EP1C3T144C8N - Cyclone 2910 LE FPGA, 104 I/O, 144-TQFP | Altera
MPN: EP1C3T144C8N ✗ End of Life| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $28.5 | $28.50 |
| 10 | $24.2 | $242.00 |
| 100 | $19.85 | $1,985.00 |
| 500 | $16.4 | $8,200.00 |
| 1,000 | $14.1 | $14,100.00 |
Drop-in alternatives for EP1C3T144C8N — 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:
EP4CE6E22C8N
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EP1C3T144C8GA
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Contact for price
View Datasheet →EP1C3T144C7N
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View Datasheet →EP1C3T144C6N
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View Datasheet →EP1C3T144C8
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View Datasheet →EP1C3T144C8N Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Series | Cyclone |
| Logic Elements | 2,910 |
| Total RAM Bits | 59,904 |
| Number of CLBs / LABs | 291 LABs (CLBs) |
| User I/Os | 104 |
| Operating Frequency (Max) | 275 MHz |
| Core Supply Voltage | 1.425 V to 1.575 V (1.5 V nominal) |
| I/O Supply Voltage Range | 1.5 V to 3.3 V |
| Number of PLLs | 2 |
| Embedded Memory Blocks | 13 M4K blocks (4 Kbit each) |
| Package | TQFP-144 (22 mm x 22 mm, 0.5 mm pitch) |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount |
| Operating Temperature | 0 C to +70 C (commercial, C8 grade) |
| Configuration Mode | Passive Serial (PS), Active Serial (AS), JTAG |
| RoHS Status | Compliant |
EP1C3T144C8N Pin Configuration
| Pin 1 | I/O Bank 1 / VREF — User I/O / Bank 1 reference voltage |
| Pin 2 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 3 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 4 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 5 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 6 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 7 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 8 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 9 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 10 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 11 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 12 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 13 | VCCIO1 — I/O Bank 1 supply voltage |
| Pin 14 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 15 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 16 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 17 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 18 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 19 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 20 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 21 | GND — Ground |
| Pin 22 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 23 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 24 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 25 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 26 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 27 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 28 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 29 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 30 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 31 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 32 | VCCIO1 — I/O Bank 1 supply voltage |
| Pin 33 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 34 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 35 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 36 | GND — Ground |
| Pin 37 | CLK0 — PLL Clock Input 0 (dedicated) |
| Pin 38 | CLK1 — PLL Clock Input 1 (dedicated) |
| Pin 39 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 40 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 41 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 42 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 43 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 44 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 45 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 46 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 47 | VCCIO2 — I/O Bank 2 supply voltage |
| Pin 48 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 49 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 50 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 51 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 52 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 53 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 54 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 55 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 56 | VCCINT — Core supply voltage (1.5 V) |
| Pin 57 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 58 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 59 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 60 | GND — Ground |
| Pin 61 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 62 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 63 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 64 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 65 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 66 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 67 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 68 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 69 | VCCIO2 — I/O Bank 2 supply voltage |
| Pin 70 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 71 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 72 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 73 | GND — Ground |
| Pin 74 | TDI — JTAG Test Data In |
| Pin 75 | TMS — JTAG Test Mode Select |
| Pin 76 | TCK — JTAG Test Clock |
| Pin 77 | nCONFIG — Configuration control (active-low) |
| Pin 78 | nSTATUS — Configuration status (active-low) |
| Pin 79 | CONF_DONE — Configuration complete (open-drain) |
| Pin 80 | MSEL0 — Configuration mode select 0 |
| Pin 81 | MSEL1 — Configuration mode select 1 |
| Pin 82 | MSEL2 — Configuration mode select 2 |
| Pin 83 | nCE — Chip enable (active-low, for multi-device chain) |
| Pin 84 | nCEO — Chip enable out (active-low, daisy-chain) |
| Pin 85 | DCLK — Configuration clock (PS mode) |
| Pin 86 | DATA0 — Configuration data input (PS/AS mode) |
| Pin 87 | nCS — AS configuration chip select (active-low) |
| Pin 88 | ASD0 — AS configuration serial data output |
| Pin 89 | TDO — JTAG Test Data Out |
| Pin 90 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 91 | VCCINT — Core supply voltage (1.5 V) |
| Pin 92 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 93 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 94 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 95 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 96 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 97 | GND — Ground |
| Pin 98 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 99 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 100 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 101 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 102 | VCCIO3 — I/O Bank 3 supply voltage |
| Pin 103 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 104 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 105 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 106 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 107 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 108 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 109 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 110 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 111 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 112 | GND — Ground |
| Pin 113 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 114 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 115 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 116 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 117 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 118 | CLK2 — PLL Clock Input 2 (dedicated, dual-purpose) |
| Pin 119 | CLK3 — PLL Clock Input 3 (dedicated, dual-purpose) |
| Pin 120 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 121 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 122 | VCCIO4 — I/O Bank 4 supply voltage |
| Pin 123 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 124 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 125 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 126 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 127 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 128 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 129 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 130 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 131 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 132 | VCCINT — Core supply voltage (1.5 V) |
| Pin 133 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 134 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 135 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 136 | GND — Ground |
| Pin 137 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 138 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 139 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 140 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 141 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 142 | I/O — User I/O pin |
| Pin 143 | VCCIO4 — I/O Bank 4 supply voltage |
| Pin 144 | I/O — User I/O pin |
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
EP1C3T144C8N is suitable for 7 applications: Industrial Control Logic Bridge, Motor Drive Interface & PWM Generator, Video/Display Bridge & LVDS Serializer, ASIC Prototype and Educational Platform, Telecom Glue Logic & Protocol Conversion, Medical Monitoring Signal Conditioning, Aerospace Avionics Data Concentrator.
