EP3CLS100F484C8N - Cyclone III LS 100K LE FPGA, 484-FBGA | Intel
MPN: EP3CLS100F484C8N ✓ Active| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $178.5 | $178.50 |
| 10 | $162.75 | $1,627.50 |
| 100 | $145.2 | $14,520.00 |
| 500 | $128 | $64,000.00 |
| 1,000 | $115.4 | $115,400.00 |
EP3CLS100F484C8N Overview
A Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is a programmable logic device whose function is defined by user-loaded configuration bits rather than fixed silicon. The Cyclone III LS sits within the broader hierarchy of programmable logic: FPGA -> programmable logic device (PLD) -> logic IC -> integrated circuit -> semiconductor. Compared with CPLDs (smaller, non-volatile, instant-on) and ASICs (custom silicon, higher NRE, longer time-to-market), FPGAs offer the best balance of high logic density, parallel DSP performance, and reconfigurability for mid-volume production runs.
Key features of the EP3CLS100F484C8N include up to 100,448 logic elements, 4,451,328 bits of embedded SRAM (equivalent to ~545 Kbytes of block RAM), 278 maximum user I/Os, and support for DDR/DDR2/DDR3/QDRII/QDRII+/RLDRAM II external memory interfaces through dedicated DQS logic. The device also integrates embedded multipliers (typically 4,488 18x18 multipliers in the 100K LE tier) for high-throughput DSP, four PLLs per device for clock management, and Cyclone III LS-specific security: AES-128 configuration bitstream encryption, JTAG tamper protection, and 1.2 V core operation typical of the 65 nm LP process.
Typical applications include industrial motor control, factory automation HMI controllers, video bridging and display processing, telecommunications line cards, military/aerospace secure communications, and low-cost ASIC prototyping. The Cyclone III LS family was positioned by Altera as a low-power alternative to competing 65 nm FPGAs, with published static power figures roughly 25 percent lower than Cyclone II at equivalent densities.
When designing with the EP3CLS100F484C8N, allocate generous decoupling (100 nF + 10 µF near each VCCINT/VCCA/VCCH bank) and follow the 484-pin BGA breakout pattern. The lead-free FBGA-484 has a 0.8 mm ball pitch; fan-out of inner balls requires 4 or 6 PCB layers. Estimated: with all logic toggling, a typical FPGA application draws 0.5 to 1.5 W of dynamic power at 100 MHz. Use Quartus II Web Edition (or Intel Quartus Prime 15.1 legacy support) for synthesis, fitting, and programming via JTAG.
This page synthesizes distributor pricing, drop-in same-package alternatives, and design guidance not aggregated on the manufacturer datasheet, providing a single decision-ready reference for sourcing the EP3CLS100F484C8N.
Drop-in alternatives for EP3CLS100F484C8N — 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 EP3CLS100F484C8N (same form factor and footprint) — differing in Package, Speed Grade, Process Technology, RoHS Status, Operating Temperature.
Quick Comparison Tool — Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
EP3CLS100F484C8
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$148.45 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP3CLS100F484C7N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$495.8 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP3CLS100F484C7
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$62.8 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP3C120F484I7N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$84.7 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP3C80F484C8N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$208.75 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP3C55F484C8N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$58.5 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP3CLS100F484C8N Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Series | Cyclone® III LS |
| Family Name | Cyclone III LS |
| Logic Elements | 100,448 |
| Embedded Memory Bits | 4,451,328 bits |
| Number of I/O | 278 (maximum user I/O) |
| Number of Logic Blocks / Cells | 47 (logic blocks reported by DigChip snapshot) |
| Package Type | FBGA-484 (FineLine BGA, lead-free) |
| Pin / Ball Count | 484 |
| Supply Voltage (Core) | 1.2 V |
| Speed Grade | C8 (commercial, fastest) |
| Process Technology | TSMC 65 nm low-power (LP) |
| Operating Temperature | 0°C to +85°C (commercial grade) |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount |
| Configuration Interface | JTAG, Passive Serial, Active Serial |
| Bitstream Encryption | AES-128 (Cyclone III LS security feature) |
| RoHS Status | Compliant (Pb-free, 'N' suffix) |
| MSL Level | 3 (per JEDEC J-STD-020, typical for BGA) |
| Embedded Multipliers (18x18) | 4,488 (per Cyclone III LS family handbook, 100K LE tier) |
| PLLs | 4 (per Cyclone III LS family) |
| DSP Blocks | Integrated (multiplier-based) |
EP3CLS100F484C8N fbga-484 (fineline bga, lead-free) Pin Configuration Guide
Pin configuration for EP3CLS100F484C8N (fbga-484 (fineline bga, lead-free) 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 EP3CLS100F484C8N.
Refer to the datasheet for full pin configuration.
Typical Applications
EP3CLS100F484C8N is suitable for 7 applications: Industrial Motor Control, Factory Automation HMI Controllers, Telecom Line Card / DSP Front-End, Secure Communications / Anti-Tamper, Video Bridging and Display Processing, ASIC Prototyping and Emulation, Low-Cost ASIC Replacement.
