A soft core (also called softcore) is a digital circuit that can be wholly implemented using logic synthesis. It can be implemented via different semiconductor devices containing programmable logic (e.g., ASIC, FPGA, CPLD), including both high-end and commodity variations. Many soft cores may be implemented in one FPGA. In those multi-core systems, rarely used resources can be shared between all the cores.
Examples of soft core implementations are soft microprocessors, graphics chips like AGA or Open Graphics Project, harddisc controllers etc.
See also
SoC (System-on-a-chip) PSoC (Programmable System on a Chip) FPGA (Field-programmable gate array) Reconfigurable computing Minimig - Example implementation of custom chips replications Open-source hardware List of open source hardware projects
References
External links
Microprocessor cores on Opencores.org (Expand the "Processor" tab)