EP20K400GC652-1XV - 400K Gate APEX 20K FPGA | Altera | BGA-652
MPN: EP20K400GC652-1XV ✗ End of Life| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $285 | $285.00 |
| 10 | $260 | $2,600.00 |
| 100 | $235 | $23,500.00 |
| 500 | $210 | $105,000.00 |
| 1,000 | $190 | $190,000.00 |
EP20K400GC652-1XV Overview
An FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) is a semiconductor device built around an array of configurable logic blocks (CLBs), embedded memory, and programmable interconnect that can be reconfigured by the end user after manufacture. FPGAs occupy the upper tier of programmable logic devices (PLDs) — above SPLDs and CPLDs — and below mask-programmed ASICs in density and NRE cost. They are widely used for ASIC prototyping, glue logic, accelerator offload, and low-to-mid volume custom compute where mask NRE is not amortizable. The APEX 20K family specifically introduced MultiCore integration of look-up tables, product-term logic, and embedded memory in a single fabric, enabling true SOPC designs on a single programmable die.
Key features include 1664 Macros, 212,992 bits of embedded SRAM, 502 user I/O pins, JTAG-based in-system programmability via IEEE 1149.1, and a thermally-enhanced BGA-652 package. The -1 speed grade designates the standard performance bin within the APEX 20K 1.8 V/2.5 V core family, and the 'V' suffix marks RoHS-compliant lead-free assembly.
The MultiCore architecture combines look-up-table (LUT) logic, embedded array blocks (EABs) for memory, and FastTrack continuous routing interconnect, allowing designers to allocate logic, memory, and DSP on a per-region basis. With up to 212 Kbits of distributed and block RAM, large FIFO buffers and datapath registers can be implemented on-chip, removing external memory bottlenecks in many datapath and telecom designs.
Typical applications include telecommunications line-card glue logic, DSP co-processing and bus interfacing, ASIC prototyping for system-on-chip designs, image and video processing front-ends, and industrial control backplanes. The 502 user I/O pins provide abundant connectivity for parallel bus standards, memory interfaces, and LVDS signalling.
When designing with this device, ensure the PCB land pattern follows JEDEC BGA-652 recommendations, provide a minimum of four PCB layers with dedicated power and ground planes, and use Altera's Quartus II design software (legacy support) or compatible third-party synthesis for place-and-route. Decoupling must follow Altera's recommended capacitor network to limit core-rail transients during simultaneous-switching output events.
This page synthesizes distributor pricing, drop-in alternatives from the same APEX 20K family, and practical design notes not found in the standalone manufacturer datasheet, giving engineers a single reference for evaluation and procurement.
Drop-in alternatives for EP20K400GC652-1XV — same package, pin-to-pin compatible. Different-package parts requiring PCB rework are excluded.
Variants in this series
Same-series models that are drop-in compatible with EP20K400GC652-1XV (same form factor and footprint) — differing in Series, Operating Temperature, Speed Grade, Family, Package.
Quick Comparison Tool — Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
EP20K400BC652-1XV
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$115 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP20K400BC652-1X
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$140 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP20K400EBC652-1X
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$92 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP20K400BC652-1V
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$47.95 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP20K400EBC652-1
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$110 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP20K400GC652-1XV Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Family | APEX 20K |
| Logic Elements (Macros) | 1664 |
| Typical System Gates | 400,000 |
| Maximum User I/O | 502 |
| Embedded SRAM | 212,992 bits |
| Core Supply Voltage | 2.5 V |
| Propagation Delay | 2.5 ns |
| Logic Family | CMOS |
| Package Type | BGA-652 (thermally enhanced) |
| Operating Temperature | 0 C to +85 C |
| Speed Grade | -1 (standard) |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount |
| RoHS Status | Compliant (lead-free, V suffix) |
| Architecture | MultiCore (LUT + EAB + FastTrack interconnect) |
| Programming Interface | JTAG (IEEE 1149.1) / passive serial |
EP20K400GC652-1XV bga-652 (thermally enhanced) Pin Configuration Guide
Pin configuration for EP20K400GC652-1XV (bga-652 (thermally enhanced) 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 EP20K400GC652-1XV.
