EP4SGX530KH40I4 - 531K LE Stratix IV GX FPGA, 744 I/O, FCBGA-1517 | Altera
MPN: EP4SGX530KH40I4 ✗ End of Life| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4800 | $4,800.00 |
| 10 | $4250 | $42,500.00 |
| 100 | $3850 | $385,000.00 |
| 500 | $3400 | $1,700,000.00 |
| 1,000 | $3050 | $3,050,000.00 |
EP4SGX530KH40I4 Overview
An FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) is a reprogrammable semiconductor device whose logic fabric, routing, and I/O can be configured in-system via an SRAM-based configuration bitstream. FPGAs sit within the programmable logic sub-hierarchy of the broader digital semiconductor taxonomy: FPGA -> programmable logic -> logic IC -> integrated circuit. The Stratix IV GX family specifically integrates multi-gigabit transceivers with a programmable logic fabric, making it suitable for high-speed serial interfaces such as PCIe Gen1/Gen2, Serial RapidIO, XAUI, CEI-6G, and CPRI/OBSAI.
Key features of the EP4SGX530KH40I4 include a 0.9 V core supply, integrated transceivers capable of up to 8.5 Gbps data rates, dedicated hard memory controllers, and DSP blocks supporting high-throughput fixed- and floating-point arithmetic. The device supports both internal and external memory interfaces including DDR3, DDR2, RLDRAM II, and QDR II+. Security features include bitstream encryption with AES and 256-bit keys, JTAG-based configuration, and design security via tamper detection.
The architectural style combines a logic array block (LAB) fabric with embedded transceivers, MLABs, M9K/M144K block RAM, DSP slices, and a global clock network. The integrated hard PCIe Gen2 IP cores simplify endpoint and root complex designs, while the FPGA fabric can host custom soft cores such as Nios II processors for control plane tasks.
Typical applications include high-end wireless baseband processing, defense radar and electronic-warfare front ends, high-frequency trading platforms, 100G/40G network line cards, ASIC prototyping, and broadcast video infrastructure. The combination of high logic density and 8.5 Gbps transceivers makes it well suited to wireline backhaul, optical transport, and test & measurement systems.
When designing with this FPGA, ensure a multi-rail power architecture (typically 0.9 V core, 2.5 V/3.3 V I/O and aux) using a power sequencer with monotonic ramp and proper monotonic power-good handshake. Place transceiver power filtering ferrite beads and decoupling capacitors exactly per the Altera pin connection guidelines to meet jitter and EMI compliance.
Drop-in alternatives for EP4SGX530KH40I4 — 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 EP4SGX530KH40I4 (same form factor and footprint) — differing in Package, Operating Temperature, Mounting Type, Process Technology, Transceivers.
Quick Comparison Tool — Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
EP4SGX530KH40C4N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$3680 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4SGX530KH40I3
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$12500 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4SGX530KH40I3N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$6250 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4SGX530KH40C4
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$815 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4SGX530KH40C3N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$3420 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4SGX530KH40C3
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$8650 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4SGX530KH40C2N
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$3700 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4SGX530KH40C2
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$2150 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP4SGX530KH40I4 Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Family | Stratix IV GX |
| Logic Elements | 531,200 |
| LABs / CLBs | 21,248 |
| Embedded Memory Bits | 28,033,024 |
| Process Technology | 40 nm |
| Core Voltage | 0.9 V |
| Programmable I/O Pins | 744 |
| Maximum Transceiver Data Rate | 8.5 Gbps |
| Package | 1517-BBGA, FCBGA (HBGA) |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount |
| Operating Temperature Grade | Industrial (-40C to +100C) |
| Speed Grade | I4 |
| Number of GPIO | 744 |
| Configuration Memory Type | SRAM (volatile, requires external flash) |
EP4SGX530KH40I4 1517-bbga, fcbga (hbga) Pin Configuration Guide
Pin configuration for EP4SGX530KH40I4 (1517-bbga, fcbga (hbga) 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 EP4SGX530KH40I4.
