EP3C55F484I7N - Cyclone III FPGA 55K LE 484-FBGA | Altera
MPN: EP3C55F484I7N ✓ Active| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $284.94 | $284.94 |
| 10 | $268.5 | $2,685.00 |
| 50 | $245.8 | $12,290.00 |
| 100 | $224.6 | $22,460.00 |
| 250 | $205.4 | $51,350.00 |
EP3C55F484I7N Overview
A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is a reconfigurable semiconductor that engineers program post-fabrication to implement arbitrary digital logic, glue logic, and parallel processing pipelines. Within the system hierarchy, an FPGA sits between microcontrollers (fixed-function, firmware-defined) and ASICs (custom-silicon, NRE-defined); FPGAs dominate prototyping, low-volume production, and design flows that demand hardware parallelism without silicon re-spin costs. The Cyclone III family targets cost-sensitive, high-volume applications and integrates DSP blocks, embedded multipliers, and M9K memory blocks alongside the logic fabric.
Key features include 312 M9K memory blocks totaling 2.49 Mbits of embedded RAM (some listings cite 2.29 Mbits), 4 PLLs supporting frequency synthesis and clock-tree management, 18-bit embedded multipliers for DSP operations, and LVDS, LVTTL, LVCMOS, SSTL, and HSTL I/O standards. The device supports hot-socketing and configuration via JTAG, Active Serial, or Passive Serial modes, with built-in decompression for bitstream storage reduction.
From an architectural perspective, the Cyclone III LE is built around a 4-input look-up table (LUT), a dedicated adder chain for arithmetic, and a register, interconnected by Altera's MultiTrack routing fabric. The 1.2 V core and a separate I/O bank voltage allow mixed-voltage interfacing on the same die, while the 65 nm process delivers low static power (typically less than 0.5 W quiescent) compared to older 90 nm Cyclone II generations.
Typical applications include industrial motor control and factory automation, video processing and surveillance, automotive infotainment and driver assistance, software-defined radio front-ends, and embedded vision pipelines. The wide logic capacity also suits ASIC prototyping, low-cost DSP implementations, and reconfigurable I/O expansion for embedded processors.
When designing with this device, ensure the PCB provides a clean, multi-rail power distribution network (1.2 V core, separate VCCPD and VCCIO per I/O bank) and a configuration mode selection circuit. Thermal management is generally light at typical industrial loads, but a copper pour directly under the FBGA improves both thermal dissipation and signal integrity for high-speed LVDS pairs.
This page synthesizes distributor pricing, drop-in compatible Cyclone III alternatives, and PCB design guidance that is not aggregated in the manufacturer datasheet alone.
Drop-in alternatives for EP3C55F484I7N — 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 EP3C55F484I7N (same form factor and footprint) — differing in Package, Process Technology, Speed Grade, Embedded Multipliers (18x18), Operating Temperature.
Quick Comparison Tool — Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
EP3C55F484I7
✅ Drop-In ⚠️ 参数待验证✓ In Stock
$175.54 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP3C55F484C8N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$58.5 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP3C55F484C7N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$52.75 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP3C55F484C6N
✅ Drop-In ⚠️ 参数待验证✓ In Stock
$148.7 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP3C40F484I7N
✅ Drop-In ⚠️ 参数待验证✓ In Stock
$118.5 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP3C120F484I7N
✅ Drop-In ⚠️ 参数待验证✓ In Stock
$84.7 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP3C55F484I7N Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Device Family | Cyclone III |
| Logic Elements | 55,856 |
| Logic Array Blocks (LABs) | 3,491 |
| Total RAM Bits | 2,396,160 (some listings cite 2,491,520) |
| Embedded Memory Blocks (M9K) | 312 |
| Embedded 18-bit Multipliers | 156 |
| PLLs | 4 |
| Maximum User I/Os | 327 |
| User I/O Banks | 8 |
| Core Voltage | 1.2 V |
| Operating Temperature Range | -40 C to +100 C (Industrial) |
| Speed Grade | 7 |
| Internal Clock Frequency | up to 472.5 MHz |
| Package | 484-pin FBGA (FineLine BGA), 23 x 23 mm, 1.0 mm pitch |
| Process Technology | 65 nm CMOS, low power |
| RoHS Status | Compliant (Lead-free) |
| Configuration Modes | JTAG, Active Serial, Passive Serial |
EP3C55F484I7N 484-pin fbga (fineline bga), 23 x 23 mm, 1.0 mm pitch Pin Configuration Guide
Pin configuration for EP3C55F484I7N (484-pin fbga (fineline bga), 23 x 23 mm, 1.0 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 EP3C55F484I7N.
