Elbert V2 Seven Segment Ghosting Removal

Whilst using the Elbert V2 board from Numato I noticed that the seven segment display is always slightly 'On'.  They aren't supposed to be unless by design and it's kind of annoying...well to me anyway so I've decided to learn how to turn them off

A quick look at the schematics for the Elbert V2 development board show that the seven segment displays are common anode connected and driven by three PNP transistors.  These in turn are connected to the FPGA pins and 3.3V and GND.  Some people would say the seven segment displays are 'multiplexed'.
Anyway if the connections P120, P121 and P124 are not controlled and in a strange state then the seven segment displays will ghost (be slightly on).  So to prevent this we need to ensure that the FPGA drives the pins into a 'High' state.  This means that the PNP transistors are not biased on and the seven segments stay off.

So in order to do that we need to add three extra outputs to any project, set them high and reference them in the user constraints file.  To demonstrate I'm using the code from the previous VHDL example:

Elbert v2 VHDL Tutorial

Load up Xilinx ISE project navigator, load the project and add the following to the code:

library IEEE;
use IEEE.STD_LOGIC_1164.ALL;

entity Switch_LEDS is
    Port ( Switch_One : in  STD_LOGIC;
           Switch_Two : in  STD_LOGIC;
           LED_One : out  STD_LOGIC;
           LED_Two : out  STD_LOGIC;
           Seven_Segment_Transistor_One : out STD_LOGIC;
           Seven_Segment_Transistor_Two : out STD_LOGIC;
    Seven_Segment_Transistor_Three : out STD_LOGIC); 
end Switch_LEDS;

architecture Behavioral of Switch_LEDS is

begin

LED_One <= NOT Switch_One;
LED_Two <= NOT Switch_Two;

Seven_Segment_Transistor_One <= '1'; --Turn PNP transistor off
Seven_Segment_Transistor_Two <= '1';   --Turn PNP transistor off
Seven_Segment_Transistor_Three <='1';  --Turn PNP transistor off

end Behavioral;

Next we need to update the user constraints file with the information showing where the pins connecting the FPGA to the PNP Transistors. Copy and paste the code below into the UCF file:

############################################################################
# Switches
############################################################################

    NET "Switch_One"         LOC = P80  | IOSTANDARD = LVTTL | DRIVE = 8 | SLEW = FAST ;
    NET "Switch_Two"         LOC = P79  | IOSTANDARD = LVTTL | DRIVE = 8 | SLEW = FAST ;

############################################################################
# PULLUP Resistors - Enable Pullup resistors
############################################################################

  NET "Switch_One"         PULLUP ;
    NET "Switch_Two"         PULLUP ;

############################################################################
# LED
############################################################################

    NET "LED_Two"            LOC = P54  | IOSTANDARD = LVTTL | DRIVE = 8 | SLEW = FAST ;
    NET "LED_One"            LOC = P55  | IOSTANDARD = LVTTL | DRIVE = 8 | SLEW = FAST ;
  
    NET "Seven_Segment_Transistor_One"  LOC = P124 | IOSTANDARD = LVTTL | DRIVE = 8 | SLEW = FAST ;
    NET "Seven_Segment_Transistor_Two"  LOC = P121 | IOSTANDARD = LVTTL | DRIVE = 8 | SLEW = FAST ;
    NET "Seven_Segment_Transistor_Three"   LOC = P120  | IOSTANDARD = LVTTL | DRIVE = 8 | SLEW = FAST ;

Once we have done that we can save all of the files and rebuild our project in Xilinx ISE Project Manager:




After that generate and new programming file and upload it to the Elbert V2 board and - Success!

That's all for now - Langster!