Refer to the datasheet for full pin configuration.
Typical Applications
EP4SGX530KH40I4 is suitable for 7 applications: Wireless Baseband Processing, 100G/40G Network Line Cards, Defense Radar and EW Front Ends, High-Frequency Trading Platforms, ASIC Prototyping Platforms, Broadcast Video Infrastructure, Test & Measurement Equipment.
Wireless Baseband Processing
The EP4SGX530KH40I4 is well matched to high-end wireless baseband designs that demand both massive logic density and multi-gigabit transceivers. With 531,200 logic elements, 28 Mbit of embedded block RAM, and 8.5 Gbps Stratix IV GX transceivers, the device can host multi-antenna LTE/5G NR PHY stacks, channel cards, and MAC schedulers on a single die. Its 40 nm process and 0.9 V core keep dynamic power manageable at high utilization, while 744 programmable I/Os expose enough lanes for CPRI/OBSAI fronthaul plus parallel antenna data. The integrated hard memory controllers simplify DDR3 interfacing for HARQ buffers and deinterleaver memory, and the I4 industrial temperature grade supports outdoor base-station thermal envelopes.
Recommended
100G/40G Network Line Cards
Stratix IV GX devices like the EP4SGX530KH40I4 are commonly deployed in 40G and 100G Ethernet line cards where their 8.5 Gbps transceivers drive OTU3/OTU4 optical modules through XLAUI/CAUI interfaces. The 531K logic-element fabric supports packet processing pipelines, traffic management, and deep lookups, while 28 Mbit of block RAM feeds statistics counters and on-chip packet buffers. Engineers use the I4 industrial grade to cover operator-environment thermal ranges, and the FPGA's 744 I/Os sustain multi-lane MAC-plus-PHY architectures plus high-speed backplane SERDES. The device's hard PCIe Gen2 endpoints also let it pair with a host CPU for control-plane offload.
Recommended
Defense Radar and EW Front Ends
The EP4SGX530KH40I4 is used in defense radar and electronic-warfare systems where 40 nm fabric density, industrial temperature grade, and the 8.5 Gbps transceiver count support phased-array beamforming, wideband digitization, and high-throughput signal processing. Designers exploit the 28 Mbit of embedded RAM for windowing and FFT twiddle storage, while the 531K logic elements deliver massive DSP throughput for pulse compression and digital beam steering. The KH40 1517-ball FCBGA package accommodates the full transceiver complement needed for multiple antenna channels, and Altera's AES bitstream encryption supports secure-by-design deployments required by defense customers.
Recommended
High-Frequency Trading Platforms
Low-latency trading platforms rely on Stratix IV GX devices such as the EP4SGX530KH40I4 for FPGA-accelerated market-data parsing, order-book processing, and risk-check offload. The 8.5 Gbps transceivers move raw market-data feeds (ITCH/OUCH) directly into the FPGA fabric with nanosecond-scale deterministic latency, while the 531K logic elements and 28 Mbit block RAM provide on-chip buffer space for tap-and-book state. The I4 industrial speed grade maximizes Fmax for critical path timing closure, and the 744 I/Os let the design simultaneously drive PCIe Gen2 host links, multiple SFP+ ports, and external TCAM/SRAM search accelerators for tick-to-trade latency budgets in the single-digit microsecond range.
Recommended
ASIC Prototyping Platforms
The EP4SGX530KH40I4 is well suited to ASIC prototyping thanks to its 531,200 logic elements, abundant block RAM (28 Mbit), 744 I/Os, and Stratix IV GX transceivers that emulate common ASIC I/O standards such as XAUI, PCIe, and Serial RapidIO. Design teams map multiple ASIC partitions to one or more Stratix IV GX devices, using the KH40 1517-ball FCBGA package's high ball count to break out ASIC I/O between FPGAs. The industrial I4 speed grade helps timing closure on aggressive ASIC clocks, and Quartus' TimeQuest timing analyzer plus board-level partitioning scripts make the part a staple of multi-FPGA prototype boards sold by partners like Synopsys, S2C, and Pro Design.
