EP20K600CF672C7N - APEX 20KC 600K-Gate FPGA | 488 I/O | 652-BGA
MPN: EP20K600CF672C7N ✗ End of Life| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $185 | $185.00 |
| 10 | $165 | $1,650.00 |
| 100 | $142 | $14,200.00 |
| 500 | $122.5 | $61,250.00 |
| 1,000 | $108 | $108,000.00 |
EP20K600CF672C7N Overview
An FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) is a semiconductor device built around an array of configurable logic blocks (CLBs), embedded memory blocks, and programmable interconnect, allowing designers to implement custom digital logic after manufacturing. APEX 20KC belongs to the broader programmable logic hierarchy: PLD -> CPLD/FPGA -> high-density SRAM-based FPGA -> system-on-chip platform FPGA. APEX devices use a MultiCore architecture that integrates Look-Up Table (LUT) logic, embedded system memory (ESB), and I/O elements on a single die, targeting high-throughput datapath, communications, and DSP-oriented designs.
Key features include 24,320 logic cells, 376 MHz maximum operating frequency, on-chip embedded system memory blocks, dedicated clock management circuitry, MultiVolt I/O supporting mixed-voltage interfacing, and full JTAG boundary-scan test support. The MultiCore architecture lets designers partition logic between LUT-based register-rich datapath and ESB-based RAM/ROM, optimizing both throughput and area. The 0.15 µm copper-interconnect process reduces interconnect delay and dynamic power compared with the aluminum-interconnect 20KE predecessor.
Typical applications include high-speed telecommunications backplanes, network switching fabrics, DSP co-processing cards, video/imaging pipelines, and ASIC prototyping platforms where 600K gates and 488 I/O pins are required. The APEX 20KC's pin-compatibility with APEX 20KE devices allows existing 20KE boards to be upgraded for higher performance without PCB rework.
When designing with the EP20K600CF672C7N, pay close attention to the BGA-652 land pattern and thermal management: the 45 x 45 mm package and 1.8 V core require a multilayer PCB with buried vias for power delivery and a thermal pad or copper pour under the BGA to keep junction temperature within the 0-85 °C commercial range. Decoupling must follow the Quartus II power-planning guidelines.
This page synthesizes distributor pricing, pin-compatible drop-in alternatives from the APEX 20K family, and practical design notes not found in the original manufacturer datasheet.
Drop-in alternatives for EP20K600CF672C7N — 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 EP20K600CF672C7N (same form factor and footprint) — differing in Process Technology, Operating Temperature, Package, RoHS Status, Speed Grade.
Quick Comparison Tool — Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
EP20K600CF672C7
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$2267.89 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP20K600CF672C7ES
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$360 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP20K600CF672C-7
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$1620 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP20K600CF672C-7ES
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$2050 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP20K600CF672C6
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$480 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP20K600CF672C8
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$322.4109 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP20K600CF672C7N Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Device Family | APEX 20KC |
| Maximum System Gates | 1,052,000 |
| Typical Gates | 600,000 |
| Logic Elements / Cells | 24,320 |
| Maximum User I/O Pins | 488 |
| Total Package Pins | 652 |
| Package | FC-FBGA (BGA-652) 45 x 45 mm, 1.27 mm pitch |
| Core Voltage | 1.8 V |
| Maximum Operating Frequency | 375.94 MHz |
| Propagation Delay | 1.48 ns |
| Process Technology | 0.15 µm all-layer copper-metal CMOS |
| Architecture | MultiCore (LUT + Embedded System Memory) |
| Operating Temperature | 0 °C to +85 °C (Commercial) |
| Speed Grade | C7 |
| Seated Height | 3.50 mm |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount (BGA) |
| RoHS Status | unknown |
EP20K600CF672C7N fc-fbga (bga-652) 45 x 45 mm, 1.27 mm pitch Pin Configuration Guide
Pin configuration for EP20K600CF672C7N (fc-fbga (bga-652) 45 x 45 mm, 1.27 mm pitch 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 EP20K600CF672C7N.
Refer to the datasheet for full pin configuration.
Typical Applications
EP20K600CF672C7N is suitable for 6 applications: High-Speed Telecommunications Backplane, Network Switch Fabric ASIC Prototyping, DSP Co-Processing Acceleration Card, Video and Imaging Pipeline Processing, ASIC Prototyping and Pre-Silicon Validation, Industrial Control and Factory Automation.
