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How to program configuration flash with Vivado Hardware Manager

Writing an .mcs file to Quad SPI or Linear BPI flash

January 18, 20213 minutes

How to program configuration flash with Vivado Hardware Manager

Most FPGA/SoC dev boards have a flash device for non-volatile storage. Typically it would be either a Quad SPI flash (serial interface) or a Linear BPI flash (parallel interface). Although it can be used for storing anything, it’s typically used for storing the configuration for the FPGA or SoC (eg. the bitstream, FSBL, U-Boot, Linux Kernel). If the boot mode of the FPGA or SoC is appropriately set, on power-up it should read from the flash, load the bitstream into the FPGA and then load and run the software components.

In this post we’ll look at the steps to program the flash of a dev board using Vivado Hardware Manager. I’ll be doing this for the KCU105 board, but I’ve also included a list of some popular dev boards and the appropriate flash settings to use for each.

How to program the flash

  1. Launch Vivado. On the welcome screen, click on “Open Hardware Manager”.

  1. Power up your dev board and ensure that it’s JTAG port is connected to your computer.
  2. In the Hardware Manager, click “Open target” and then “Auto Connect”.

  1. Right click on the FPGA/SoC device and click “Add Configuration Memory Device”.

  1. Now we have to specify the memory part that is connected to the FPGA/SoC device on our particular dev board. To find the memory part for your dev board, you’ll have to dig into the user guide or the board schematics. To help you out, I’ve listed the flash names for a bunch of FPGA/SoC dev boards below the image (scroll down).

7-Series boards

BoardTypeSizePart #Flash name
AC701QSPI32MBN25Q256A13ESF40Gmt25ql256-spi-x1_x2_x4
KC705QSPI16MBN25Q128A13BSF40Fmt25qu128-spi-x1_x2_x4
KC705BPI128MBPC28F00AP30TF28f00ap30t-bpi-x16
VC707BPI128MBPC28F00AG18FEmt28gu01gaax1e-bpi-x16
VC709BPI128MBPC28F00AG18FEmt28gu01gaax1e-bpi-x16
ZC702QSPI16MBN25Q128A11ESF40Gmt25qu128-spi-x1_x2_x4
ZC706Dual QSPI32MBS25FL128SAGMFIR01s25fl128l-spi-x1_x2_x4_x8

Ultrascale/Ultrascale+ boards

BoardTypeSizePart #Flash name
KCU105Dual QSPI64MBN25Q256A11ESF40Fmt25qu256-spi-x1_x2_x4_x8
KCU116Dual QSPI256MBMT25QU01GBBB8ESF-0SITmt25qu01g-spi-x1_x2_x4_x8
VCU108BPI128MBMT28GU01GAAA1EGC-0SITmt28gu01gaax1e-bpi-x16
VCU110Dual QSPI128MBMT25QU512ABA8E12-0SITmt25qu512-spi-x1_x2_x4_x8
VCU118Dual QSPI256MBMT25QU01GBB8ESFmt25qu01g-spi-x1_x2_x4_x8
VCU118BPI128MBMT28GU01GAAA1EGC-0SITmt28gu01gaax1e-bpi-x16

Zynq Ultrascale+ boards

BoardTypeSizePart #Flash name
ZCU104QSPI64MBMT25QU512ABB8ESFmt25qu512-spi-x1_x2_x4
ZCU102Dual QSPI128MBMT25QU512ABB8ESFmt25qu512-spi-x1_x2_x4_x8
ZCU106Dual QSPI128MBMT25QU512ABB8ESFmt25qu512-spi-x1_x2_x4_x8
ZCU111Dual QSPI512MBMT25QU02GCBB8E12-0sitmt25qu02g-spi-x1_x2_x4_x8
BoardTypeSizePart #Flash name
Arty A7QSPI16MBN25Q128A13ESF40mt25ql128-spi-x1_x2_x4
PYNQ Z1QSPI16MBS25FL128SAGMFI00s25fl128sxxxxxx0-spi-x1_x2_x4
PYNQ Z2QSPI16MBS25FL128Ss25fl128sxxxxxx0-spi-x1_x2_x4
ZedBoardQSPI32MBS25FL256Ss25fl256sxxxxxx0-spi-x1_x2_x4
MicroZedQSPI16MBS25FL128SAGBHI200s25fl128sxxxxxx0-spi-x1_x2_x4
Z-TurnQSPI16MBW25Q128BVFIGmt25ql128-spi-x1_x2_x4

Note about Dual Quad SPI

You might notice that the flash names listed above are all proceeded by x1_x2_x4 or x1_x2_x4_x8. The latter postfix is used for dual quad SPI interfaces, where two Quad SPI devices are connected to an 8 bit wide interface. However, just because there are 2 Quad SPI flashes connected, doesn’t mean that you have to use them both. If you wanted to use the first Quad SPI device only, then you should use the x1_x2_x4 postfix.

  1. Once you select the flash device, you will be asked if you want to program the configuration memory device now. Click “OK”.

  1. Now you need to select the .mcs and .prm files to program the flash with. Note that in my case, I’m programming the KCU105’s flash in dual Quad SPI mode, which means that I need two .mcs files and two .prm files. If you are not using dual Quad SPI mode, then you will only have the option to select one of each file.

After clicking “OK”, the Vivado Hardware Manager should program your board’s flash and verify that it was programmed correctly.