SparkFun
Alchitry Au V2 Artix-7 FPGA Board
· MPN: DEV-27874
The Alchitry Au V2 is a powerful FPGA development board built around a Xilinx Artix 7 device. It is aimed at engineers, students and makers who are ready to ...
Get notified when back in stock
The Alchitry Au V2 is a powerful FPGA development board built around a Xilinx Artix 7 device. It is aimed at engineers, students and makers who are ready to move beyond microcontroller-style programming and into field-programmable gate arrays.
The board breaks out 104 IO pins across two headers and supports stackable expansion boards called "Elements", similar in idea to shields or HATs. These can add prototyping areas, buttons, LEDs and other hardware around the FPGA.
For development, the Artix 7 FPGA requires a free licence for Xilinx Vivado. The board also includes USB to JTAG and USB to UART via an FT2232HQ, plus on-board memory, oscillator, LEDs, button, QWIIC connector and power regulation.
Features:
- FPGA: XC7A35T-2FTG256I FPGA (speed and temperature grade upgrade over Au V1)
- Expansion IO: 104 IO pins broken out across two headers
- Control header: Includes IO pins for on-board LEDs, reset button, JTAG, analog/XADC connections and raw/regulated power
- QWIIC connector: QWIIC connector (shares pins on bank B)
- Clock: 100MHz oscillator
- LEDs: 8 general purpose LEDs
- Button: 1 button (typically used as reset)
- Memory: 256MB DDR3L @ 800Mb/s (400MHz)
- Configuration flash: 32MBit Configuration FLASH
- USB interface: FT2232HQ USB -> JTAG and USB -> UART (12Mbaud max)
- Power input: 5-12V input voltage on-board power supply
- Elements expansion: Supports stackable expansion boards called "Elements" for prototyping spaces, buttons, LEDs and more
Specifications:
- FPGA: XC7A35T-2FTG256I FPGA (speed and temperature grade upgrade over Au V1)
- IO pins: 104 IO pins broken out across two headers
- Triple voltage IO pins: 22 are triple voltage (3.3V, 2.5V, or 1.8V) of which 20 are LVDS_25 capable outputs
- Differential pair routing: 44 pins are routed as 100 ohm differential pairs (includes 20 dual voltage pins)
- Remaining IO routing: Remaining IO routed as 50 ohm single ended (~90 ohm when used as diff pairs)
- Bank B 1.35V pins: 2 1.35V pins on bank B
- XADC-capable pairs: 8 pairs can be used as inputs to the XADC (0-1V input range)
- Remaining IO voltage: Remaining IO is at 3.3V
- LVDS_25 inputs: All pairs can be used as LVDS_25 inputs except three pairs on bank B
- Control header LED IO: 8 IO pins also connected to on-board LEDs
- Control header reset IO: 1 IO pin also connected to on-board reset button
- Control header JTAG: JTAG
- Control header analogue/XADC: Analog voltages and dedicated XADC input (0-1V range)
- Control header power: Raw power input/3.3V regulated output
- QWIIC connector: QWIIC connector (shares pins on bank B)
- Oscillator: 100MHz oscillator
- General purpose LEDs: 8 general purpose LEDs
- Button: 1 button (typically used as reset)
- DDR3L memory: 256MB DDR3L @ 800Mb/s (400MHz)
- Configuration flash: 32MBit Configuration FLASH
- USB bridge: FT2232HQ USB -> JTAG and USB -> UART (12Mbaud max)
- Input voltage: 5-12V input voltage on-board power supply
- 3.3V rail: 3.3V @ 4A (IO)
- 2.5V rail: 2.5V @ 500mA (triple voltage pins, derived from 3.3V)
- 1V rail: 1V @ 4A (VCCINT)
- 1.8V rail: 1.8V @ 1.2A (VCCAUX, triple voltage pins)
- 1.35V rail: 1.35V @1.2A (DDR3L)
- 1.8V analogue rail: 1.8V @ 200mA (analog)
Documentation called out for this board includes the schematic, drawing, pinout and trace lengths, 3D Model (STEP), Simplified 3D Model (STEP), DC and AC Switching Characteristics (DS181), SelectIO Resources (UG471), Clocking Resources (UG472), and All Xilinx Artix 7 Docs.
Jargon buster
Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.
- DC
- DC means direct current, where electricity flows in one constant direction, as supplied by batteries, USB ports and many plug-pack power supplies. When a product specifies DC, it runs from a DC supply rather than mains AC, so you need to provide the correct voltage and polarity.
- Headers
- Rows of connector contacts on a fixed pitch (commonly 2.54 mm) used to link a board to a breadboard, jumper wires, or another board. They come as male pin headers and female socket headers; when a module ships with pre-soldered headers it can be used straight away, whereas bare pads require soldering the pins yourself.
- JTAG
- JTAG is a hardware debugging and programming interface used to inspect and control chips at a low level. It matters for advanced development because it can help diagnose firmware problems that are hard to see through normal serial output.
- LED
- A light-emitting diode (LED) is a small electronic component that emits light when current flows through it in the correct direction. Because it only conducts one way, its polarity matters, and a through-hole LED must be soldered the correct way around to light up.
- microcontroller
- A microcontroller is a small computer on a single chip that runs a stored program and controls connected inputs and outputs such as buttons, sensors, displays and communication interfaces. In a device built around one, it is the part that executes the code and coordinates the device's behaviour.
- Qwiic
- Qwiic is a plug-in connector system for I2C devices that uses small 4-pin cables, so you can connect compatible sensors without soldering. It matters because your controller or adapter also needs Qwiic, or you will need a cable or breakout to wire it up.
- UART
- UART is a simple asynchronous serial interface that sends data over separate transmit and receive wires, usually labelled TX and RX, with both ends set to the same baud rate. It is a common way for microcontrollers and other serial devices to exchange data.
Find this product in
Alchitry Au V2 Schematic
Schematic · 147.9 KB · Click any page to view full size
Alchitry Au V2 Mechanical Drawing
Mechanical Drawings · 207.9 KB · Click any page to view full size
Supplier page — sparkfun.com
Supplier Description · 697.1 KB · Click any page to view full size
Resources & Downloads
Guides, code examples, and more