Recommended
Broadcast Video Infrastructure
Broadcast video routers, contribution encoders, and playout servers often deploy Stratix IV GX FPGAs like the EP4SGX530KH40I4 to process uncompressed SDI/HD-SDI/3G-SDI streams and to bridge to IP-based SMPTE ST 2022-6/2110 networks. The 8.5 Gbps transceivers aggregate multiple SDI streams or drive 10G Ethernet SFP+ uplinks for IP-based transport, while the 531K logic elements and 28 Mbit block RAM host multi-stream audio/video processing, color-space conversion, and on-screen graphics overlays. The 744 I/Os expose parallel SDI GPIO plus external memory bus interfaces, and the I4 industrial temperature grade meets the thermal envelopes of equipment-room and outdoor broadcast enclosures.
Recommended
Test & Measurement Equipment
High-end oscilloscopes, protocol analyzers, and bit-error-rate testers use Stratix IV GX FPGAs like the EP4SGX530KH40I4 to capture and pattern-generate multi-gigabit signals under test. The 8.5 Gbps transceivers handle PCIe, SATA, USB 3.0, and Serial RapidIO physical-layer generation, while 531K logic elements implement protocol-aware state machines, statistics engines, and triggering logic. The 28 Mbit embedded block RAM supports deep capture buffers and pattern memory, and 744 I/Os expose front-panel trigger I/O plus parallel LVDS measurement channels. The I4 industrial speed grade supports deterministic timing closure for protocol testers demanding sub-nanosecond jitter budgets.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP4SGX530KH40I4 — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP4SGX530KH40C4N | EP4SGX530KH40I3 | EP4SGX530KH40I3N | EP4SGX530KH40C4 | EP4SGX530KH40C3N | EP4SGX530KH40C3 | EP4SGX530KH40C2N | EP4SGX530KH40C2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Package | 1517-BBGA, FCBGA (KH40) | 1517-BBGA, FCBGA (KH40) - same | 1517-BBGA, FCBGA (KH40) - same | 1517-BBGA, FCBGA (KH40) - same | 1517-BBGA, FCBGA (KH40) - same | 1517-BBGA, FCBGA (KH40) - same | 1517-BBGA, FCBGA (KH40) - same | 1517-BBGA, FCBGA (KH40) - same | 1517-BBGA, FCBGA (KH40) - same |
| Brand | Altera | Altera | Altera | Altera | Altera | Altera | Altera | Altera | Altera |
| Logic Elements | 531,200 | 531,200 | 531,200 | 531,200 | 531,200 | 531,200 | 531,200 | 531,200 | 531,200 |
| Speed Grade | I4 (industrial, fastest) | C4 (commercial, fastest) | I3 (industrial, mid) | I3 (industrial, mid) | C4 (commercial, fastest) | C3 (commercial, mid) | C3 (commercial, mid) | C2 (commercial, slowest) | C2 (commercial, slowest) |
| Temperature Grade | Industrial (-40C to +100C) | Commercial (0C to +85C) | Industrial (-40C to +100C) | Industrial (-40C to +100C) | Commercial (0C to +85C) | Commercial (0C to +85C) | Commercial (0C to +85C) | Commercial (0C to +85C) | Commercial (0C to +85C) |
| Embedded Memory Bits | 28,033,024 | 28,033,024 | 28,033,024 | 28,033,024 | 28,033,024 | 28,033,024 | 28,033,024 | 28,033,024 | 28,033,024 |
| User I/O | 744 | 744 | 744 | 744 | 744 | 744 | 744 | 744 | 744 |
| Max Transceiver Rate | 8.5 Gbps | 8.5 Gbps | 8.5 Gbps | 8.5 Gbps | 8.5 Gbps | 8.5 Gbps | 8.5 Gbps | 8.5 Gbps | 8.5 Gbps |
Key Differentiators
- Highest speed/temperature grade in the KH40 FCBGA package (vs EP4SGX530KH40I3)
- Industrial temperature grade for outdoor/industrial deployments (vs EP4SGX530KH40C4N)
- Drop-in PCB compatibility across KH40 speed/temperature variants (vs EP4SGX530KH40C4)
Design Notes