High-Speed Telecommunications Backplane
The EP20K600CF672C7N is well suited to telecom backplane designs requiring 600K gates of custom logic plus 488 user I/Os to drive multi-channel serializer/deserializer links. Its MultiCore architecture integrates 24,320 logic elements with embedded system memory, enabling parallel processing of STS-1/STM-1 framers, HDLC controllers, and traffic managers on a single die. Operating at up to 375.94 MHz, the part supports OC-48/STM-16 line-rate datapaths. The 1.8 V core and MultiVolt I/O let designers interface directly to LVTTL and LVCMOS PHYs without external level shifters, while the 652-ball FC-FBGA package keeps the routing channel count manageable on standard high-speed backplane PCBs.
Recommended
Network Switch Fabric ASIC Prototyping
Network switch architects use the EP20K600CF672C7N to prototype 10-Gigabit Ethernet switch fabrics before committing to an ASIC tape-out. The 600K gate budget and 24,320 logic elements are large enough to host header-processing pipelines, lookup engines, and queue managers concurrently, while the embedded system memory blocks provide on-chip CAM/TCAM emulation for early software bring-up. The 488 user I/Os accommodate 32-bit datapaths plus dedicated management interfaces, and Quartus II place-and-route gives accurate Fmax and utilization estimates that translate to silicon. The pin-compatible APEX 20KE upgrade path lets teams iterate on 20KC silicon with no PCB changes.
Recommended
DSP Co-Processing Acceleration Card
DSP accelerator cards pair the EP20K600CF672C7N with a host CPU or DSP to offload compute-intensive kernels such as FFTs, FIR filters, and convolutional codecs. The 0.15 µm copper-interconnect process keeps critical-path delays low so that 16-bit multiply-accumulate chains run at hundreds of MHz, while the LUT-rich architecture lets designers build custom datapaths unconstrained by fixed-instruction DSP silicon. The 488 user I/Os expose wide local buses to external SDRAM/SRAM banks, and the on-chip embedded system memory serves as fast scratchpad for coefficient tables. Designers can use Quartus II's DSP Builder blocks to translate MATLAB models into FPGA netlists directly.
Recommended
Video and Imaging Pipeline Processing
Broadcast and medical imaging systems use the EP20K600CF672C7N to implement real-time video pipelines: color-space conversion, de-interlacing, scaling, and overlay composition. The 24,320 logic elements and embedded memory are sufficient for line buffers and 2D filter arrays operating on SDI or DVI streams, while the 488 user I/Os connect to multiple video ADCs/DACs in parallel. The 375.94 MHz Fmax headroom supports HD-SDI data rates of 1.485 Gbps after 8b/10b-style serialization. Medical device implementations benefit from the lead-free N-suffix ball finish that simplifies RoHS compliance for hospital-grade equipment.
Recommended
ASIC Prototyping and Pre-Silicon Validation
Pre-silicon validation teams partition large ASIC designs across multiple EP20K600CF672C7N FPGAs to verify RTL before tape-out. The 600K gates per device and pin-compatible APEX 20KC/20KE families let multi-FPGA prototyping boards scale to multi-million-gate ASICs using only one PCB revision. The Quartus II multi-device compilation flow handles partition pin mapping automatically, while JTAG-based configuration simplifies bring-up across dozens of FPGAs. Despite the part's obsolete status, many active prototyping flows still target APEX 20KC because installed bases and reference designs exist.
