Pin Planning

Methodology Guide

UG792 (v14.5) April 10, 2013

This document applies to the following software versions: ISE Design Suite 14.5 through 14.7
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Revision History
The following table shows the revision history for this document.

Date Version Revision

4/10/2013 14.5 Minor updates.
4/24/2012 14.1 Added following to Step 1. Select Device: “For designs using Stacked Silicon Interconnect (SSI)
technology, see the Large FPGA Methodology Guide (UG782) cited in Appendix A, Additional
Resources.”

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Table of Contents

Revision History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Pin Planning Methodology

I/O Pin Planning Methodology Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Step 1. Select Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Step 2. Select Configuration Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Step 3. Select Gigabit Transceivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Step 4. Define Memory Interfaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Step 5. Connectivity IP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Step 6. I/O Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Step 7. I/O Standards, Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Step 8. Clock Pins and Topology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Step 9. Place and Route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Step 10. Noise Analysis (SSN and SSO) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Step 11. Board Level Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Appendix A: Additional Resources

Xilinx Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Hardware Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
ISE Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
PlanAhead Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

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Pin Planning Methodology
The Pin Planning Methodology Guide recommends an Input/Output (I/O) pin planning
methodology for Xilinx® devices using the Xilinx PlanAhead™ design analysis tool.
While you can do pin planning at any step in the flow, this guide focuses on an RTL project with a
synthesized netlist that allows more Design Rules Checks (DRCs) to run.
If an RTL project and netlist is not available, the PlanAhead tool allows an alternate limited pin
planning-only flow.
The PlanAhead tool and its I/O planning environment provide a design flow from Register Transfer
Level (RTL) to bit stream. They allow you to:
• Create, import, and configure the initial list of I/O ports early in the design flow.
• Perform final verification of the pinout at the end of the design flow.
• Group related ports into interfaces, then assign them to package pins.
• Use fully automatic pin placement or semi-automated interactive modes for controlled I/O port
assignment.
• View the relationship of the physical package pins and banks with their corresponding I/O die
pads.
• Make intelligent decisions to optimize the connectivity between the PCB and the FPGA
device.

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I/O Pin Planning Methodology Steps

I/O Pin Planning Methodology Steps

The I/O pin planning methodology recommended by Xilinx includes the following steps:
• Step 1. Select Device
• Step 2. Select Configuration Mode
• Step 3. Select Gigabit Transceivers
• Step 4. Define Memory Interfaces
• Step 5. Connectivity IP
• Step 6. I/O Interfaces
• Step 7. I/O Standards, Attributes
• Step 8. Clock Pins and Topology
• Step 9. Place and Route
• Step 10. Noise Analysis (SSN and SSO)
• Step 11. Board Level Considerations
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Figure 1-1: Xilinx Recommended Pin Planning Methodology

Step 1. Select Device

• Determine device size based on resource needs.
For designs using Stacked Silicon Interconnect (SSI) technology, see the Large FPGA
Methodology Guide (UG872) cited in Appendix A, Additional Resources.
• Select package and possible alternative packages based on PCB requirements such as critical
routes to memories.

Step 2. Select Configuration Mode

• Most configuration modes share some pins with User I/O. The number of shared pins typically
is none to small for serial modes, and grows larger for parallel modes.
• Avoid signal contention to ensure successful configuration. If I/O components are used after
configuration, they must be changed to tristate during configuration.
• If the design allows, prohibit all multifunction pins to simplify the pinout.

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 Step 3. Select Gigabit Transceivers

• For more information, see the Configuration User Guide for each device family cited in
Appendix A, Additional Resources. The guides describe the dedicated and shared
configuration pins for each mode. Check the user guide to see if certain configuration modes
create additional pinout restrictions.

Step 3. Select Gigabit Transceivers

• Gigabit Transceivers (GTs) have a set of dedicated pins.
• GTs typically share clock pins with other GTs or I/O clock regions.
• Adjacent to the GTs, most device families list which user I/O components to avoid in order to
achieve optimal signal integrity.
• Use the Clock Resources and Device views to help place GTs. Hard IP (such as PCIe) in a
device can block a GT and should be avoided.
• For more information, see the Gigabit Transceivers User Guide for each device family cited in
Appendix A, Additional Resources.

Step 4. Define Memory Interfaces

• High speed memory interfaces have specific pinout requirements driven by clocking and skew
needs.
• The Memory Interface Generator (MIG) tool generates the required pinouts.
• Ensure that the generated constraints file is added to your project.

Step 5. Connectivity IP
• Some Intellectual Property (IP) such as Ethernet and the PCIe® tool have specific pinout
requirements.
• Use the Xilinx CORE Generator™ tool to incorporate any IP with external interfaces into the
design.
• Like the Memory Interface Generator (MIG) tool, the CORE Generator tool generates the
required pinout constraints.

