External Memory Interfaces (EMIF) IP User Guide: Agilex™ 5 FPGAs and SoCs

ID 817467
Date 7/08/2024
Public

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3.2.3.1. Lockstep Configuration

To support user data widths greater than 32 bits in DDR4 on Agilex™ 5 D-Series devices, the external memory interface (EMIF) IP instantiates multiple memory controllers driven in lockstep.

The primary controller drives the address and command bus and 32-bits of the DQ bus, while the other controllers drive the remainder of the DQ bus.

The following table summarizes the supported lockstep configurations:

Table 6.  Supported Lockstep Controller Configurations
Memory Protocol Configuration DQ Width AXI Interface
DDR4 x40 40 256 b + 64 b USER DATA
DDR4 x64 64 512 b
DDR4 x64 with ECC 1 72 512 b
DDR4 x72 72 512 b + 64 b USER DATA

To ensure that the controllers remain coordinated in lockstep, the following points apply:

  • Lockstep configurations support only synchronous fabric clocking mode.
  • Some of the controller scheduling and optimization features are disabled.
  • There are limitations on the types of AXI transactions supported. Refer to the following table for details.
    Table 7.  Limitations for Lockstep Configuration in ES Devices
    Memory Protocol Configuration Limitation
    DDR4 x72 Supports AXI transfer size= 6 only.
    DDR4 x64 AXI transfer size min = 1* (2 bytes).
    DDR4 x64 Supports 2-byte aligned transfers only.
    DDR4 x40 Supports AXI transfer size= 5 only.
    DDR4 x40 Support 32-bit aligned transfers only.

Two Controllers in Lockstep Within One IO96 Bank

The EMIF IP instantiates 2 controllers within one IO96 bank to support x40 configurations. The AXI bus is configured as 256-bits wide plus 64-bits of user data (WUSER/RUSER), to generate the required 320-bits of data to transfer a burst-of-8 of 40-bit DQ. The following table illustrates how the AXI WDATA/RDATA and WUSER/RUSER can be mapped to the DQ lanes.

Table 8.  Mapping of WDATA/RDATA & WUSER/RUSER in x40 Configuration
Transfer 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
WDATA/RDATA 31:0 63:32 95:64 127:96 159:128 191:160 223:192 255:224
DQ [31:0]
WUSER/RUSER 7:0 15:8 23:16 31:24 39:32 47:40 55:48 63:56
DQ [39:32]

This configuration can support only 3 address/command lane configurations, because there are only 8 byte lanes in one IO96 bank. The WUSER/RUSER signal is mapped to byte lane 7 (DQ lane with prefix s) in x40 configuration.

Table 9.  Supported Byte Lane Placement for x40 configuration
Scheme BL0 BL1 BL2 BL3 BL4 BL5 BL6 BL7
DDR4_AC_TOP DQ[4] DQ[3] DQ[2] DQ[1] AC1 AC2 AC0 sDQ[0]
DDR4_AC_BOT DQ[0] AC0 AC1 AC2 DQ[1] DQ[2] DQ[3] sDQ[4]

Two/Three Controllers in Lockstep Within One IO96 Bank

This configuration is supported only in DDR4. The EMIF IP instantiates two or three controllers across two adjacent IO96 banks for the configurations listed in the table below.

Table 10.  Supported 2/3 Controller Configurations in Lockstep
Configuration DQ Width AXI Interface Notes
x64 64 512b 2 controllers used.
x64 with ECC 72 512b 3 controllers used. ECC will be generated and checked by a soft IP block within the EMIF IP.
x72 72 512b + 64b USER DATA 3 controllers used.

For the x72 configuration, the AXI bus is configured as 512-bits wide, plus 64-bits of user data (WUSER/RUSER). The following example illustrates how you can map the AXI WDATA/RDATA and WUSER/RUSER to the DQ lanes. In this illustration, the WUSER/RUSER is mapped to the byte lane used for DQ [71:64].

The actual DQ lane to which the WUSER/RUSER is mapped depends on the address and command placement used. In each supported address and command placement scheme, the WUSER/RUSER is mapped to the DQ lane that has a prefix s (for example, sDQ0, sDQ4 or sDQ8). Refer to the following tables in the DDR4 Data Width Mapping topic, to identify the actual DQ lane used for WUSER/RUSER:

  • Supported Lockstep configuration for DDR4 x64
  • Supported Lockstep configuration for DDR4 x72 or x64 (with ECC)
Table 11.  Example Mapping of WDATA/RDATA & WUSER/RUSER in x72 Configuration
Transfer 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
WDATA/RDATA 63:0 127:64 191:128 255:192 319:256 383:320 447:384 511:448
DQ [63:0]
WUSER/RUSER 7:0 15:8 23:16 31:24 39:32 47:40 55:48 63:56
DQ [71:64]

The generated IP has 2 mem DQ ports, collectively labeled as mem_DQ0 and mem_DQ1. The mapping below shows how these 2 ports are grouped into one single wide DQ port:

Figure 4.