iCE is the brand name used for a family of low-power field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) produced by Lattice Semiconductor. Parts in the family are marketed with the "world's smallest FPGA" tagline, and are intended for use in portable and battery-powered devices (such as mobile phones), where they would be used to offload tasks from the device's main processor or system on chip. By doing so, the main processor and its peripherals can enter a low-power state or be powered off entirely, potentially increasing battery life. Lattice received the iCE brand as part of its 2011 acquisition of SiliconBlue Technologies. History The iCE brand was originally used by SiliconBlue Technologies Corporation, a former Santa Clara, California-based fabless designer of integrated circuits. SiliconBlue was a start-up founded in 2005 by former employees of Actel, AMD, Lattice, Monolithic Memories, and Xilinx. Most notable among the founders was John Birkner, one of the inventors of programmable array logic. In 2006, SiliconBlue was funded with $16 million in "Series A" capital, and in June 2008 announced the iCE65 L series of devices. The devices were to be fabricated on TSMC's 65nm CMOS process node, which SiliconBlue claimed would provide reduced power consumption compared to contemporary FPGAs from other manufacturers. In October 2008, SiliconBlue raised a further $24 million in Series B capital. In 2009, the first iCE65 L devices were shipped to customers. SiliconBlue also registered SiliconBlue Technologies (Hong Kong) Limited, which remains as a subsidiary of Lattice Semiconductor. In 2010, the lowest-end of the iCE65 P devices was announced by SiliconBlue. The devices were claimed to be as much as 30% faster than iCE65 L devices while maintaining similar power consumption. In the June of the same year, SiliconBlue closed a $15 million Series C funding round. In April 2011, SiliconBlue announced that it was to release new product families, code-named "Los Angeles" and "San Francisco," using a TSMC 40nm process node. The production of devices on a 40nm process node was further confirmed in June 2011, when SiliconBlue received $18 million in Series D funding to bring 40nm devices to market. The iCE40 product family was officially released in July 2011. On 9 December 2011, SiliconBlue Technologies was acquired by Lattice Semiconductor in a $63.2 million cash buyout. As part of this buyout, Lattice received the iCE brand, manufacturing capabilities with TSMC, and a licence for various patents from Kilopass Technologies, including for