Industrial Control Logic Bridge
The EP1C3T144C8N's 2,910 logic elements, 104 user I/Os, and dual PLLs make it ideal for industrial-control bridge logic between legacy parallel buses (8/16/32-bit) and modern SoC processors. With four I/O banks supporting 3.3 V LVCMOS, 2.5 V LVCMOS, and LVTTL, it can simultaneously interface to 3.3 V opto-isolated inputs and 1.8 V MCU GPIOs. The 13 M4K RAM blocks (59,904 bits) accommodate FIFO buffers for asynchronous bus rate-matching. Place a 100 ohm differential trace for clocks going into PLL inputs CLK0/CLK1 and add 33 ohm series termination on high-speed outputs.
Recommended
Motor Drive Interface & PWM Generator
The EP1C3T144C8N is well-suited as a PWM generator and motor-control interface for low-power three-phase BLDC or stepper drives. Its 104 I/Os accommodate multiple PWM channels, encoder inputs, and Hall-sensor signals, while the two on-chip PLLs can synthesize precisely-tuned switching frequencies from a single crystal reference. The 275 MHz fabric supports high-resolution center-aligned PWM for low-torque-ripple operation. Use the dedicated clock input pins for the encoder, and reserve one I/O bank for 5 V-tolerant inputs via external resistor dividers.
Recommended
Video/Display Bridge & LVDS Serializer
With 104 user I/Os and LVDS I/O support, the EP1C3T144C8N can act as a parallel-to-LVDS display bridge, driving 18/24-bit RGB panels from a low-cost FPGA fabric. The 13 M4K RAM blocks implement line buffers for timing conversion (e.g., 60 Hz to 50 Hz or RGB-to-LVDS conversion). The 275 MHz fabric allows pixel clock multiplication up to 108 MHz, supporting XGA resolution. Place bypass capacitors (0.1 uF + 10 uF) within 5 mm of every VCCINT and VCCIO pin pair to minimize supply noise on the PLL supply.
Recommended
ASIC Prototype and Educational Platform
The EP1C3T144C8N is widely used as an ASIC prototype vehicle and educational platform, particularly with legacy Cyclone development kits. The 2,910 logic elements and 59 Kbit RAM are sufficient for student projects covering state machines, FIFO design, soft-core CPUs (Nios II/e), and basic DSP. The 144-pin TQFP package is hand-solderable with care, supporting rework-friendly lab boards. Use Quartus II Web Edition 13.0sp1 (the last version for Cyclone I) for compilation and the Altera University Program IP cores for fast bring-up.
Recommended
Telecom Glue Logic & Protocol Conversion
The EP1C3T144C8N's 104 I/Os across four banks enable protocol conversion glue logic in legacy telecom equipment: UART-to-I2C bridges, SPI-to-parallel decoders, and TDM bus time-slot multiplexers. The two PLLs derive multiple independent clock domains from one backplane clock reference, supporting 1.544 MHz (T1) and 2.048 MHz (E1) line rates simultaneously. The 13 M4K blocks implement byte-wide FIFOs for rate adaptation. Use LVTTL on Bank 1 for 3.3 V backplane interfaces and LVCMOS25 on Bank 2 for 2.5 V DSP links.
Recommended
Medical Monitoring Signal Conditioning
The EP1C3T144C8N fits signal-conditioning front-ends in non-critical medical monitoring equipment, performing digital filtering of ECG, SpO2, or temperature sensor streams before forwarding to an MCU. Its 2,910 LEs are sufficient for 8-tap FIR/IIR filters, moving-average smoothing, and peak detection. The 275 MHz fabric provides low latency (<1 us) for real-time alarm generation. Use dedicated I/O banks for analog-isolated 3.3 V sensor inputs and a separate bank for 1.8 V MCU SPI interfaces. Maintain creepage distances per IEC 60601 when designing isolation barriers.
