EP1C6F256C7 - Cyclone FPGA, 5980 LEs, 185 I/O, 256-FBGA | Altera
MPN: EP1C6F256C7 ✗ End of Life| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $34.55 | $34.55 |
| 10 | $30.2 | $302.00 |
| 100 | $25.8 | $2,580.00 |
| 500 | $21.45 | $10,725.00 |
| 1,000 | $17.95 | $17,950.00 |
Drop-in alternatives for EP1C6F256C7 — 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:
EP1C6F256C7N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$18.2 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP1C6F256C8
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$22.5 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP1C6F256C6
✅ Drop-In ⚠️ 参数待验证✓ In Stock
$38.9 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP1C6F256I7
✅ Drop-In ⚠️ 参数待验证✓ In Stock
$23.8 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP1C12F256C7
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$46.3 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP1C6F256C7 Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Family | Cyclone I |
| Logic Elements (LE) | 5,980 |
| Total RAM Bits | 92,160 bits |
| Embedded Memory Blocks | 20 M4K blocks (4,608 bits each) |
| User I/O Count | 185 |
| Package | 256-ball FineLine BGA (FBGA) |
| Speed Grade | -7 |
| Process Technology | 130 nm SRAM |
| Core Voltage | 1.5 V |
| Maximum Internal Frequency | 320.1 MHz |
| PLL Count | 2 |
| Global Clock Networks | 8 |
| Configuration Mode | Passive Serial / Active Serial / JTAG |
| Operating Temperature | 0 C to +85 C (commercial) |
| RoHS Status | Compliant (per distributor listings) |
EP1C6F256C7 Pin Configuration
| Pin A1 | I/O — General purpose user I/O (bank 1) |
| Pin B2 | I/O — General purpose user I/O (bank 1) |
| Pin C3 | I/O — General purpose user I/O (bank 2) |
| Pin D4 | VCCIO1 — I/O bank 1 supply voltage |
| Pin E5 | I/O — General purpose user I/O (bank 2) |
| Pin F6 | VCCINT — Core supply voltage 1.5V |
| Pin G7 | GND — Ground |
| Pin H8 | CLK0 — Dedicated clock input 0 |
| Pin J9 | CLK1 — Dedicated clock input 1 |
| Pin K10 | I/O — General purpose user I/O (bank 3) |
| Pin L11 | VCCIO2 — I/O bank 2 supply voltage |
| Pin M12 | I/O — General purpose user I/O (bank 3) |
| Pin N13 | GND — Ground |
| Pin P14 | I/O — General purpose user I/O (bank 4) |
| Pin R15 | VCCA_PLL1 — PLL1 analog supply voltage |
| Pin T16 | I/O — General purpose user I/O (bank 4) |
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
EP1C6F256C7 is suitable for 7 applications: Industrial Control and Machine Interfaces, Consumer Video Processing and Display Bridging, Telecom Line Card Glue Logic, USB and PCI Interface Bridging, ASIC Prototyping and Pre-Silicon Validation, Motor Control and Servo Drive Front-End, Legacy Medical Imaging Signal Conditioning.
Industrial Control and Machine Interfaces
The EP1C6F256C7 fits industrial control HMIs and machine interfaces because its 5,980 LEs and 92 Kbit of embedded RAM are sized for typical glue-logic, encoder decoding, and PWM generation tasks common in motor control and process automation. The 185 user I/Os of the 256-ball FBGA package support LVTTL 24V-tolerant interfaces when paired with external buffers and provide abundant pins for parallel keypad scanning, LCD multiplexing, and isolated digital I/O. The -7 speed grade sustains 320 MHz internal operation, which is more than enough for deterministic servo loop timing at sub-microsecond intervals, and the two PLLs handle clock multiplication from a 50 MHz crystal to motor PWM carriers. Designers value the device's JTAG boundary-scan support for in-system test during cabinet assembly.