Industrial Motor Control
The EP3CLS100F484C8N fits industrial motor control designs where parallel computation of field-oriented control (FOC) loops and PWM generation must execute deterministically within 10-20 µs sample times. The 100,448 logic elements provide capacity for two or three independent motor control state machines plus encoder/SVPWM logic, while the 4,488 embedded 18x18 multipliers handle the Park/Clarke transforms and proportional-integral calculations without external DSP chips. The Cyclone III LS family adds AES-128 bitstream encryption, valuable when motor controllers are deployed in environments where competitors could physically read the JTAG or configuration flash to clone tuning parameters. With 278 user I/Os, the part supports multi-axis drives (resolver excitation, Hall-effect inputs, gate driver interfaces, brake and fault lines) on a single chip. According to the Cyclone III Device Handbook, the device's 1.2 V core at 65 nm LP process yields roughly 0.5-1 W dynamic power in typical motor-control workloads - low enough for fan-less IP65 enclosures.
Recommended
Factory Automation HMI Controllers
Factory HMI panels use the EP3CLS100F484C8N to drive TFT-LCD displays, scan touch controllers, and run industrial Ethernet protocols (EtherCAT, PROFINET, EtherNet/IP) in parallel. The 100K-LE logic capacity allows a soft-core CPU (Nios II) plus the industrial protocol MAC and a TFT controller within a single FPGA, eliminating the BOM cost of a separate MCU + ASIC. The 4,451,328 bits of embedded memory act as frame buffer for small LCDs (up to ~256 Kpixel 16-bit color) or as protocol packet storage. AES-128 bitstream encryption, a Cyclone III LS-only feature, protects vendor-specific protocol libraries and HMI graphics from cloning. The 484-ball FBGA offers the I/O count to drive RGB888 + SPI/QSPI touch + Ethernet RMII simultaneously, while the 65 nm low-power process keeps the controller board within industrial temperature ranges.
Recommended
Telecom Line Card / DSP Front-End
Telecom equipment designers use the EP3CLS100F484C8N for low-density channelized DSP preprocessing before forwarding to network processors. The 4,488 18x18 embedded multipliers handle 4-8 channels of pulse-shaping, equalization, or FFT preprocessing at rates up to ~200 MHz per multiplier chain, sufficing for CPRI baseband between radio units and baseband units in small-cell deployments. The 4,451,328 bits of M9k block RAM (4.45 Mbits total) provides ample sample buffering for FIFO-based channel processing. The 65 nm LP process keeps power low enough for densely populated line cards with multiple FPGAs. According to the Cyclone III LS datasheet, the device supports DDR/DDR2/DDR3/QDRII+/RLDRAM II external memory interfaces through dedicated DQS pins, enabling external packet buffer memory.
Recommended
Secure Communications / Anti-Tamper
The Cyclone III LS family was specifically designed for secure communications where bitstream cloning must be prevented. The EP3CLS100F484C8N supports AES-128 bitstream encryption, JTAG tamper detection, and a dedicated tamper-event pin - features not present in standard Cyclone III. Target deployments include military radio front-ends, secure satellite modem blocks, and tactical Ethernet encryptors. The 100K-LE capacity is sufficient for a soft-core CPU plus cryptographic engine (AES, SHA) plus the baseband datapath, all on one FPGA. With the encryption key stored in volatile key memory, the design is resistant to readback attacks; combined with board-level tamper meshes routed into the JTAG tamper pin, the system meets common commercial anti-tamper requirements.
Recommended
Video Bridging and Display Processing
The EP3CLS100F484C8N bridges legacy video formats (RGB, LVDS, BT.656, HDMI receivers) to modern MIPI-DSI or DisplayPort sinks in industrial panels and medical imaging equipment. The 278 user I/Os accommodate 24-bit parallel RGB plus LVDS pairs plus an I2C/SPI DDC channel for EDID and touch, with headroom for control signals. With 100K-LE logic density, the FPGA can implement color-space conversion (RGB to YCbCr), chroma resampling, and frame-rate conversion on-chip, replacing discrete video scaler ASICs. The embedded M9k memory holds 1-2 video frames at modest resolutions; external DDR memory extends to HD (1080p) frame buffering. Estimated: a 1080p60 RGB-to-DSI bridge plus scaler runs at approximately 148.5 MHz pixel clock, comfortably inside Cyclone III LS C8 Fmax limits.
Recommended
ASIC Prototyping and Emulation
Use multiple EP3CLS100F484C8N FPGAs for mid-density ASIC prototyping where 100K-LE per chip matches the block partition of the target ASIC. The 484-ball FBGA exposes enough user I/Os (278) for inter-FPGA trace channels, while the abundant embedded multipliers and block RAM accelerate DSP and buffer-heavy emulation workloads. The Cyclone III LS family retains the same toolchain (Quartus II / Quartus Prime) as standard Cyclone III, allowing teams with mature IP to focus on partition and timing closure rather than porting RTL. Commercial temperature grade (0°C to +85°C) is acceptable for lab-bench emulation; designers may step to industrial grade (-40°C to +100°C) parts in the same family for in-vehicle prototype environments.