Recommended
Industrial Control and Factory Automation
Industrial controllers integrate the EP20K600CF672C7N as a soft-PLC plus custom motion-control logic on a single FPGA. The 488 user I/Os drive encoder counters, PWM outputs, and fieldbus transceivers, while the embedded system memory hosts deterministic real-time lookup tables for PID loops and trapezoidal motion profiles. The 0.15 µm copper-interconnect CMOS process gives stable operation across the 0-85 °C commercial range. Factory-floor deployments that need extended temperature can drop in the EP20K600CF672C7ES variant without changing the PCB layout, simplifying service and spares management.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP20K600CF672C7N — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP20K600CF672C7 | EP20K600CF672C7ES | EP20K600CF672C-7 | EP20K600CF672C6 | EP20K600CF672C8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Altera | Altera | Altera | Altera | Altera | Altera |
| Package | FC-FBGA-652 (45 x 45 mm) | FC-FBGA-652 - same | FC-FBGA-652 - same | FC-FBGA-652 - same | FC-FBGA-652 - same | FC-FBGA-652 - same |
| Logic Elements | 24,320 | 24,320 | 24,320 | 24,320 | 24,320 | 24,320 |
| Maximum User I/O | 488 | 488 | 488 | 488 | 488 | 488 |
| Core Voltage | 1.8 V | 1.8 V | 1.8 V | 1.8 V | 1.8 V | 1.8 V |
| Speed Grade | C7 | C7 | C7 | 7 | C6 (slower, -10% Fmax) | C8 (faster, +10% Fmax) |
| Operating Temperature | 0 °C to +85 °C (Commercial) | 0 °C to +85 °C | Extended (verify grade) | 0 °C to +85 °C | 0 °C to +85 °C | 0 °C to +85 °C |
| Lifecycle Status | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete |
Key Differentiators
- 600K-gate density with 488 user I/Os in a single APEX 20KC device (vs EP20K400CF672C7N)
- Lead-free N-suffix ball finish for RoHS compliance (vs EP20K600CF672C7)
- 0.15 µm copper-interconnect process delivers 25-35% higher Fmax (vs APEX 20KE family)
- Speed grade C7 balanced for cost/performance (vs EP20K600CF672C6 and EP20K600CF672C8)
Design Notes
The 652-ball FC-FBGA on a 1.27 mm pitch with a 45 x 45 mm body requires a multilayer PCB (8+ layers recommended) with buried and blind vias under the package to fan out the dense ball grid. Use laser-drilled micro-vias for the inner rows where conventional through-hole vias would not fit. Maintain a continuous reference plane on layers 2 and N-1 to control the 1.8 V core impedance, and stitch the BGA perimeter with a ground via fence to suppress resonance. Per APEX 20KC layout guidelines, route all differential pairs with 100 ohm differential impedance.
Estimated: at full 375.94 MHz utilization across 24,320 logic elements with 1.8 V VCCINT, the die can dissipate 4-6 W. The 45 x 45 mm FC-FBGA's exposed die and 3.50 mm seated height limit top-side heatsinking; instead, drive heat out through the BGA balls and inner PCB copper. A continuous 1 oz copper thermal pad under the package with thermal vias (0.3 mm pitch, 0.5 mm finished hole) tied to an inner ground plane is the most practical cooling path. Aim for theta_JB below 1.5 C/W for the BGA footprint.
Decouple VCCINT (1.8 V core) and VCCIO (per-bank I/O voltages) with a combination of 10 µF bulk tantalum/polymer capacitors and 0.1 µF + 1 nF + 100 pF ceramic capacitors placed within 2 mm of each BGA power ball cluster. The MultiVolt I/O feature allows independent VCCIO rails per bank, so designers can mix LVTTL (3.3 V), LVCMOS (2.5 V), and PCI (5 V tolerant) interfaces without external level shifters. Use the Quartus II PowerPlay power analyzer to estimate current per rail and size the regulators accordingly.
Avoid hand-rework on the FC-FBGA-652 package: the 1.27 mm pitch and fine-pitch BGA balls require X-ray inspection after reflow and rework stations with controlled bottom-side heating. Do not substitute the EP20K600CF672C7N with EP20K400CF672C7N variants - the 400K device has fewer logic elements (16,640) and fewer I/Os (488 max but fewer ESBs) which can cause timing failures on dense designs. When migrating to current production, the closest Altera/Intel successor is Stratix II or Cyclone IV GX depending on transceiver requirements, but these are NOT drop-in compatible.
Configure the FPGA through JTAG (IEEE 1149.1) using TCK, TMS, TDI, TDO, and TRST on dedicated JTAG balls; route these as a 5-wire bus with 33 ohm series damping resistors at the EP20K600CF672C7N end. For multi-device JTAG chains, keep the JTAG bus stub lengths under 25 mm to avoid signal-integrity issues. Use the nCONFIG and nSTATUS pins for passive serial configuration from a configuration PROM, and provide a clean POR (power-on reset) by holding nCONFIG low until all rails are stable for at least 1 ms.
Compliance Information
Lead-free indicated by the 'N' suffix in MPN per Altera ordering information. RoHS compliance inferred from lead-free ball finish. REACH, halogen-free, and conflict-minerals status not stated in the available web data.