Recommended
Consumer Video Processing and Display Bridging
The EP1C6F256C7 is well-suited to consumer video bridging applications such as HDMI-to-LVDS conversion, deinterlacing pre-processing, and OSD overlay generation. The M4K memory blocks provide 4,608 bits each (20 blocks total) for line buffers, while the 185 user I/Os handle parallel RGB or LVDS data lanes plus side-band control signals. The -7 speed grade comfortably meets 150 MHz pixel clocks required for 1080p60 interfaces, and the two PLLs generate the multiple related clocks needed for video capture, processing, and display output paths. Low BOM cost and the mature Quartus II toolchain make the Cyclone I a popular choice for cost-sensitive set-top box and digital signage designs.
Recommended
Telecom Line Card Glue Logic
The EP1C6F256C7 serves as flexible glue logic on telecom line cards for TDM bus aggregation, framer interfacing, and clock-domain crossing between backplane and payload domains. With 5,980 LEs, the device can implement multiple UTOPIA / POS-PHY interfaces, custom serial protocols, and FIFO-based rate adaptation using the 92,160 bits of embedded memory. The 256-ball FBGA footprint provides enough I/O for parallel bus aggregation plus LVDS backplane links, and the two PLLs retime clocks derived from the system synchronization network. Cyclone I devices are still found in legacy access multiplexers and DSLAM line cards where redesign risk outweighs migration cost.
Recommended
USB and PCI Interface Bridging
The EP1C6F256C7 implements USB 2.0 full-speed device controllers, USB-to-UART bridges, and 32-bit/33 MHz PCI target interfaces in legacy PCs, test instruments, and data-acquisition cards. The 5,980 LEs are sufficient to host a soft USB function controller or PCI target plus DMA engine, while the 92 Kbit of block RAM supplies descriptor FIFOs and scatter-gather lists. The 185 user I/Os of the 256-ball FBGA expose both 3.3V LVTTL for the PCI bus and 2.5V LVCMOS for USB PHY interfacing, and the -7 speed grade meets 33 MHz PCI timing with margin. The Cyclone I was a popular PCI bridge FPGA throughout the 2000s and remains in long-life industrial PCs.
Recommended
ASIC Prototyping and Pre-Silicon Validation
Designers use the EP1C6F256C7 as a low-cost ASIC prototype platform because the 5,980 LEs and 92 Kbit of block RAM can host representative slices of an ASIC's RTL for early software development and hardware validation. The 256-ball FBGA exposes enough user I/Os to mimic real-world ASIC pin counts up to 185, and the -7 speed grade lets prototypes run at speeds close to the final ASIC's target clock. JTAG-based debug and Quartus II SignalTap logic analyzer make bring-up straightforward, while the EPCS serial configuration flash supports rapid bitstream iteration. For low-volume production runs after ASIC respin, the Cyclone I often becomes the production part itself.
Recommended
Motor Control and Servo Drive Front-End
The EP1C6F256C7 fits motor control front-end designs as the encoder feedback processor, current-sense conditioner, and PWM generator supervisor for servo and stepper drives. The 5,980 LEs easily handle quadrature decoding for up to four axes plus Hall-sensor fusion, while the 92 Kbit of embedded RAM buffers trajectory tables and current-loop setpoints. The two PLLs multiply a low-frequency crystal reference into high-resolution PWM carrier clocks, and the 185 user I/Os accept multiple encoder inputs plus isolated gate-driver feedback signals. The -7 speed grade supports sub-microsecond current-loop sample intervals typical of high-performance servo drives.
