EP1C6F256C6NGA - Cyclone FPGA 6K LE 256-FBGA | Intel / Altera
MPN: EP1C6F256C6NGA ✗ End of Life| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $38.5 | $38.50 |
| 10 | $34.2 | $342.00 |
| 100 | $29.85 | $2,985.00 |
| 500 | $26.4 | $13,200.00 |
| 1,000 | $23.1 | $23,100.00 |
Drop-in alternatives for EP1C6F256C6NGA — 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:
EP1C6F256C6
✅ Drop-In ⚠️ 参数待验证✓ In Stock
$38.9 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP1C6F256C8N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$21.4 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP1C6F256I7N
✅ Drop-In ⚠️ 参数待验证✓ In Stock
$27.94 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP1C6F256C6N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$21.8 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP1C6F256C2
✅ Drop-In ⚠️ 参数待验证✓ In Stock
$13.8 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP2C6F256C6N
✅ Drop-In📋 Reference alternative (not in catalog)
EP1C4F256C6N
✅ Drop-In ⚠️ 参数待验证📋 Reference alternative (not in catalog)
EP1C12F256C6N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$51.9 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP1C6F256C6NGA Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Series | Cyclone® |
| Logic Elements / Cells | 5,980 |
| Total RAM Bits | 92,160 |
| User I/O Count | 185 |
| Number of Logic Array Blocks (LABs) | 598 |
| Number of Gates | Data not available in provided sources |
| Embedded Memory Blocks | 20 × M4K (4 Kbit + parity each) |
| Number of PLLs | 2 |
| Package | 256-ball FineLine BGA (FBGA) |
| Speed Grade | C6 (commercial) |
| Operating Temperature | 0 °C to +85 °C (commercial, N suffix indicates lead-free) |
| Core Voltage | 1.5 V |
| Configuration Method | Passive Serial (EPCS) or JTAG |
| Process Technology | 0.13 µm SRAM |
| RoHS Status | Compliant (lead-free N suffix) |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount (BGA) |
EP1C6F256C6NGA 256-ball fineline bga (fbga) Pin Configuration Guide
Complete pinout information for EP1C6F256C6NGA (256-ball fineline bga (fbga) package). 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 EP1C6F256C6NGA.
Refer to the datasheet for full pin configuration.
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
EP1C6F256C6NGA is suitable for 6 applications: Industrial Motor Control, Telecom Line-Card Glue Logic, Legacy Parallel Bus Bridging, Low-Cost Video Processing, Consumer Display Controller, Industrial Communication Gateway.
Industrial Motor Control
The EP1C6F256C6NGA's 5,980 logic elements and 185 user I/Os make it well suited to industrial motor control and variable-frequency drive front-end designs. The 20 embedded M4K memory blocks (92 Kbit total) easily store sine-lookup tables and space-vector PWM modulation sequences, while the two PLLs generate the high-resolution PWM carrier clocks and the resolver excitation reference from a single crystal. Placed between the gate-driver stage and the MCU or HMI controller, the EP1C6 handles encoder decoding (incremental or EnDat), brake sequencing, and over-current protection logic with deterministic latency that an MCU could not match. Its commercial 0 °C to +85 °C range covers most cabinet-mounted environments; for harsher installations use the EP1C6F256I7N industrial variant.
Recommended
Telecom Line-Card Glue Logic
Telecom line cards require extensive bus arbitration, protocol conversion, and timing-stripping logic between backplane SERDES and payload processors. The EP1C6F256C6NGA provides 5,980 LEs for custom bus-bridge functions (e.g., UTOPIA, POS-PHY, SPI-3), 20 M4K blocks for small FIFO buffering of ATM cells or HDLC frames, and LVDS I/O support at up to 640 Mbps for direct connection to neighboring SERDES devices. Two PLLs align clocks across independent backplane and payload clock domains with sub-nanosecond jitter. The 256-FBGA package places all 185 I/Os within a compact area, leaving room for downstream MAC ASICs or NPUs on the same line card. Source: Cyclone Device Handbook, telecom reference designs.
Recommended
Legacy Parallel Bus Bridging
Industrial and embedded designs often need to bridge between obsolete parallel buses (ISA, PC/104, VME, custom 16/32-bit interfaces) and modern serial peripherals (SPI, I2C, USB, Ethernet). The EP1C6F256C6NGA delivers 185 user I/Os which is enough to terminate 32-bit data, 24-bit address, and all associated control signals for legacy buses while exposing SPI, I2C, or even soft-MAC Ethernet interfaces on the same die. The 5,980 LEs implement state machines, address decoding, wait-state insertion, and DMA handshakes. Programmable I/O standards (LVTTL, LVCMOS, PCI) let a single FPGA interface to multiple voltage domains without level shifters.
Recommended
Low-Cost Video Processing
The EP1C6F256C6NGA supports medium-resolution video processing pipelines such as image scaling, color-space conversion (RGB to YCbCr), de-interlacing, and on-screen display (OSD) overlay at standard-definition and lower 720p frame rates. Embedded M4K blocks buffer active video lines at pixel rates up to 140 MHz, while the 185 I/Os accept ITU-R BT.656, VGA, or 18-bit digital LCD inputs. Designers can leverage the two PLLs to generate pixel clocks from any incoming reference frequency. The 1.5 V core keeps dynamic power manageable even at 60 MHz pixel rates.