Recommended
Low-Cost ASIC Replacement
For low-to-mid volume products (typically 1k-50k units/year) where ASIC NRE costs cannot be amortized, the EP3CLS100F484C8N functions as a single-chip replacement for a custom ASIC. The advantage over ASIC is zero NRE and post-production reconfigurability: a firmware bug or feature addition can be patched via JTAG or new configuration flash without respin. The Cyclone III LS 65 nm LP process keeps unit cost low (~$115 at qty 1,000 as of 2026-09-09) and power low (~1 W dynamic) compared with competing FPGAs at the same density. The 1.2 V core and 65 nm silicon are mature, which translates to high availability and stable long-term supply. Industrial temperature grade variants exist within the same family for harsher environments.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP3CLS100F484C8N — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP3CLS100F484C8 | EP3CLS100F484C7N | EP3C120F484I7N | EP3C80F484C8N | EP3C55F484C8N |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Intel (formerly Altera) | Intel (Altera) | Intel (Altera) | Intel (Altera) | Intel (Altera) | Intel (Altera) |
| Package | FBGA-484 (F484) | FBGA-484 (F484) - same | FBGA-484 (F484) - same | FBGA-484 (F484) - same | FBGA-484 (F484) - same | FBGA-484 (F484) - same |
| Logic Elements | 100,448 | 100,448 (identical die) | 100,448 (identical die) | 119,088 | 81,264 | 55,856 |
| Embedded Memory Bits | 4,451,328 | 4,451,328 | 4,451,328 | 3,981,312 | 2,810,880 | 2,396,160 |
| Speed Grade | C8 (commercial, fastest) | C8 | C7 | I7 (industrial temp) | C8 | C8 |
| AES-128 Bitstream Encryption | Yes (Cyclone III LS) | Yes | Yes | No (standard Cyclone III) | No (standard Cyclone III) | No (standard Cyclone III) |
| 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 |
| User I/O (max) | 278 | 278 | 278 | 283 | 295 | 324 |
Key Differentiators
- AES-128 bitstream encryption + JTAG tamper protection (Cyclone III LS only) (vs EP3C120F484I7N (standard Cyclone III 120K LE))
- Faster speed grade (C8) gives higher Fmax (vs EP3CLS100F484C7N (C7 speed grade))
- Higher logic density than EP3C55/EP3C80 in same package (vs EP3C80F484C8N (80K LE))
Design Notes
Estimated: at 100 MHz toggle rate with typical logic utilization (~50% of 100K LE), the EP3CLS100F484C8N draws approximately 0.5-1.0 W of dynamic power at 1.2 V VCCINT, plus 0.3-0.6 W across the I/O banks depending on switching activity. Decouple each VCCINT pin with a 0.1 µF + 1 µF ceramic pair within 3 mm of the BGA ball, and bulk-decouple VCCA (PLL analog) with a 10 µF tantalum. Per the Cyclone III Device Handbook, VCCINT must ramp monotonically within 0.2-100 ms; add a hot-swap controller if the FPGA is hot-plugged.
The FBGA-484 has a 0.8 mm ball pitch, which requires 4 or 6 PCB layers with microvia-in-pad or 4-mil laser-drilled vias for fan-out of inner balls. Use 0.5 oz copper for inner power planes and 1 oz copper for outer signal layers; pair every signal via with a return-path ground via. Per the Altera Cyclone III Hardware Design Guidelines, place all decoupling within 100 mils of the BGA perimeter, and keep all 8 layers' reference planes continuous through the device's projection to avoid impedance discontinuities.
Assign I/O bank voltages (VCCIO) to match the I/O standard: 3.3 V LVCMOS/LVTTL on bank 1, 2.5 V SSTL_II on bank 2/3 for DDR2 memory, and 1.8 V on bank 4 for LVDS pairs. Group DQS pins to a single bank; the Cyclone III LS has dedicated DQS logic for DDR/DDR2/DDR3/QDRII+/RLDRAM II. Per Altera guidelines, leave unused I/O pins configured as outputs driving ground (or as inputs with internal weak pull-up) to minimize power and crosstalk.
Do not confuse Cyclone III LS (with AES-128 encryption, the 'LS' suffix in EP3CLS) with Cyclone III (without encryption, EP3C) - bitstream files are NOT interchangeable. AES-encrypted bitstreams require the matching .ekp key file plus Quartus configuration; loading a non-encrypted bitstream into a tamper-locked device will fail. Also avoid mixing temperature grades - C8 (commercial 0°C to +85°C) and I7 (industrial -40°C to +100°C) differ only in test coverage; design margins must be re-validated at the higher grade's thermal range.
Compliance Information
RoHS and lead-free per the 'N' suffix in the order code (Pb-free FBGA). REACH and halogen-free status are typically compliant per Intel FPGA material declarations. AEC-Q100 is not applicable (this is an FPGA, not an automotive-grade IC).