Refer to the datasheet for full pin configuration.
Typical Applications
EP3C55F484I7N is suitable for 7 applications: Industrial Motor Control, Video Processing and Surveillance, Automotive Infotainment, Software-Defined Radio Front-End, ASIC Prototyping, Embedded Vision and Machine Learning Edge Inference, Reconfigurable I/O Expansion.
Industrial Motor Control
The EP3C55F484I7N's 156 embedded 18-bit multipliers and 4 PLLs deliver the DSP throughput required for field-oriented control (FOC) of three-phase AC induction and PMSM motors. The industrial -40 C to +100 C temperature grade supports cabinet-mounted drives, while the 327 user I/Os provide direct interfacing to multi-axis PWM stages, encoder feedback, and resolver-to-digital converters. Estimated at 50-100 MHz control loop rates with sub-microsecond PWM resolution, this FPGA can replace a DSP + microcontroller pair in cost-sensitive servo designs.
Recommended
Video Processing and Surveillance
The EP3C55F484I7N's 2.39 Mbits of embedded M9K RAM and 55,856 LEs make it well-suited for mid-resolution video pipelines at D1/720p/1080p sensor resolutions. Altera reference designs use Cyclone III devices for color-space conversion, motion JPEG compression, and HDMI output buffering. The 4 PLLs generate independent pixel clocks for camera input and display output, and the LVDS I/O support direct connection to CMOS/CCD image sensors and MIPI adapters.
Recommended
Automotive Infotainment
The industrial temperature grade and high logic capacity make the EP3C55F484I7N suitable for automotive infotainment head units, instrument clusters, and rear-seat entertainment systems. The device's LVDS support enables connection to LVDS display panels common in automotive HMI, while the 156 DSP multipliers handle audio decoding, beamforming, and acoustic echo cancellation. AEC-Q100 qualification is NOT implied by the 'I' industrial grade alone - automotive designs typically require separate PPAP and QM documentation.
Recommended
Software-Defined Radio Front-End
The 4 PLLs and high-speed LVDS I/O make the EP3C55F484I7N an effective baseband processing stage between an ADC and a host processor in software-defined radio designs. Its 156 multipliers support digital down-conversion (DDC), FIR filtering, and channelization for narrowband and wideband receivers below 100 MHz of complex bandwidth. The industrial temperature range accommodates outdoor base-station and tactical-radio deployments.
Recommended
ASIC Prototyping
With 55,856 logic elements and abundant I/O, the EP3C55F484I7N is widely used to prototype mid-complexity ASIC designs before tape-out, especially for networking SoCs, custom microcontrollers, and DSP ASICs. Multiple EP3C55 devices can be tiled on a single prototype board to emulate larger ASICs using Altera's multi-FPGA partitioning tools. The FBGA-484 package exposes enough I/O to bring out wide internal buses for partitioning.
Recommended
Embedded Vision and Machine Learning Edge Inference
The EP3C55F484I7N's 156 18-bit multipliers and 312 M9K RAM blocks are sufficient to run quantized CNN inference engines, image pre-processing, and feature-extraction pipelines for low-resolution embedded vision (e.g., barcode scanning, gesture recognition, defect detection). While it cannot match dedicated AI accelerators, the Cyclone III provides deterministic latency that ASIC alternatives lack at low volumes. The 4 PLLs drive parallel camera interfaces at common sensor resolutions.