Refer to the datasheet for full pin configuration.
Typical Applications
EP20K400GC652-1XV is suitable for 6 applications: Telecommunications Line-Card Glue Logic, ASIC Prototyping and SOPC Emulation, DSP Co-Processing Front-End, Industrial Control Backplane Bridging, Image and Video Processing Front-End, Legacy Avionics and Defense Retrofit.
Telecommunications Line-Card Glue Logic
The EP20K400GC652-1XV's 400K system gates and 502 user I/O pins make it well suited for telecommunications line cards where it bridges backplane buses (UTOPIA, POS-PHY) to network processors and framer ASICs. Its 212 Kbits of embedded SRAM allow on-chip implementation of cell/packet FIFOs and statistics counters, removing external SRAM in many designs. Designers use the MultiCore architecture to instantiate wide datapath glue between TDM buses and packet engines without resorting to a second ASIC. Compared with newer Stratix/Cyclone devices, the APEX 20K remains attractive for legacy line-card retrofits because the BGA-652 footprint is reused across multiple product generations, simplifying spare-part provisioning for installed base equipment.
Recommended
ASIC Prototyping and SOPC Emulation
With approximately 400K system gates and 1664 Macros, the EP20K400GC652-1XV provides sufficient logic capacity to prototype medium-complexity ASICs and System-On-a-Programmable-Chip (SOPC) designs before committing to mask NRE. Its 2.5 ns propagation delay allows timing closure at clock rates approaching 100 MHz in pipelined designs. Engineers use it to validate RTL, exercise firmware drivers, and run real-world I/O traffic long before silicon return. The embedded SRAM is large enough to model on-chip cache and DMA buffers, improving emulation fidelity. Quartus II legacy toolchains support the part for incremental prototyping flows that have been hardened over years of reuse.
Recommended
DSP Co-Processing Front-End
The EP20K400GC652-1XV is frequently deployed as a DSP co-processor front-end, performing pre-processing, decimation, and protocol framing before data is handed off to a dedicated DSP or processor. The 502 user I/O pins support wide parallel LVDS data capture from high-speed ADCs, while the embedded array blocks (EABs) provide distributed shift-register and FIR filter primitives that run close to the I/O pins. Designers achieve deterministic latency by leveraging the 2.5 ns propagation delay in synchronous pipelined chains. In radar, sonar, and software-defined-radio front-ends the device remains in service because its pinout and timing behaviour are well documented across many deployed platforms.
Recommended
Industrial Control Backplane Bridging
Industrial control systems use the EP20K400GC652-1XV to bridge legacy parallel backplanes (VME, CompactPCI, proprietary buses) to modern Ethernet and serial RapidIO links. Its 502 user I/O pins accommodate wide bus interfaces plus multiple serial transceivers through serializer/deserializer companion chips. The device's commercial 0-85 C operating range is acceptable for chassis-internal environments, and the thermally-enhanced BGA-652 package supports the higher junction temperatures seen in sealed enclosures. The MultiCore architecture allows the same fabric to host bus-state machines, scatter-gather DMA engines, and protocol offload blocks concurrently.
Recommended
Image and Video Processing Front-End
In image and video processing front-ends, the EP20K400GC652-1XV performs pixel-rate preprocessing, color-space conversion, and Bayer demosaicing before passing data to a host processor or compression engine. The 212 Kbits of embedded SRAM line-buffer pixel rows efficiently, while the 502 user I/O pins accept wide parallel camera or DVI/HDMI bus inputs through external transceiver glue. The 2.5 ns propagation delay supports pixel clocks up to 100 MHz at moderate resolutions. For medical imaging, machine vision, and broadcast video applications still in production, the part remains a reliable choice because of its long-term supply via authorized aftermarket distributors.
