EP1C20F400I-6 - Cyclone FPGA 20,060 LE BGA-400 | Intel / Altera
MPN: EP1C20F400I-6 ✗ End of Life| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $42.5 | $42.50 |
| 10 | $38.75 | $387.50 |
| 100 | $34.2 | $3,420.00 |
| 500 | $30.1 | $15,050.00 |
| 1,000 | $27.85 | $27,850.00 |
Drop-in alternatives for EP1C20F400I-6 — same package, pin-to-pin compatible. Different-package parts requiring PCB rework are excluded.
Quick Comparison Tool — Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
EP1C20F400C8N
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View Datasheet →EP1C20F400C7N
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View Datasheet →EP1C20F400C6
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View Datasheet →EP1C20F400
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View Datasheet →EP1C20F400C8NAC
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View Datasheet →EP1C20F400C6N
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View Datasheet →EP1C20F400I-6 Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Family | Cyclone (first generation) |
| Logic Elements | 20,060 |
| Embedded Memory (M4K blocks) | 294,912 bits (72 M4K blocks) |
| Embedded 18x18 Multipliers | 244 |
| Maximum User I/O Pins | 301 |
| Phase-Locked Loops (PLLs) | 4 |
| Speed Grade | -6 (slowest of Cyclone family) |
| Temperature Grade | Industrial (-40C to +85C) |
| Package | 400-ball FineLine BGA (FBGA-400) |
| Pitch | 1.0 mm |
| Core Voltage (VCCINT) | 1.5 V |
| I/O Voltage (VCCIO) | Multiple banks, 1.5V to 3.3V |
| Process Technology | 0.13 um SRAM |
| Configuration Modes | Passive Serial (PS), Active Serial (AS), JTAG |
| Supported I/O Standards | LVTTL, LVCMOS, SSTL, LVDS, PCI |
| RoHS Status | Compliant (per distributor listings) |
| Lifecycle Status | End-of-Life (Cyclone family discontinued) |
EP1C20F400I-6 400-ball fineline bga (fbga-400) Pin Configuration Guide
Complete pinout information for EP1C20F400I-6 (400-ball fineline bga (fbga-400) package) with 301 pins. This digital IC includes GPIO, communication interfaces (UART, SPI, I2C), and power pins. Refer to the manufacturer datasheet for alternate pin functions and configuration options. Essential for embedded system design and PCB layout.
No detailed pinout data available for EP1C20F400I-6.
Refer to the datasheet for full pin configuration.
Estimated pin count: 301 pins (digital package)
Safe Operating Area (SOA) & Thermal Characteristics
No official SOA curve available for this digital IC. Always operate within absolute maximum ratings specified in the datasheet. Ensure adequate cooling and derate as needed.
Typical Applications
EP1C20F400I-6 is suitable for 6 applications: Industrial Motor Control DSP, Telecom Line-Card Glue Logic and Bus Bridging, Video Processing Front-End, ASIC Prototyping and Emulation, Low-Cost Automotive Infotainment Subsystem, Test and Measurement Instrumentation.
Industrial Motor Control DSP
The EP1C20F400I-6's 244 embedded 18x18 multipliers deliver up to ~250 MHz multiply-accumulate throughput, enabling real-time FIR filtering and Park/Clarke transforms for closed-loop field-oriented control of AC induction and PMSM motors. The industrial -40C to +85C temperature grade ensures reliable operation in factory cabinets and outdoor variable-frequency drives without thermal derating, while the 301 user I/O pins accept multiple quadrature encoder, Hall-sensor, and resolver inputs simultaneously. Compared with a DSP+microcontroller architecture, integrating the control loop in a single Cyclone reduces BOM and PCB area, and the four PLLs provide deterministic clock synthesis for PWM generation. Estimated: at 100 MHz system clock with 8-tap FIR per axis, roughly 40% of the multipliers are utilized, leaving headroom for additional commutation or power-factor-correction logic.
