and offer up to 512 user I/Os. The Virtex series provides footprint compatibility within the FinePitch BGA packages of different density devices. The new FinePitch packages are designated the FG256, FG456, FG676, and FG680. FinePitch BGA packages are available for all Virtex devices offering from 100,000 to one million system gates. 

In addition, Xilinx offers a new dimension of flexibility by supplying vertical pin-out compatibility between the FG456 and FG676 packages. This provides system designers the flexibility to layout one printed circuit board for different FinePitch BGA packages, significantly reducing design costs and cycle time. 
 

 Xilinx BGA Packages by Device Family
 
  0.8 mm Chip Scale 1.0mm FinePitch 
 
Leads/Ball CS48 CS144 CS280   FG256 FG456 FG676 FG680
Virtex X X X X X
SpartanXL X X
XC9500XV X X X
XC9500XL X X X
XC9500 X
Xilinx is the leading innovator of complete programmable logic solutions, including advanced integrated circuits, software design tools, predefined system functions delivered as cores, and unparalleled field engineering support. Founded in 1984 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Xilinx invented the field programmable gate array (FPGA) and commands more than half of the world market for these devices today. Xilinx solutions enable customers to reduce significantly the time required to develop products for the computer, peripheral, telecommunications, networking, industrial control, instrumentation, high-reliability/military, and consumer markets. For more information, visit the Xilinx web site at www.xilinx.com
 
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Xilinx is a registered trademark, and all XC-prefix product designations, Spartan and Virtex are trademarks of Xilinx, Inc. Other brands or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. #9928 
 
Editorial Contact:
Ann Duft
Xilinx, Inc.
(408) 879-4726
publicrelations@xilinx.com
Xilinx Product Marketing contacts:
Jay Aggarwal David Chiang Peggy Abusaidi
Spartan/XL XC9500 Virtex
Xilinx, Inc. Xilinx, Inc. Xilinx, Inc.
(408) 879-5312 (408) 879-4651 (408) 879-5137
jay.aggarwal@xilinx.com david.chiang@xilinx.com peggy.abusaidi@xilinx.com