LaZagna: An Open-Source Framework for Flexible 3D FPGA Architectural Exploration

By Ismael Youssef, Hang Yang, Cong Hao (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Abstract

While 3D IC technology has been extensively explored for ASICs, their application to FPGAs remains limited. Existing studies on 3D FPGAs are often constrained to fixed prototypes, narrow architectural templates, and simulation-only evaluations. In this work, we present LaZagna, the first open-source framework for automated, end-to-end 3D FPGA architecture generation and evaluation. LaZagna supports high-level architectural specification, synthesizable RTL generation, and bitstream production, enabling comprehensive validation of 3D FPGA designs beyond simulation. It significantly broadens the design space compared to prior work by introducing customizable vertical interconnect patterns, novel 3D switch block designs, and support for heterogeneous logic layers. The framework also incorporates practical design constraints such as inter-layer via density and vertical interconnect delay. We demonstrate the capabilities of LaZagna by generating synthesizable RTL that can be taken through full physical design flows for fabric generation, along with functionally correct bitstreams. Furthermore, we conduct five case studies that explore various architectural parameters and evaluate their impact on wirelength, critical path delay, and routing runtime. These studies showcase the framework's scalability, flexibility, and effectiveness in guiding future 3D FPGA architectural and packaging decisions. LaZagna is fully open-source and available on GitHub.

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