Recommended
Telecom Line-Card Glue Logic and Bus Bridging
The EP1C20F400I-6 is well suited as a bridge between legacy TDM buses (T1/E1, H.110, SPI, I2C) and modern packet-based backplanes in telecom line cards, where it replaces multiple CPLDs and discrete logic. The 20,060 logic elements and 294 Kbits of M4K dual-port memory provide ample headroom for protocol conversion state machines, while four PLLs let the FPGA generate the multiple clock domains required by a mix of TDM and Ethernet interfaces. Industrial temperature grade tolerates the thermal environment of a central-office rack, and the 400-ball BGA exposes enough LVDS-capable I/O to drive multi-lane backplane serial links at hundreds of Mbps. Estimated: a typical 8x T1 to GigE bridge design consumes ~30% of LEs and ~40% of M4K blocks, leaving room for OAM (operations, administration, maintenance) feature expansion.
Recommended
Video Processing Front-End
The EP1C20F400I-6 can perform real-time video preprocessing such as color space conversion (RGB to YCbCr), deinterlacing, scaling, and on-screen display overlay in surveillance and broadcast equipment. The 244 embedded 18x18 multipliers and dual-port M4K memory enable line buffers and FIR filter taps at video pixel rates, while the four PLLs synthesize the precise pixel clocks required for VGA, DVI, and SDI timing. With up to 301 user I/O pins, the device can capture parallel camera data and drive LCD panels without external bus multiplexers. Industrial temperature grade makes it suitable for outdoor security cameras and digital signage installations. Estimated: a 720p60 deinterlacer with 3x3 sharpen filter uses approximately 50% of LEs and 60% of M4K blocks, achievable within the EP1C20F400I-6's resource budget.
Recommended
ASIC Prototyping and Emulation
Engineers historically used the EP1C20F400I-6 as a low-cost ASIC prototype platform because the 20,060 LEs and 244 hardware multipliers are large enough to map mid-complexity ASICs and validate RTL before committing to mask tooling. Multiple EP1C20 devices can be cascaded via the LVDS-capated I/O pins to emulate larger ASICs, and JTAG configuration enables rapid in-system reprogramming during bring-up. The 400-ball BGA exposes enough I/O to map wide internal buses plus a representative number of external ASIC pins. Although the Cyclone family is end-of-life, remaining EP1C20 inventory on the secondary market continues to serve ASIC emulation labs that need a known-good FPGA fabric for regression testing.
Recommended
Low-Cost Automotive Infotainment Subsystem
Although not AEC-Q100 qualified, the EP1C20F400I-6 has historically been used in non-safety automotive infotainment subsystems where industrial temperature grade (-40C to +85C) is sufficient and where the BGA-400 footprint offers the I/O count needed for CAN, LIN, MOST, and LVDS display interfaces. The embedded RAM and multipliers enable audio sample-rate conversion and simple video scaling for head-unit displays. Engineers designing new automotive infotainment should consider the Cyclone IV E (EP4CE) family or the automotive-qualified MAX 10 family for active production support. Estimated: a head-unit infotainment subsystem typically uses ~60% of LEs and ~70% of M4K blocks for audio mixing, video overlay, and CAN-LIN bridging.