Step 6. I/O Interfaces

• Define any additional I/O interfaces.
• Create interface groups in the PlanAhead tool to manage additional interfaces. Creating
interface groups allows you to:
• Simplify the ports list. You can group, place, manage and highlight interfaces as one
object.
• Give hierarchy to the ports list.

Step 7. I/O Standards, Attributes

• Define the I/O standards and other attributes.
• Place all unplaced pins so all pins are locked down. You can use the auto-placement feature to
finish.

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Step 8. Clock Pins and Topology

• Be conscious of differential pairs. In the Package view, you can enable and disable the Show
Differential I/O Pairs option.
• Run a Design Rules Check (DRC) in the PlanAhead tool to check I/O standard versus I/O
banking restrictions.
• Some I/O standards can be combined within a single bank and some cannot. For information
on banking rules, see the SelectIO Resource User Guides cited in Appendix A, Additional
Resources.
• For information on the packaging and pinout specifications for specific device families, see the
Packaging and Pinout guides available from the Xilinx support website. See, for example, the
Virtex-6 FPGA Packaging and Pinout Specifications (UG365) cited in Appendix A,
Additional Resources.

Step 8. Clock Pins and Topology

• Use the dedicated external clock pins on the FPGA device for best clock performance.
• Understand I/O versus fabric clocking resources.
• Understand regional clock restrictions in the device family.
• Designs with fewer clocks than the number of global clock resources are usually simpler.
• For more complex clock structures, enter the clock tree and enough loads to run the early
design through place and route for validation.
• Complex clock structures include designs with high clock counts that require either automatic
or manual floor planning to utilize regional clocks
• To aid in clock planning, the PlanAhead tool displays a graphical representation of the
available clock resources for the target device.
• The package can be viewed from either the top or the bottom. Sometimes it is helpful to flip
the part.
• The information on PCB design recommendations and pin planning guidelines shows:
• Connectivity
• Available clock resources
• For more information on Clocking Resources, see the Clocking Resources User Guide for each
device family cited in Appendix A, Additional Resources.

Step 9. Place and Route

• By this point, most if not all of the primary structures (I/O, IP, and Clocking) should be
defined. The more primary structures that are defined and available, the more accurate are the
associated DRCs.
• Lock down all pins.
• Run DRCs before place and route.
• Run the design through place and route to validate the pinout.
• Not all logic needs to be in place, only the primary structures that affect pinout.
• Fully implement the design in order to ensure a legal I/O pinout.
• Review the ngdbuild and map reports for I/O and clock-related messages.
• Only the place and route tools contain all sign-off DRCs on the final design and pinout.

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 Step 10. Noise Analysis (SSN and SSO)

Step 10. Noise Analysis (SSN and SSO)

Table 1-1: Noise Analysis Methods (SSN and SSO) Supported in the PlanAhead Tool
Method Description Supported Devices
Simultaneous Switching Noise (SSN) Based on relative pin locations, SSN • Spartan®-6
determines pins with excessive noise. You • Virtex®-6
can move those pins to another location
within the bank, or to another bank.
Simultaneous Switching Output (SSO) SSO calculates the maximum number of • Spartan-3
user I/O components that can be assigned • Virtex-4
within a bank. SSO does not take relative • Virtex-5
pin locations into account.
• Xilinx 7 series FPGA devices

Improving Results
To improve results when a violation occurs:
• Use I/O standards that have a lower noise impact for the failing group.
• Reduce noise by changing to a:
• Lower drive strength
• Parallel-terminated DCI I/O standard
• Lower class of driver
Example: Changing the SSTL Class II to an SSTL Class I.
• Relocate the pin within the bank to an alternate location that is a greater distance from other
noisy pins.
• Spread the failing pins across multiple banks. This reduces the number of aggressive outputs
on the power system of one bank.
• Spread the failing group across multiple synchronous phases.

Design Changes
If the design changes, do the following:
• Rerun Step 9. Place and Route.
• Return to Step 10. Noise Analysis (SSN and SSO).
For more information, see the PlanAhead User Guide (UG632) cited in Appendix A, Additional
Resources.

Step 11. Board Level Considerations

• For board-level validation, perform signal integrity analysis using IBIS (Input/Output Buffer
Information Specification) or HSPICE models.
• To optimize the pinout within the context of the entire board, import the FPGA pinout into
third party products such as:
• Cadence Allegro FPGA System Planner
• Mentor Graphics I/O Designer
• If the pinout changes, do the following:

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Step 11. Board Level Considerations

• Rerun Step 9. Place and Route.

• Continue from that step on.

