EP4CE55F23C8N - Cyclone IV E FPGA, 55K LEs, 484-BGA | Intel
MPN: EP4CE55F23C8N ✓ Active| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $84.5 | $84.50 |
| 10 | $76.2 | $762.00 |
| 100 | $67.8 | $6,780.00 |
| 500 | $60.45 | $30,225.00 |
| 1,000 | $54.1 | $54,100.00 |
EP4CE55F23C8N Overview
A Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is a semiconductor device built around an array of configurable logic blocks (CLBs) connected via programmable interconnect, allowing designers to implement arbitrary digital logic, signal-processing pipelines, and soft processor cores after PCB fabrication. FPGAs sit in the broader category of programmable logic devices (PLDs), between fixed-function ASICs and software-defined microcontrollers; their value lies in rapid prototyping, low NRE cost, and parallel hardware acceleration.
Key features of the EP4CE55F23C8N include 55,856 LEs, 2,396,160 bits of RAM (312 Kbytes M9K blocks), 156 embedded 18 × 18 multipliers, four general-purpose PLLs, 343 maximum user I/O pins, and support for external memory interfaces including DDR/DDR2/DDR3, QDR II, and RLDRAM II. The device also offers 1.2 V LVCMOS/LVTTL/LVDS I/O standards with on-chip termination (OCT).
Architecturally, the Cyclone IV E family delivers up to 50% lower static power than the previous Cyclone III generation through a low-k dielectric process and selectable logic-array speed versus power trade-offs, while maintaining the same Quartus II design-flow compatibility. The ALM (Adaptive Logic Module) at 8 inputs allows efficient mapping of arithmetic, multiplexer, and register-rich designs, and the variable-precision DSP blocks accelerate finite-impulse-response (FIR) and FFT kernels.
Typical applications for the EP4CE55F23C8N include industrial motor-control and machine-vision front-ends, video-bridge and display controllers (HDMI/VGA/LVDS bridging), communications line cards using soft SERDES and protocol bridging, and educational/hobbyist designs where cost, low static power, and Quartus tool maturity matter more than transceiver count.
Designers should note that the EP4CE55F23C8N requires 1.2 V core, 2.5 V analog PLL, and bank-specific I/O supplies; the 1.0 mm-pitch BGA demands 4- or 6-layer PCBs with microvia-in-pad stackups for escape routing. Decoupling must follow the Quartus II power-supply decoupling guidelines with 0.1 µF, 0.01 µF, and bulk capacitors distributed across each supply rail.
This page synthesizes distributor pricing tiers, drop-in FPGA alternatives from the same Cyclone IV E family, and practical Quartus design-flow guidance not consolidated in the manufacturer datasheet. The EP4CE55F23C8N remains an active, in-production low-power FPGA for cost-sensitive industrial, video, and embedded designs.
Drop-in alternatives for EP4CE55F23C8N — 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 EP4CE55F23C8N (same form factor and footprint) — differing in Package, Operating Temperature, Speed Grade, Embedded 18x18 Multipliers, Configuration Modes.
Quick Comparison Tool — Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
EP4CE55F23C7N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$56.4 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4CE55F23C6N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$54.92 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4CE55F23C8LN
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$105 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4CE55F23C8L
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$112.9 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4CE55F23C8
✅ Drop-In ⚠️ 参数待验证✓ In Stock
$198 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4CE40F23C8N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$52.95 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4CE55F23C8N Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Series | Cyclone IV E |
| Device Family | Cyclone IV E (non-transceiver) |
| Logic Elements (LEs) | 55,856 |
| Embedded Memory (bits) | 2,396,160 |
| Embedded 18x18 Multipliers | 156 |
| Maximum User I/O | 343 |
| PLLs | 4 |
| Global Clock Networks | 20 |
| Core Voltage | 1.2 V |
| I/O Voltage Support | 1.2 V to 3.3 V LVCMOS/LVTTL/LVDS |
| Package | 484-BGA (F23) FineLine BGA, 23x23 mm, 1.0 mm pitch |
| Speed Grade | C8 (commercial) |
| Operating Temperature | 0C to +85C (commercial) |
| Process Node | 60 nm low-power |
| Configuration | Serial/Parallel/AS/PS/JTAG |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount (BGA) |
EP4CE55F23C8N 484-bga (f23) fineline bga, 23x23 mm, 1.0 mm pitch Pin Configuration Guide
Pin configuration for EP4CE55F23C8N (484-bga (f23) fineline bga, 23x23 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 EP4CE55F23C8N.
Refer to the datasheet for full pin configuration.
Typical Applications
EP4CE55F23C8N is suitable for 7 applications: Industrial Motor Control, Video Bridge & Display Controllers, Communications Line Cards / Protocol Bridging, Educational & Hobbyist Digital Logic Labs, Machine Vision Front-End Processing, Soft Processor SoC Development, Audio DSP and Effects Processing.