Recommended
Test and Measurement Instrumentation
The EP1C20F400I-6 serves as the timing and pattern-generation engine in mid-range test and measurement equipment, where the four PLLs and 244 hardware multipliers are used to generate stimulus waveforms and perform real-time DSP analysis. The industrial temperature grade supports laboratory and factory-floor environments, and the 400-ball BGA's high I/O count maps directly to parallel bus interfaces for memory, ADCs, and DACs. Its 1.5V core and mature Quartus II toolchain make timing closure predictable for protocols like LVDS and PCI. Estimated: a typical 200 MSPS arbitrary waveform generator with on-the-fly FIR shaping consumes approximately 45% of LEs and 50% of embedded multipliers, well within EP1C20 capacity.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP1C20F400I-6 — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP1C20F400C8N | EP1C20F400C7N | EP1C20F400C6 | EP1C20F400 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Package | BGA-400 (FineLine, 1.0 mm pitch) | BGA-400 (FineLine) - same | BGA-400 (FineLine) - same | BGA-400 (FineLine) - same | BGA-400 (FineLine) - same |
| Brand | Altera (Intel PSG) | Altera | Altera | Altera | Altera |
| Logic Elements | 20,060 | 20,060 | 20,060 | 20,060 | 20,060 |
| Embedded Memory | 294,912 bits | 294,912 bits | 294,912 bits | 294,912 bits | 294,912 bits |
| Embedded 18x18 Multipliers | 244 | 244 | 244 | 244 | 244 |
| Temperature Grade | Industrial (-40C to +85C) | Commercial (0C to +85C) | Commercial (0C to +85C) | Commercial (0C to +85C) | Commercial (default) |
| Speed Grade | -6 (slowest) | -8 (fastest) | -7 (mid) | -6 (matches this part) | default (typically -8 or unspecified) |
| Lifecycle Status | End-of-Life (active stock at independent distributors) | End-of-Life | End-of-Life | End-of-Life | End-of-Life |
Key Differentiators
- Industrial temperature grade for harsh-environment deployment (vs EP1C20F400C8N)
- Lower power consumption due to slowest speed grade (vs EP1C20F400C8N)
- Same FPGA die, simpler supply chain (vs EP1C20F400C7N)
Design Notes
Power sequencing is critical for the EP1C20F400I-6: VCCINT (1.5V core) must ramp monotonically and reach its threshold before VCCIO (3.3V/2.5V/1.8V I/O banks) to prevent I/O latch-up that can permanently damage the device. Place a power-good supervisor or sequence the rails with a dedicated FPGA power controller (such as an LTC or TI PMIC) when designing for hot-swap or battery scenarios. Decoupling must include at least 20 low-ESL 0.1uF ceramic capacitors distributed under the BGA footprint plus 4 to 8 bulk 47uF to 100uF tantalum or polymer capacitors at the supply pins to suppress transient currents during simultaneous switching of LVDS/TTL outputs.
The 400-ball FineLine BGA at 1.0 mm pitch requires 4-layer or 6-layer PCB construction with laser-drilled or controlled-depth microvias to escape the inner-row balls. Use a via-in-pad or dog-bone fan-out with 0.5 mm via pad and 0.25 mm drill to maintain manufacturability. Match the BGA pad diameter to the datasheet's 0.5 mm recommendation with NSMD (non-solder mask defined) pads for best joint reliability. Include at least four thermal vias under the central ball array and connect them to an inner ground plane to improve theta_JB and reduce junction temperature under high toggle rates.
For LVDS signaling on the EP1C20F400I-6, route each LVDS pair with 100 ohm differential impedance and match trace lengths within 20 mils to preserve the 200 mV-450 mV differential swing and avoid skew-induced jitter. Place AC-coupling capacitors (0.1uF) at the receiver end of long LVDS runs. For high-speed memory interfaces (DDR or QDR SRAM), use the dedicated DQS pins and follow Altera's external memory interface guidelines in the Cyclone device handbook to meet setup/hold timing. Estimated: at 200 MHz DDR, the DQS-to-data skew budget is roughly +/-50 ps, achievable with proper length tuning in the PCB CAD tool.
Do not use the EP1C20F400I-6 in new production designs because the Cyclone family is end-of-life and Intel no longer guarantees long-term availability. Plan a migration to Cyclone IV E (EP4CE family) for the closest active alternative, or to MAX 10 (10M02/10M04/10M08) if your design fits in 8K LEs and you want non-volatile configuration. When sustaining existing EP1C20 hardware, verify that your second-source supplier still has date-coded inventory and request a Certificate of Conformance to avoid counterfeit risk on the secondary market.
Compliance Information
RoHS and lead-free per distributor listings (YIC Electronics, IC Components). Not AEC-Q100 qualified; choose MAX 10 (10M08SAE144) for automotive-grade applications. Halogen-free status not explicitly stated in verified web data.
