Circuit technology basis SRAM Antifuse Flash
Status of technology State-of-the-art One or more generation behind One or more generation behind
Physical change made in the chip during programming? No Yes No
Reprogrammable? Yes No Yes
Reprogramming speed Fast – 3 times slower than SRAM
External boot device is required when starting operation Yes No No
IP security (external programs) Acceptable by using bit-stream encryption Very good Very good
Power consumption Medium Low Medium
Radiation hardness/tolerance Some Under testing
Maximum working frequency >3 Gbps I/Os 350-500 MHz 350 MHz
Maximum capacity (ASIC gates equivalent) 1-4 Mgates 0.25 – 0.5 Mgates 0.9 Mgates
Principal manufacturers Altera, Atmel, Lattice Semiconductor, Xilinx Actel (now Microsemi) Actel (now Microsemi)