Recommended
Consumer Display Controller
Consumer products such as digital photo frames, point-of-sale terminals, and small industrial HMIs use the EP1C6F256C6NGA as a flexible timing controller for TFT LCD panels. The FPGA generates HSYNC/VSYNC and DE timing from an internal ROM-coded video timing table, performs gamma correction using M4K-stored LUTs, and drives the panel's LVDS or TTL data lanes. The 256-FBGA package fits beneath the LCD connector area on space-constrained boards, and the 185 I/Os support up to 24-bit color plus touch-screen I2C and SPI interfaces.
Recommended
Industrial Communication Gateway
Modbus, Profibus, CANopen, DeviceNet, EtherCAT, and other industrial protocols often need protocol conversion at the gateway or PLC edge. The EP1C6F256C6NGA's 185 I/Os accommodate multiple physical-layer transceivers (RS-485, RS-232, CAN, SPI-to-Ethernet), and its 5,980 LEs implement protocol stacks, message routing, and frame parsing in parallel hardware rather than software. The 20 M4K blocks buffer messages between buses. Cyclone's JTAG interface simplifies field firmware updates. The commercial temperature range suits indoor cabinet deployments.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP1C6F256C6NGA — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP1C6F256C6 | EP1C6F256C8N | EP1C6F256I7N | EP1C6F256C6N | EP2C6F256C6N |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Package | 256-ball FBGA | 256-ball FBGA | 256-ball FBGA | 256-ball FBGA | 256-ball FBGA | 256-ball FBGA |
| Brand | Altera (Intel PSG) | Altera (Intel PSG) | Altera (Intel PSG) | Altera (Intel PSG) | Altera (Intel PSG) | Altera (Intel PSG) |
| Logic Elements | 5,980 | 5,980 | 5,980 | 5,980 | 5,980 | 6,272 |
| Total RAM Bits | 92,160 | 92,160 | 92,160 | 92,160 | 92,160 | 119,808 |
| User I/O Count | 185 | 185 | 185 | 185 | 185 | 182 |
| Speed Grade | C6 (commercial) | C6 | C8 (faster) | I7 (industrial temp) | C6 | C6 (Cyclone II) |
| Operating Temperature | 0 °C to +85 °C (commercial) | 0 °C to +85 °C | 0 °C to +85 °C | -40 °C to +100 °C (industrial) | 0 °C to +85 °C | 0 °C to +85 °C |
| Core Voltage | 1.5 V | 1.5 V | 1.5 V | 1.5 V | 1.5 V | 1.2 V |
| Number of PLLs | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Lifecycle Status | Obsolete / NRND | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Active (Cyclone II) |
Key Differentiators
- Same-die drop-in compatibility across multiple speed grades (vs EP1C6F256C8N)
- Industrial temperature variant available in same package (vs EP1C6F256I7N)
- Migration path to Cyclone II in identical footprint (vs EP2C6F256C6N)
Design Notes
The Cyclone EP1C6 requires a dedicated 1.5 V core regulator with at least 500 mA of headroom. Use an LDO such as the TI TPS7A4501 or a switching regulator followed by an LDO post-stage. Place a 33 µF tantalum bulk capacitor plus four 0.1 µF ceramic decoupling capacitors within 5 mm of each VCCINT ball. For each VCCIO bank, add a 0.1 µF ceramic plus a 10 µF bulk capacitor. Power sequencing (VCCINT before VCCIO) prevents I/O latch-up during hot-plug events. Source: Cyclone Device Handbook, Cyclone Hardware Reference Manual section 4.
The 256-FBGA uses a 1.0 mm ball pitch, which is at the practical limit of standard 4-layer PCB manufacturing. Use laser-drilled micro-vias and ENIG surface finish. Allocate a continuous ground plane in layer 2 directly under the BGA, with stitched vias around the package perimeter every 2-3 mm. Power planes should be split by I/O bank so that each VCCIO bank has its own uninterrupted copper pour. Total decoupling placement should follow the Altera Cyclone reference design 256-FBGA footprint exactly.
Two frequent pitfalls with the EP1C6F256C6NGA: (1) leaving CONF_DONE high-Z — always add a 10 kΩ pull-up to VCCIO_3 or VCCIO_4 so that CONF_DONE confirms successful configuration; (2) configuring JTAG chain order — if the EP1C6 is not the first device in the JTAG chain, ensure its TCK TMS TDI TDO pins are correctly routed with no stubs. Also note that the C6 speed grade (slower) may fail timing closure at fMAX above 200 MHz; use the C7 or C8 grade for performance-critical designs.
Place the configuration flash (EPCS1 / EPCS4 / EPCS16) within 25 mm of the FPGA and route DCLK and DATA as a 50 Ω microstrip on layer 1 with a continuous ground return on layer 2. Keep JTAG signals away from switching power-supply traces. Dedicated clock inputs (CLK0–CLK3) should be routed as short, impedance-controlled differential pairs if LVDS is used. Source: Altera Cyclone Hardware Reference Manual, Chapter 11.
Compliance Information
RoHS compliance inferred from N suffix (lead-free) in the Altera ordering code. AEC-Q100 not applicable — Cyclone EP1C6 is not an automotive-grade FPGA; designers targeting AEC-Q100 should consider the Altera Cyclone III/IV automotive variants or the Microsemi IGLOO2 / RTG4 families instead. Halogen-free and conflict-mineral declarations not present in the Verified Web Data; flagged as unknown.
