Lattice IM4A5-128/64-10YNC-12YNI: A Comprehensive Technical Overview of the FPGA Device

The Lattice IM4A5-128/64-10YNC-12YNI is a specific member of the Lattice iCE40 UltraPlus™ FPGA family, a line of devices engineered for ultra-low power consumption and high performance in space-constrained applications. This particular model encapsulates the advanced architecture and features that make the iCE40 UltraPlus series a preferred choice for mobile, IoT, consumer, and industrial applications.

At the core of this device is an ultra-low power FPGA fabric, built on a 40 nm process technology. This foundation is critical for battery-powered devices, enabling complex functionality while minimizing energy drain. The part number itself provides key specifications: it features 128K bits of RAM and 64K bits of user flash memory. This embedded memory is a significant asset, allowing for on-chip data storage and lookup tables without the constant need for external memory components, which simplifies board design and reduces both system cost and power consumption.

A standout feature of the iCE40 UltraPlus family, and by extension this device, is the integration of a hardened, programmable DSP block. This dedicated block is optimized for small-factor multiplication and accumulation (MAC), which is the fundamental operation for many digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms. This enables the FPGA to efficiently handle tasks like sensor data processing, audio filtering, and simple image processing without overburdening the primary logic fabric, resulting in higher performance and lower power consumption for these specific functions.

The device’s connectivity is another area of strength. It includes hardened I2C and SPI interfaces, which are essential for communicating with a vast ecosystem of common sensors, peripherals, and other microcontrollers. By hardening these common interfaces, Lattice ensures they operate with minimal power and logic resource usage, freeing up the programmable fabric for custom application logic.

Furthermore, the part number suffix `-10YNC-12YNI` indicates the package and temperature grade. It is housed in a 0.4 mm pitch, ultra-chip-scale package (UCBGA), which is designed for extremely dense PCB layouts typical in modern portable electronics. This package type allows for a very small physical footprint, making it ideal for applications where board real estate is at a premium.

In practice, the Lattice IM4A5-128/64-10YNC-12YNI is leveraged in a wide range of applications. Its combination of low power, integrated memory, and hardened peripherals makes it perfect for always-on application processors in smartphones (handling sensor hub duties), low-power machine learning inference at the edge, and intelligent control in portable healthcare devices.

ICGOOODFIND: The Lattice IM4A5-128/64-10YNC-12YNI is a highly optimized FPGA that excels in power-sensitive, compact designs. Its integration of memory, hardened DSP, and standard interfaces provides a compelling blend of flexibility and efficiency, making it a powerful enabler for next-generation portable and embedded intelligent systems.

Keywords:

Ultra-Low Power

FPGA

Hardened DSP

Embedded Memory

Sensor Processing