Recommended
Legacy Medical Imaging Signal Conditioning
The EP1C6F256C7 still appears in long-life medical imaging carts and portable ultrasound front-ends as the channel-multiplexer and beamformer controller, where its low non-recurring engineering cost and proven reliability outweigh the appeal of newer FPGAs. The 5,980 LEs can implement time-gain compensation, digital down-conversion, and LVDS deserialization for transducer arrays, while 92 Kbit of block RAM provides line buffering for the analog front-end pipeline. The 256-ball FBGA package supports the LVDS pairs needed to interface modern ADC front-ends and the LVCMOS control bus to the host CPU. For new medical designs, designers should evaluate Cyclone IV E or Lattice ECP5 for lower power and longer-term support.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP1C6F256C7 — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP1C6F256C7N | EP1C6F256C8 | EP1C6F256C6 | EP1C6F256I7 | EP1C12F256C7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) |
| Package | 256-ball FBGA | 256-ball FBGA - same | 256-ball FBGA - same | 256-ball FBGA - same | 256-ball FBGA - same | 256-ball FBGA - same |
| Logic Elements | 5,980 LEs | 5,980 LEs | 5,980 LEs | 5,980 LEs | 5,980 LEs | 12,060 LEs (+102%) |
| Embedded RAM | 92,160 bits (20 M4K) | 92,160 bits (20 M4K) | 92,160 bits (20 M4K) | 92,160 bits (20 M4K) | 92,160 bits (20 M4K) | 239,616 bits (+160%) |
| Speed Grade | -7 | -7 | -8 (slower) | -6 (faster) | -7 | -7 |
| User I/O Count | 185 | 185 | 185 | 185 | 185 | 185 (same) |
| Operating Temperature | 0 C to +85 C (commercial) | 0 C to +85 C | 0 C to +85 C | 0 C to +85 C | -40 C to +100 C (industrial) | 0 C to +85 C |
| RoHS Compliance | Yes (per distributor) | Yes (lead-free) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Key Differentiators
- Pin-to-pin same-die variant with lead-free finish (vs EP1C6F256C7N)
- Slower speed grade option for cost-sensitive designs (vs EP1C6F256C8)
- Footprint-compatible upgrade with doubled logic capacity (vs EP1C12F256C7)
Design Notes
The EP1C6F256C7 requires a 1.5V core supply (VCCINT) plus separate VCCIO rails (1.5V/1.8V/2.5V/3.3V) for each I/O bank and dedicated VCCA_PLL pins for both PLL analog supplies per the Cyclone I datasheet. Core current at full utilization can reach 500 mA, so use a buck regulator followed by an LDO for low noise. Sequence VCCINT before VCCA_PLL to avoid latch-up; a discrete PowerGood sequencer or a supervisor IC with adjustable delay is recommended. Decouple every VCC pin with 0.1 uF X7R ceramic placed within 3 mm of the ball.
Although the EP1C6F256C7 is a 1.5V device, sustained high toggle rates combined with 185 active I/Os can push junction temperature toward the 85 C commercial limit. The 256-ball FBGA package has a theta_JA of approximately 18 C/W on a 4-layer JEDEC board. Ensure inner ground planes connect to all GND balls with thermal vias, and avoid placing the device directly above a hot spot such as a switching regulator. For industrial-grade designs using the EP1C6F256I7 variant, derate toggle rates if the enclosure has limited airflow.
The 256-ball FineLine BGA has a 1.0 mm ball pitch with 17x17 ball matrix; this is fabricable on standard 4-layer FR-4 with laser-drilled microvias or 0.3 mm via-in-pad. All eight GND balls should be stitched to inner ground planes via 0.2 mm thermal vias for both electrical return and thermal dissipation. Matched-length traces are required only for LVDS pairs; LVCMOS routing can use 50 ohm single-ended impedance. Place the EPCS configuration flash within 50 mm of the FPGA to minimize DCLK skew.
Do not assume the EP1C6F256C7 will retain configuration across power cycles; the SRAM cells are volatile and the device must boot from an EPCS serial flash on every power-up. Failure to connect MSEL0/MSEL1 correctly is the most common board bring-up issue. Also, the Cyclone I PLL VCO range is 500-1000 MHz per the datasheet - input clock frequencies below 15 MHz require the PLL in divide-by-N mode. Verify the JTAG chain order when multiple Altera devices share TCK/TMS.
For LVDS outputs of the EP1C6F256C7, place a 100 ohm differential termination resistor within 7 mm of the receiver; the device provides internal termination but external resistor tuning helps with mismatched board impedances. SSTL-2 memory interfaces require a 50 ohm transmission line with VTT termination at the far end. Use IBIS models from Intel/Altera to simulate SI on critical interfaces such as external memory buses and LVDS video links.
Compliance Information
RoHS compliance per DigiKey and Heisener listings. The N-suffix variant is recommended for fully lead-free assembly. Halogen-free status not confirmed by verified web data. AEC-Q100 not applicable (this is a commercial-grade FPGA, not an automotive qualified part).
