Integrating eFPGA with Trenz Electronic FPGA Modules

[Eric12368]

I am currently working on a project involving Trenz Electronic FPGA modules, and I am exploring the possibility of integrating an embedded FPGA (eFPGA) to enhance the system's flexibility and performance. As I am relatively new to eFPGA technology, I would appreciate any guidance or advice from the community.

Here are some specific questions I have:

What are the key differences between traditional FPGA and eFPGA in terms of design, implementation, and performance?
Are there any particular tools or software recommended for programming and configuring eFPGA when used with Trenz Electronic FPGA modules?
Can you suggest any resources, tutorials, or documentation for beginners to get started with eFPGA?
What challenges should I anticipate when integrating eFPGA with Trenz Electronic FPGA modules, and how can these be addressed?
I look forward to your insights and experiences. Thank you!

[Martin R.]

Hi Eric,
my understanding of the term eFPGA is: This is a hard IP to be implemented in silicon (together with other ASIC/SoC IPs) resulting in a custom chip including an (e)FPGA part.
Trenz modules have traditional FPGA/SoCs (silicon) and we are not dealing with hard IP integration into silicon.
To my knowledge, integrating an eFPGA into an traditional FPGA is possible but should not give you any performance/flexibility/cost benefit. It only makes sense (as in ASIC development) to integrate for test purposes before doing the next step: integrating into silicon. The eFPGA in a FPGA will always be slower and waste resources compared to the FPGA itself.
Regarding your further questions: We do not have any experience with eFPGA IPs/software/tools, so no recommendations from our side, sorry.