Laser customizable gate arrays. Coming soon?

Laser customization of gate arrays has the potential to produce gate arrays with the same density and speed performance as mask programmable gate arrays with a turnaround time of hours instead of days. This is based on laser customizing by metal deposition and removal. One significant disadvantage that laser customization has traditionally had is the complexity of the processing. This is especially true when one compares laser processing for customizing gate arrays to Field Programmable Logic Devices. Although the FPLDs do not have the density or speed performance that a laser customized gate array can have, their ease of programming gives them a significant advantage for many users. In this paper, we address some of the issues upon which laser customization must compete, if it is to gain a substantial share of the prototype business.