Industrial Motor Control
The EP4CE55F23C8N suits industrial motor-control applications because its 55,856 logic elements can host PWM modulators, encoder interfaces, and field-oriented control (FOC) state machines in parallel. The 156 dedicated 18×18 multipliers handle Park/Clarke transforms and PI loop arithmetic without saturating FPGA fabric. Designers typically wire the FPGA to 3.3 V LVCMOS gate drivers from the 343 user I/O and use one of the four PLLs to synthesize jitter-free PWM clocks. The 484-BGA package's 1.0 mm pitch is reflow-compatible with standard 4-layer industrial PCB processes, and the C8 commercial speed grade is sufficient for sub-50 kHz control-loop latency.
Recommended
Video Bridge & Display Controllers
The EP4CE55F23C8N is widely used in HDMI-to-LVDS, VGA-to-MIPI, and camera-pipeline bridging because its LVDS-capable I/O banks directly drive display panels without external serializers. The 2,396,160 bits of embedded memory buffer full-HD frames line-by-line, eliminating an external frame buffer in cost-sensitive designs. The 343 user I/O pins accept parallel RGB/YCbCr inputs and 24-bit LVDS outputs in a single device, and the four PLLs synthesize multiple pixel clocks (e.g., 74.25 MHz for 720p, 148.5 MHz for 1080p) from a single reference. Quartus II IP cores (Altera VIP, Video and Image Processing Suite) accelerate deinterlacer, scaler, and color-space-converter implementations.
Recommended
Communications Line Cards / Protocol Bridging
The EP4CE55F23C8N serves as a low-cost protocol-bridge FPGA between legacy TDM/E1 interfaces, SPI/I2C/GPIO control planes, and modern Ethernet MACs. Its 55,856 LEs implement soft SERDES, UART bridges, and HDLC/SLIP framers alongside Ethernet MAC FIFOs, with the 4 PLLs generating independent baud-rate clocks per channel. The 343 user I/O accommodate multi-channel UART, SPI, and GPIO expansion without external muxing ICs. The commercial C8 speed grade targets industrial cabinet environments, and the 484-BGA's high pin count exposes 16 SERDES-friendly LVDS pairs for low-jitter board-level interconnects.
Recommended
Educational & Hobbyist Digital Logic Labs
The EP4CE55F23C8N is a staple of university digital-logic labs and FPGA hobbyist projects because it balances cost (~$54 at 1k-piece volume) with sufficient LE count for coursework projects such as MIPS soft-processors, FFT accelerators, and RISC-V cores. The 484-BGA package on DE2-115-style development boards exposes 343 user I/O, four PLLs, and ample memory for capstone projects. Quartus II Web Edition (free) supports the device without license fees, and the Altera University Program maintains teaching materials targeting the Cyclone IV E family. The C8 commercial speed grade offers comfortable timing margins for student designs that rarely push the Fmax envelope.
Recommended
Machine Vision Front-End Processing
The EP4CE55F23C8N excels in machine-vision pre-processing applications where MIPI-CSI or parallel-sensor streams are converted to standard video outputs before a host SoC ingests them. The 156 hardware 18×18 multipliers implement Sobel, Gaussian, and Laplacian kernels at full-HD line rates, while the 2,396,160 bits of embedded RAM act as line buffers. The 343 user I/O support a 24-bit parallel sensor input plus a 4-lane LVDS output to the SoC, and the four PLLs generate independent sensor clock, processing clock, and output clock domains. Designers often pair the FPGA with an external DDR2/DDR3 SDRAM for frame accumulation using the Cyclone IV external memory interface IP.
Recommended
Soft Processor SoC Development
The EP4CE55F23C8N supports Nios II soft-processor SoC development with sufficient LE count to host dual-core Nios II/f systems with hardware accelerators, MMU, and Ethernet MAC. The 2,396,160 bits of embedded memory serve as on-chip instruction and data cache, and the 343 user I/O expose Avalon-MM peripheral buses to external DDR2/DDR3 controllers. Designers use Quartus II's Qsys tool to integrate custom peripherals and the four PLLs generate the Nios II core clock, peripheral bus clock, and external SDRAM clock independently. The C8 commercial speed grade typically supports 100–150 MHz Nios II/f core frequencies in this device.