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 Appendix A

Additional Resources
Xilinx Resources
• Device User Guides:
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/user_guides.htm
• Xilinx Glossary: http://www.xilinx.com/company/terms.htm
• ISE Design Suite 14: Release Notes, Installation, and Licensing (UG631)
http://www.xilinx.com/cgi-bin/docs/rdoc?v=14.5;t=release+notes
• Product Support and Documentation: http://www.xilinx.com/support

Hardware Documentation
• 7 Series Device Documentation:
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/7_series.htm
• 7 Series FPGAs SelectIO Resources User Guide (UG471):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/user_guides/ug471_7Series_SelectIO.pdf
• 7 Series FPGAs Clocking Resources User Guide (UG472):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/user_guides/ug472_7Series_Clocking.pdf
• 7 Series FPGAs GTX/GTH Transceivers (UG476):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/user_guides/ug476_7Series_Transceivers.pdf
• Virtex-6 FPGA Configuration User Guide (UG360):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/user_guides/ug360.pdf
• Virtex-6 FPGA SelectIO Resources User Guide (UG361):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/user_guides/ug361.pdf
• Virtex-6 FPGA Clocking Resources (UG362):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/user_guides/ug362.pdf
• Virtex-6 FPGA GTX Transceivers (UG366):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/user_guides/ug366.pdf
• Virtex-6 FPGA Packaging and Pinout Specifications (UG365):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/user_guides/ug365.pdf
• Spartan-6 FPGA Configuration User Guide (UG380):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/user_guides/ug380.pdf
• Spartan-6 FPGA SelectIO Resources User Guide (UG381):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/user_guides/ug381.pdf
• Spartan-6 PCB Design Guide (UG393):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/user_guides/ug393.pdf

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 • Virtex-5 FPGA Configuration User Guide (UG191):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/user_guides/ug191.pdf
• Virtex-4 FPGA Configuration User Guide (UG071):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/user_guides/ug071.pdf

ISE Documentation
• Libraries Guides:
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/dt_ise14-5_librariesguides.htm
• ISE Design Suite Documentation:
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/dt_ise14-5.htm
• Command Line Tools User Guide (UG628):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/devref.pdf
• Constraints Guide (UG625):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/cgd.pdf
• Data2MEM User Guide (UG658):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/data2mem.pdf
• ISim User Guide (UG660):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/plugin_ism.pdf
• Synthesis and Simulation Design Guide (UG626):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/sim.pdf
• Timing Closure User Guide (UG612):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/ug612.pdf
• Xilinx/Cadence PCB Guide (UG629):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/cadence_pcb.pdf
• Xilinx/Mentor Graphics PCB Guide (UG630):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/mentor_pcb.pdf
• XPower Estimator User Guide (UG440):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/ug440.pdf
• XST User Guide for Virtex-4, Virtex-5, Spartan-3, and Newer CPLD Devices (UG627):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/xst.pdf
• XST User Guide for Virtex-6, Spartan-6, and 7 Series Devices (UG687):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/xst_v6s6.pdf
• ISE Methodology Guides:
• Power Methodology Guide (UG786):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/
ug786_PowerMethodology.pdf
• Large FPGA Methodology Guide (UG872): http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/
sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/ug872_largefpga.pdf
• ISE Tutorials:
• ISE In-Depth Tutorial (UG695):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/ise_tutorial_ug695.pdf
• ISE RTL Technology Viewer Tutorial (UG685):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/ug685.pdf
• ISim In-Depth Tutorial (UG682):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/ug682.pdf

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 PlanAhead Documentation

• Using Xilinx ChipScope Pro ILA Core with Project Navigator to Debug FPGA
Applications (UG750):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/ug750.pdf
• Xilinx Power Tools Tutorial (UG733):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/ug733.pdf

PlanAhead Documentation
• PlanAhead User Guide (UG632):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/PlanAhead_UserGuide.pdf
• Hierarchical Design Methodology Guide (UG748):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/
Hierarchical_Design_Methodology_Guide.pdf
• Pin Planning Methodology Guide (UG792):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/ug792_pinplan.pdf
• PlanAhead Tcl Command Reference Guide (UG789):
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx14_5/ug789_pa_tcl_commands.pdf
• PlanAhead Tutorials:
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/dt_planahead_planahead14-1_tutorials.htm
• Quick Front- to-Back Flow Overview (UG673)
• I/O Pin Planning (UG674)
• RTL Design and IP Generation(UG675)
• Design Analysis and Floorplanning (UG676)
• Debugging with ChipScope (UG677)
• Team Design (UG839)
• Design Preservation (UG747)
• Partial Reconfiguration (UG743)
• Reconfiguration with Processor Peripheral (UG744)

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