Gate Arrays and Field-Programmable Logic.

Backbone Ring Project ECL Gate Array

A gate array comes in standard die sizes containing a fixed layout of configurable cells.

Historically, there were two main forms of gate array:

• Mask Programmable,
• Field Programmable (FPGA).

FPGAs are now used almost exclusively.

Advantage: Quick design and fabrication, Disadvantage: Large waste of silicon area, low performance.