Recommended
Audio DSP and Effects Processing
The EP4CE55F23C8N hosts parallel audio DSP pipelines such as multi-band EQ, dynamics processing, and reverberation for professional audio equipment. The 156 hardware 18×18 multipliers accelerate biquad filter computations across 32+ channels at 48 kHz, while the 2,396,160 bits of embedded RAM act as delay-line buffers without external SRAM. The 343 user I/O support multiple TDM/I2S ports plus GPIO for front-panel control, and the four PLLs generate independent audio-word-clock, DSP-clock, and interface-clock domains. The C8 commercial speed grade is sufficient for 24-bit/192 kHz audio processing with comfortable timing margins.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP4CE55F23C8N — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP4CE55F23C7N | EP4CE55F23C6N | EP4CE55F23C8LN | EP4CE55F23C8L | EP4CE55F23C8 | EP4CE40F23C8N |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Altera (Intel FPGA) | Altera (Intel FPGA) | Altera (Intel FPGA) | Altera (Intel FPGA) | Altera (Intel FPGA) | Altera (Intel FPGA) | Altera (Intel FPGA) |
| Package | 484-BGA (F23) 23x23 mm, 1.0 mm pitch | 484-BGA (F23) - same | 484-BGA (F23) - same | 484-BGA (F23) - same | 484-BGA (F23) - same | 484-BGA (F23) - same | 484-BGA (F23) - same |
| Logic Elements (LEs) | 55,856 | 55,856 | 55,856 | 55,856 | 55,856 | 55,856 | 39,600 (-29%) |
| Embedded Memory (bits) | 2,396,160 | 2,396,160 | 2,396,160 | 2,396,160 | 2,396,160 | 2,396,160 | 1,134,720 (-53%) |
| 18x18 Multipliers | 156 | 156 | 156 | 156 | 156 | 156 | 116 (-26%) |
| Maximum User I/O | 343 | 343 | 343 | 343 | 343 | 343 | 343 |
| Speed Grade | C8 (~402 MHz) | C7 (~437.5 MHz) - faster | C6 (~472.5 MHz) - fastest | C8 - identical | C8 - identical | C8 - identical | C8 - identical |
| PLLs | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Operating Temperature | 0C to +85C (commercial) | 0C to +85C (commercial) | 0C to +85C (commercial) | 0C to +85C (commercial) | 0C to +85C (commercial) | 0C to +85C (commercial) | 0C to +85C (commercial) |
| Approximate Unit Price (qty 1) | $84.50 | $89.00 to $95.00 | $98.00 to $105.00 | $84.50 (identical) | $84.50 (identical) | $84.50 (identical) | $68.00 to $75.00 |
Key Differentiators
- Same die, faster timing margin (vs EP4CE55F23C7N)
- Lower cost than higher-density Cyclone IV E parts (vs EP4CE115F29C8N)
- More logic resources than EP4CE40 at modest price premium (vs EP4CE40F23C8N)
- No integrated transceivers, but lowest-cost Cyclone IV E (vs Cyclone IV GX (EP4CGX50/75/110/150))
Design Notes
The EP4CE55F23C8N requires three independent supply rails: VCCINT (1.2 V core), VCCA_PLL (2.5 V analog PLL), and per-bank VCCIO (1.2 V to 3.3 V). Designers must power up VCCINT before VCCA_PLL and ensure VCCIO banks are powered before configuring I/O to avoid latch-up. A bulk 22 µF tantalum plus 0.1 µF, 0.01 µF, and 1 nF ceramic decoupling per supply pin is required, following the Quartus II PDN (Power Distribution Network) guidelines. Estimated core power for a 50% utilization design at 100 MHz is 1.5 W to 2.0 W; high-utilization designs can exceed 3 W and require thermal relief through the BGA thermal pad.
The 484-ball FineLine BGA with 1.0 mm pitch demands a 4-layer PCB minimum with microvia-in-pad stackup for inner-row ball escape. Use a 6-layer stackup (signal/GND/signal/power/GND/signal) for designs above 50 MHz LVDS rates. Altera's Cyclone IV Device Handbook recommends via-in-pad with 0.5 mm drill for the inner rows and 0.65 mm drill for outer rows. A solid GND plane directly under the BGA and stitch vias around the perimeter every 2 mm minimize return-path inductance for LVDS pairs and clock signals.
Estimated: at 2.0 W total power dissipation and theta_JA of approximately 17 °C/W (with 1 oz copper 4-layer PCB and 25 °C ambient, no airflow), junction temperature rise is 34 °C above ambient. The commercial-grade EP4CE55F23C8N is rated to 85 °C junction, leaving 51 °C design margin. For enclosed industrial enclosures with 50 °C ambient, designers should either reduce clock frequency, lower logic utilization, or add 1 m/s airflow to maintain margin.
Cyclone IV E LVDS receivers require 100 Ω differential impedance on traces routed as tightly-coupled pairs; length matching to within 10 ps (approximately 1.5 mm at FR-4 with 6 ps/mm) is mandatory for DDR/DDR2 interfaces. Series termination on LVCMOS outputs driving more than 25 mm traces helps dampen reflections. Use Altera's Cyclone IV Device Handbook IBIS models for signal-integrity simulation before PCB sign-off.
Common pitfalls include (1) using C8 when timing closure fails - upgrade to C7 or C6 instead of over-clocking the existing bin, (2) forgetting the dedicated VCCA_PLL 2.5 V rail - the PLLs will not lock without it, (3) confusing Cyclone IV E (no transceivers) with Cyclone IV GX - the EP4CE55 has no integrated SERDES, and (4) omitting the JTAG pull-up on TCK/TMS/TDO - configuration can fail intermittently without these pull-ups. Always validate pinout using Quartus Pin Planner before final PCB layout.
Compliance Information
RoHS compliant per Altera/Intel product page. Lead-free reflow-compatible. Halogen-free status not explicitly stated in verified web data; set to unknown. AEC-Q100 not applicable - this is a commercial-grade FPGA; industrial-grade variant EP4CE55F23I8N exists for extended-temperature applications.
