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Ulrich's avatar
Ulrich
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4 years ago

Using third party QSPI flashs as configuration memory

I am using a CYCLONE V 5CGXFC4C6 with active serial configuration scheme. To perform a firmware update of FPGA design, the QSPI flash is written by IP core "ASMI Parallel Intel FPGA IP" or "Generic ...
MathiasB's avatar
MathiasB
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4 years ago

Hi,

Yes the Generic Serial Flash Interface works with any kind of flash memory, provided you configure the CSR registers in the right way.

The only problem would have been whether your Flash memory is supported as an Active Serial configuration device. According to the link from my previous answer, you should be OK.

Further question if I may: How do you transfer the FPGA image to the core and then to the IP to begin with?

  • Ulrich's avatar
    Ulrich
    Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
    4 years ago

    Hi,

    I checked the documentation of the generic serial flash interface and found a footnote (1) on page 3:

    (1) The supported flash devices for configuration memory are, EPCQ, EPCQ-A, EPCQ-L, and
    Micron* MT25Q (256Mb to 2Gb) devices

    Do you think it make eense to try anyway ?

    In my project, the initial programming of QSPI flash is done by JTAG

    • MathiasB's avatar
      MathiasB
      Icon for Occasional Contributor rankOccasional Contributor
      4 years ago

      Hum indeed... I think that those memories are the ones you can natively select in the Quartus Convert Programming files tool (the one to convert sof to jic for instance). However, starting Quartus 19 I believe (not sure of the actual version), you can instruct the tool how to deal with other Flash memories.

      Otherwise, if you are using JTAG for Flash programming and do not need Flash access after configuration, I do not think you have to use the ASMI or GSFI IPs.

      When you JTAG-program a JIC file to a Flash device with Quartus Programmer, it can first load a "SFL design" in the FPGA as a bridge to the Flash. As I mentioned, you can instruct the tool how to correctly address your flash device (see https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/programmable/us/en/pdfs/literature/ug/ug-qpp-gen-flash-programmer.pdf).

      For instance, I could do this technique to write JIC file to a third party Flash memory. I just could not configure the FPGA in AS mode, because my Flash was unfortunately not one of the Intel Supported Third Party Configuration Devices for my FPGA (while yours is).