Post-Programming Burn-In (PPBI) for Actel RT54SX-S and SX-A FPGAs

Burn-in (BI) for programmed Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) is a growing concern in the space community. This application note addresses these concerns with regard to the Actel RT54SX-S and SX-A FPGA device families in an unprogrammed versus a programmed mode. This application note discusses the main differences between the architecture of the RT54SX-S and SX-A families and it describes the testing methodologies for Actel FPGAs. It discusses pre and post-burn-in methodologies for unprogrammed units for dynamic and static burn-in conditions and compares these to the programmed conditions for dynamic burn-in. It analyzes Actel’s internal Quality Control (QC) design and discusses Ongoing Reliability Testing (ORT) results. It also provides guidelines for acceptable burn-in criteria. Data in this application note demonstrates that Post-Programming Burn-In (PPBI) for Actel RT54SX-S and SX-A devices is neither required nor recommended.