Recommended
Legacy Avionics and Defense Retrofit
Defense and avionics platforms certified decades ago still rely on the EP20K400GC652-1XV for mission-critical processing, signal conditioning, and bus interfacing. Re-certification cost for newer FPGAs in these programs is prohibitive, so the original APEX 20K device continues to be specified on replacement-part orders. The BGA-652 footprint's long history in defense layouts means existing qualified-assembly houses can place and inspect the part without requalification. Authorized aftermarket distributors such as Rochester Electronics hold QML-like flow-down stock that satisfies defense procurement traceability requirements. Engineers value the part's deterministic 2.5 ns propagation delay for hard-real-time control loops in flight systems.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP20K400GC652-1XV — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP20K400BC652-1XV | EP20K400BC652-1X | EP20K400EBC652-1X | EP20K400BC652-1V | EP20K400EBC652-1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Package | BGA-652 | BGA-652 - same | BGA-652 - same | BGA-652 - same | BGA-652 - same | BGA-652 - same |
| Brand | Altera | Altera - same | Altera - same | Altera - same | Altera - same | Altera - same |
| Family | APEX 20K | APEX 20K | APEX 20K | APEX 20KE | APEX 20K | APEX 20KE |
| Speed Grade | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 |
| RoHS / Lead-Free | Yes (V suffix) | Yes (V) | No (SnPb) | No (SnPb) | Yes (V) | No (SnPb) |
| Logic Elements (Macros) | 1664 | 1664 | 1664 | 1664 | 1664 | 1664 |
| User I/O | 502 | 502 | 502 | 502 | 502 | 502 |
| Lifecycle Status | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete |
Key Differentiators
- RoHS lead-free assembly with -1 speed grade in BGA-652 (vs EP20K400BC652-1X)
- Original APEX 20K MultiCore architecture (no 20KE refresh) (vs EP20K400EBC652-1X)
- 502 user I/O pins at 400K gate density (vs EP20K400FC672-1 (BGA-672))
Design Notes
The BGA-652 thermally-enhanced package requires at least a 4-layer PCB with continuous power and ground planes under the device. Use 0.5 oz copper on outer layers and 1 oz on inner planes to spread heat from the thermal balls. Via-in-pad with filled and plated-over copper caps is recommended for all signal balls to meet the 0.5 mm or finer pitch recommended by Altera's Device Package Information Data Sheet. Without proper plane stitching and decoupling, simultaneous-switching output noise can collapse the 2.5 V core rail during high-activity events.
Estimated: at full I/O toggle on 502 outputs at 2.5 V with 50% activity, the EP20K400GC652-1XV can draw 1.5 to 2.0 A from VCCINT. Provide at least eight 0.1 uF X7R 0402/0201 decoupling capacitors distributed across the BGA footprint within 3 mm of the package, plus four bulk 10 uF X5R capacitors near the four corners of the device. The I/O banks (VCCIO) require separate rails and decoupling; do not share VCCINT and VCCIO planes even though both are nominally 2.5 V. A bulk 220 uF polymer-aluminum capacitor near the regulator output provides hold-up during inrush.
Three common pitfalls arise when designing with the obsolete EP20K400GC652-1XV: (1) assuming newer Quartus releases support the device - only Quartus versions prior to 13.0 generate bitstreams reliably; use a virtual machine with the legacy toolchain if upgrading the host. (2) Treating the 'V' suffix as cosmetic - it confirms lead-free assembly; placing the non-V variant on a lead-free-only line triggers JEDEC J-STD-020 reflow profile violations. (3) Substituting the APEX 20KE family (suffix 'E') without revalidating bitstream - the E family uses an enhanced routing architecture that requires recompilation, not just relabelling. Reference Altera Application Note 116 for known APEX 20K design issues.
Compliance Information
RoHS compliance confirmed by 'V' suffix per Altera part numbering convention. REACH, halogen-free, and conflict-mineral status not stated in the legacy datasheet excerpt and set to 'unknown' rather than assumed. AEC-Q100 not applicable - this is a commercial-grade FPGA.
