Generating a Programmable Device Image (PDI) on Spartan UltraScale+ FPGAs - Generating a Programmable Device Image (PDI) on Spartan UltraScale+ FPGAs - 2026.1 English - UG908

Vivado Design Suite User Guide: Programming and Debugging (UG908)
Document ID
UG908
Release Date
2026-06-23
Version
2026.1 English

Spartan UltraScale+ devices use the Programmable Device Image (PDI) format.

You can find more information on bootgen and the Spartan UltraScale PDI format in the Bootgen User Guide (UG1283) and the Spartan UltraScale+ FPGAs Configuration User Guide (UG860).

Generating a PDI in Vivado Project Mode

  • In GUI mode, click Generate Device Image in the Flow Navigator. This generates a complete PDI in the runs directory.
  • In Tcl mode, execute the launch_runs -to_step write_bitstream Tcl command to launch the run through to the PDI generation step. This also generates a complete PDI in the runs directory.

Generating a PDI in Non-Project Mode

In non-project mode, Bootgen does not run automatically so it is a requirement to execute Bootgen on the Vivado generated files.

  1. With the implemented design checkpoint open, run the write_bitstream Tcl command. In the working directory write_bitstream creates the bitstream (.bit), Boot Image Format (.bif), and any additional files needed as input to the Bootgen tool to create a complete PDI.
  2. In a new terminal in the same directory as the .bif file, run the following command with the correct file name for the Vivado-generated .bif and the reqiured PDI name.
    bootgen -image <vivado_generated_bif>.bif -arch spartanup -o <pdi_name>.pdi

The resulting PDI from either flow programs the Spartan UltraScale+ device.