Stratix IV GX devices like the EP4SGX530KH40I4 require a multi-rail power architecture (0.9 V core, 2.5 V/3.3 V I/O and aux) with monotonic sequencing per the Altera pin connection guidelines. Use a dedicated power sequencer (e.g., LM3880, UCD9222, or equivalent) to enforce ramp order - core first, then I/O, then aux - and tie PowerGood to the FPGA's nSTATUS. Decoupling must follow the Stratix IV PDN guide: dozens of 0.1 uF and 0.01 uF MLCCs within ~25 mil of the BGA balls plus bulk polymer/ceramic capacitors on each supply rail. Estimated: ICC_core at full utilization can exceed 15 A; budget at least 25 W just for the 0.9 V rail.
The 1517-ball FCBGA package dissipates substantial heat; typical junction-to-ambient thermal resistance (theta_JA) at 1 m/s airflow is in the low single-digit C/W with proper heatsink attachment. Estimated: at full logic plus transceiver utilization the device can dissipate 25-35 W; design heatsinks with sufficient airflow for the I4 -40C to +100C industrial temperature range. Use thermal vias under the exposed die pad and a high-performance thermal interface material between package and heatsink to keep junction temperature below 100C.
Place the EP4SGX530KH40I4 on a high-layer-count PCB (at least 12 layers) with dedicated power and ground planes. Transceiver channels are highly sensitive to impedance discontinuities and crosstalk - keep high-speed SERDES traces on stripline/microstrip layers adjacent to solid ground, length-match differential pairs within +/- 5 mil for signals up to 8.5 Gbps, and isolate reference clocks behind a stitched guard ring. Memory interfaces (DDR3/RLDRAM II/QDR II+) require matched routing for byte lanes with fly-by topology, and the Quartus pin planner should be used to lock in the bank assignments before layout finalization.
Common pitfalls with the EP4SGX530KH40I4 include: (1) using the wrong speed/temperature grade for design Fmax/temp budgets, which can cause timing failure or thermal shutdown; (2) omitting the configuration scheme (EPCS/EPCQ flash with appropriate pull-ups on nCE/nCONFIG) resulting in configuration failure; (3) misrouting transceiver reference clocks and causing jitter compliance failures; (4) ignoring the JTAG chain ordering when multiple devices share one JTAG bus; (5) failing to enable bitstream encryption for IP protection. Always generate the configuration device programming file with Quartus, validate against the FPGA pin connection guidelines, and run SignalTap II for in-system debug during bring-up.
Stratix IV GX transceivers require carefully designed pre-emphasis, equalization, and DC-blocking networks. Use the Altera/Intel Transceiver Toolkit to tune pre-tap/post-tap pre-emphasis and receiver equalization for the actual channel. Estimated: for 8.5 Gbps backplane channels of 30+ inch FR4, expect to apply at least -1/-2 dB pre-emphasis and 4-tap DFE for an acceptable eye opening. Supply clean low-jitter reference clocks (typically 156.25 MHz for telecom line cards or 100 MHz for PCIe) with HCSL or LVDS signaling; keep jitter below 0.5 ps RMS to meet the bit-error-rate budget at 8.5 Gbps.
Compliance Information
RoHS and REACH compliance for EP4SGX530KH40I4 should be verified from the manufacturer material declaration because the part is NRND and revisions vary. AEC-Q100 is not applicable for FPGAs; consult Intel/Altera safety manuals for IEC 61508 or ISO 26262 functional-safety compliance.