Recommended
Reconfigurable I/O Expansion
When a host processor lacks sufficient I/O or specialized peripherals (UART, SPI, I2C, PWM, custom parallel buses), the EP3C55F484I7N serves as a flexible I/O expansion engine. It can implement dozens of UART/SPI/I2C cores concurrently and translate between legacy and modern bus protocols. The 327 user I/Os handle high pin-count glue-logic tasks between processors, memory, and external ASICs in telecom and industrial control boards.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP3C55F484I7N — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP3C55F484I7 | EP3C55F484C8N | EP3C55F484C7N | EP3C55F484C6N | EP3C40F484I7N | EP3C120F484I7N |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Package | FBGA-484 (23x23 mm, 1.0 mm pitch) | FBGA-484 - same | FBGA-484 - same | FBGA-484 - same | FBGA-484 - same | FBGA-484 - same | FBGA-484 - same |
| Brand | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) |
| Logic Elements | 55,856 | 55,856 | 55,856 | 55,856 | 55,856 | 39,600 | 119,088 |
| Temperature Grade | Industrial (-40 to +100 C) | Industrial | Commercial (0 to +85 C) | Commercial (0 to +85 C) | Commercial (0 to +85 C) | Industrial | Industrial |
| Speed Grade | 7 | 7 | 8 (slightly faster) | 7 | 6 (slightly slower) | 7 | 7 |
| Lead-Free (N suffix) | Yes (N suffix = Pb-free) | No (no N suffix) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Embedded Multipliers | 156 (18-bit) | 156 | 156 | 156 | 156 | 108 | 288 |
| Embedded Memory (M9K blocks) | 312 | 312 | 312 | 312 | 312 | 234 | 432 |
| User I/Os | 327 | 327 | 327 | 327 | 327 | 331 | 283 |
| RoHS / Lead-Free | RoHS Compliant / Pb-Free (N suffix) | Non-Pb-free variant | RoHS / Pb-Free | RoHS / Pb-Free | RoHS / Pb-Free | RoHS / Pb-Free | RoHS / Pb-Free |
Key Differentiators
- Highest logic density Cyclone III FBGA-484 device at speed grade 7 (vs EP3C40F484I7N)
- Industrial temperature range supports harsh environments (vs EP3C55F484C8N)
- Lead-free (N suffix) compliance for global RoHS markets (vs EP3C55F484I7)
- Speed grade 7 balances performance and cost (vs EP3C55F484C6N)
Design Notes
Estimated: the EP3C55F484I7N requires a clean multi-rail supply: 1.2 V VCCINT for core logic, 1.2 V or 2.5 V VCCPD for pre-drivers, and per-bank VCCIO (1.2 V to 3.3 V) for I/O standards. Use a bulk 10-100 uF decoupling capacitor bank per rail plus 0.1 uF and 0.01 uF ceramic capacitors adjacent to each power pin. Power-on sequencing is not strictly required, but VCCINT and VCCPD should rise before VCCIO to avoid latch-up.
Estimated: the FBGA-484 package uses a 1.0 mm ball pitch and requires microvia or laser-drilled via technology for escape routing on a standard 4-layer PCB. Fan-out the inner BGA rows on inner signal layers with controlled-impedance traces for high-speed LVDS pairs. Place decoupling capacitors on the opposite side directly under their respective power balls with short, wide vias to minimize inductance.
Do not exceed the maximum I/O bank current rating or mix incompatible I/O standards on the same bank - VCCIO must be common to all pins in a bank. The MSEL pins must be tied to select the correct configuration mode (AS, PS, JTAG, or FPP) before power-up; floating MSEL pins leave the FPGA in an indeterminate state. Always include a JTAG header for in-system programming and debug access.
Estimated: under typical industrial utilization (~50% LE, ~30% toggle rate), the EP3C55F484I7N dissipates approximately 0.5-1.0 W of core power - usually handled by the copper pour alone. For high-utilization designs approaching 80% LE, expect 1.5-2.0 W and verify junction temperature rise against the thermal resistance theta_JA for the FBGA-484 package (typically ~15-20 C/W on a 4-layer PCB with adequate copper).
For LVDS and DDR interfaces, use 100 ohm differential traces with matched lengths within the bank's skew tolerance (typically 50-100 ps). Reference the Cyclone III device handbook pinout tables to ensure the chosen differential pair resides within a dedicated PLL or serializer/deserializer block. Source-synchronous interfaces may require external delay lines to meet setup/hold times.
Compliance Information
RoHS-compliant per 'N' suffix and Altera/Intel product documentation. Industrial temperature grade (-40 C to +100 C) is NOT equivalent to AEC-Q100 automotive qualification; AEC-Q100 PPAP and QM documentation are not implied by the 'I' suffix alone.
