Quartus® Prime Standard Edition User Guide: Design Compilation

ID 683283
Date 10/22/2021
Public
Document Table of Contents

2.5.4. Design Partition Guidelines for Third-Party IP Delivery

There are additional design guidelines that can improve incremental compilation flows where exported partitions are developed independently. These guidelines are not always required, but are usually recommended if the design includes partitions compiled in a separate Quartus® Prime project, such as when delivering intellectual property (IP). A unique challenge of IP delivery for FPGAs is the fact that the partitions developed independently must share a common set of resources. To minimize issues that might arise from sharing a common set of resources, you can design partitions within a single Quartus® Prime project, or a copy of the top-level design. A common project ensures that designers have a consistent view of the top-level design framework.

Alternatively, an IP designer can export just the post-synthesis results to be integrated in the top-level design when the post-fitting results from the IP project are not required. Using a post-synthesis netlist provides more flexibility to the Quartus® Prime Fitter, so that less resource allocation is required. If a common project is not possible, especially when the project lead plans to integrate the IP's post-fitting results, it is important that the project lead and IP designer clearly communicate their requirements.