Recommended
Aerospace Avionics Data Concentrator
In legacy avionics upgrades, the EP1C3T144C8N acts as a data concentrator aggregating ARINC 429, MIL-STD-1553, and discrete I/O signals into a unified parallel bus for an FMC. Its 104 I/Os accommodate multiple ARINC channels plus discretes, and its -40 C to +85 C industrial-grade counterpart EP1C3T144I8N is preferred for harsh environments. The dual PLLs derive precise bit-timing clocks for ARINC (12.5/100 kbps). Use conformal coating and 4-layer FR-4 with controlled-impedance 50 ohm routing for RF-sensitive analog inputs.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP1C3T144C8N — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP4CE6E22C8N | EP1C3T144C8GA | EP1C3T144C7N | EP1C3T144C6N | EP1C3T144C8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) |
| Package | TQFP-144 | EQFP-144 (pin-compatible) | TQFP-144 (same) | TQFP-144 (same) | TQFP-144 (same) | TQFP-144 (same) |
| Logic Elements | 2,910 | 6,272 (+115%) | 2,910 (same) | 2,910 (same) | 2,910 (same) | 2,910 (same) |
| Total RAM Bits | 59,904 | 270,000 (+350%) | 59,904 (same) | 59,904 (same) | 59,904 (same) | 59,904 (same) |
| User I/Os | 104 | 91 (slightly fewer) | 104 (same) | 104 (same) | 104 (same) | 104 (same) |
| Speed Grade | C8 | C8 (Cyclone IV) | C8 (same) | C7 (slower) | C6 (slowest) | C8 (same) |
| Core Voltage | 1.5 V | 1.2 V (lower power) | 1.5 V (same) | 1.5 V (same) | 1.5 V (same) | 1.5 V (same) |
| Lifecycle Status | Obsolete | Active | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete |
Key Differentiators
- 2x logic capacity in a pin-compatible package (vs EP4CE6E22C8N)
- Lowest cost in current factory-stock channels (vs EP1C3T144C7N (slower speed grade))
- Pb-free variant with full compliance (vs EP1C3T144C8 (non-N variant))
- Active production alternative for new designs (vs EP4CE6E22C8N)
Design Notes
The EP1C3T144C8N requires three independent supplies: VCCINT (1.425 V to 1.575 V, typically 1.5 V) for the core fabric, VCCIO1/VCCIO2/VCCIO3/VCCIO4 (1.5 V to 3.3 V) for the four I/O banks, and VCC_PLL (1.5 V) for each PLL analog supply. Decouple each VCCINT pin with a 0.1 uF X7R ceramic within 3 mm, plus a 100 uF bulk tantalum on each supply plane. Tie all GND pins to a solid ground plane; avoid signal routing on internal power planes to minimize switching noise on the PLL supply.
Use a four-layer FR-4 PCB with the second inner layer dedicated to GND and the third inner layer to VCCINT power. The TQFP-144 package (22 mm x 22 mm, 0.5 mm pitch) requires 0.25 mm trace width with 0.20 mm spacing in break-out areas; use dog-bone fan-out under the package with via-in-pad if necessary. Place the EPCS configuration memory adjacent to the AS pins (nCS, ASD0, DCLK) with 33 ohm series termination on DCLK to dampen reflections.
Do not leave MSEL[0..2] floating - MSEL[2..0] = 000 selects AS mode, 001 selects PS mode, 010 selects JTAG-only. The CONF_DONE pin must be pulled up to VCCIO via a 10 kohm resistor for proper configuration. The nCONFIG pin must be held high during operation; pulse it low for at least 40 ns to initiate reconfiguration. Always connect TDO to a pull-up if JTAG is used in a multi-device scan chain. VREF pins must be tied to the reference voltage when SSTL or HSTL I/O standards are used.
The TQFP-144 package has a typical theta_JA of approximately 35 C/W in still air without a heatsink. For continuous operation above 200 mA core current (typical for high-utilization designs at 275 MHz), add a copper heatsink area on top of the package (at least 100 mm^2) or route 6 thermal vias to the bottom plane. Estimated: at full LE utilization, core current draw can reach 250 mA, dissipating approximately 375 mW; combined with I/O switching, total power can exceed 1.5 W, requiring thermal management above 50 C ambient.
Route high-speed clocks (CLK0, CLK1, CLK2, CLK3) with controlled impedance and matched lengths to their destinations. Match data-skew within +/- 50 ps across byte groups by serpentine tuning on the inner PCB layer. Keep clock traces at least 3x the trace spacing away from asynchronous I/O to minimize crosstalk. LVDS pairs must be length-matched within 1 mm and routed as 100 ohm differential on a stripline layer; ground the LVDS region aggressively to control common-mode noise.
Compliance Information
RoHS and Pb-free per Altera product page; AEC-Q100 not applicable (FPGA is not automotive-qualified at this part level); halogen-free status not specified in available web data.
