EP1C4F400C7 - Cyclone FPGA, 4K LEs, 301 I/O, 400-FBGA | Altera
MPN: EP1C4F400C7 ✗ End of Life| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $38.5 | $38.50 |
| 10 | $32.4 | $324.00 |
| 100 | $26.8 | $2,680.00 |
| 500 | $22.1 | $11,050.00 |
| 1,000 | $18.75 | $18,750.00 |
Drop-in alternatives for EP1C4F400C7 — same package, pin-to-pin compatible. Different-package parts requiring PCB rework are excluded.
Quick Comparison Tool — Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
EP1C4F400C6
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View Datasheet →EP1C4F400C6N
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View Datasheet →EP1C4F400C8N
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View Datasheet →EP1C20F400C7
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View Datasheet →EP1C20F400C6
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View Datasheet →EP4CE4F17C8N
✅ Drop-In📋 Reference alternative (not in catalog)
10CL016YU484C8G
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View Datasheet →EP1C4F400C7 Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Device Family | Cyclone (Cyclone I) |
| Logic Elements (LEs) | 4,000 |
| Logic Array Blocks (LABs) | 400 |
| Total RAM Bits | 78,336 |
| User I/Os | 301 |
| Package | 400-ball FBGA |
| Process Technology | 130 nm CMOS |
| Core Supply Voltage (VCCINT) | 1.425 V to 1.575 V |
| Operating Junction Temperature | 0°C to 85°C |
| Speed Grade | C7 (commercial, -7) |
| PLLs | 2 |
| LVDS Support | Up to 640 Mbps |
| Global Clock Network | Up to 8 dedicated clock pins |
| Configuration | Active serial / Passive serial / JTAG |
EP1C4F400C7 400-ball fbga Pin Configuration Guide
Complete pinout information for EP1C4F400C7 (400-ball fbga 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 EP1C4F400C7.
Refer to the datasheet for full pin configuration.
Safe Operating Area (SOA) & Thermal Characteristics
No official SOA curve available for this digital IC. Always operate within absolute maximum ratings specified in the datasheet. Ensure adequate cooling and derate as needed.
Typical Applications
EP1C4F400C7 is suitable for 7 applications: Industrial Motor Control, PCI/PCI-X Bridge and Bus Interface, Digital Video Processing / LVDS Display Bridging, Telecom Line Card Glue Logic and TDM Switch, Prototype / Development Board FPGA, Consumer Display / Image Processing Pipeline, Test and Measurement Instrumentation.
Industrial Motor Control
The EP1C4F400C7 fits industrial motor control because its 4,000 logic elements, two PLLs, and 301 user I/Os can host quadrature decoder, PWM generator, and field-oriented control state machines in a single device. The 1.5V core and embedded M512/M4K memory blocks enable deterministic microsecond control loops, while 640 Mbps LVDS transceivers cleanly handle encoder feedback signals. Engineers typically pair it with an external ADC such as the AD7606 for current sensing and a high-side gate driver like the IR2103 to drive IGBT or MOSFET half-bridges up to several kW.
Recommended
PCI/PCI-X Bridge and Bus Interface
The EP1C4F400C7 is widely deployed in legacy designs implementing PCI 32/33 or PCI-X bridges between host processors and peripheral ASICs. Its 4,000 LEs and 78,336 RAM bits are sufficient to implement the PCI target or master state machine, configuration header registers, and a 32-bit data path with parity. The 301 I/Os comfortably route a 32-bit PCI bus plus local bus, interrupts, and JTAG. Compared to a discrete PCI controller ASIC, the EP1C4F400C7 offers firmware-upgradeable protocol support at lower BOM cost.
Recommended
Digital Video Processing / LVDS Display Bridging
With 640 Mbps LVDS transceivers and 301 user I/Os, the EP1C4F400C7 acts as a low-cost LVDS-to-TTL or RGB-to-LVDS bridge in display controller applications. The 78,336 RAM bits store line buffers for de-interlacing or color-space conversion, and the dual PLLs synthesize pixel-clock frequencies up to 108 MHz. Designers route LVDS pairs to the dedicated clock pins and use the embedded M4K RAM as line buffers, achieving >60 Hz refresh rates on XGA/SXGA panels. The Quartus II toolchain includes ALTLVDS megafunctions that simplify transmitter/receiver instantiation.
Recommended
Telecom Line Card Glue Logic and TDM Switch
Telecom line cards use the EP1C4F400C7 for TDM bus aggregation, HDB3/AMI line coding, and protocol-format conversion between framers and DSPs. The 4,000 LEs handle eight E1/T1 framers' worth of state machines, while the M4K RAM blocks implement elastic buffers for clock-domain crossing. The two PLLs provide independent framers' clocks and backplane reference clocks. Because the part is BGA, it survives the thermal and vibration profile of central-office deployments better than QFP devices.
Recommended
Prototype / Development Board FPGA
Universities and embedded engineering labs use the EP1C4F400C7 as a programmable host for SoC prototyping, soft-core CPU design (NIOS II), and hardware-accelerator research. The 4,000 LEs accommodate a NIOS II/e soft processor plus custom peripherals, while the 301 I/Os expose GPIO, SRAM, and SDRAM buses for instruction/data memory. The 400-ball FBGA breakout is standard on Altera Cyclone I development kits, enabling students to migrate from textbook examples to real silicon with identical Quartus II Web Edition software.
Recommended
Consumer Display / Image Processing Pipeline
Consumer digital cameras and video processors use the EP1C4F400C7 as a pre-processor for image resizing, color interpolation, and JPEG compression before handing data to a media ASIC. The embedded multipliers enable single-cycle 8x8 or 16x16 MAC operations needed for bilinear scaling and DCT/IDCT, while 78,336 RAM bits hold two-line buffers for 1080i HD processing. The 1.5V core and commercial temperature range fit consumer-cost targets. Designers pair it with a CMOS image sensor interface implemented via the ALTPLL and ALTIOBUF megafunctions.
Recommended
Test and Measurement Instrumentation
The EP1C4F400C7 is used as a reconfigurable digital-pattern generator, protocol-analyzer capture engine, and timing/sequencer block in benchtop test equipment. The dual PLLs synthesize sub-nanosecond-edge clocks from a master reference, while the 301 I/Os expose parallel digital channels for unit-under-test stimulation. Engineers use the abundant logic to implement custom protocol decoders (I2C, SPI, UART, JTAG) and the M4K RAM as deep capture buffers. The BGA package provides the electrical cleanliness required for high-speed signal capture in lab environments.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP1C4F400C7 — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP1C4F400C6 | EP1C4F400C6N | EP1C4F400C8N | EP1C20F400C7 | EP1C20F400C6 | EP4CE4F17C8N | 10CL016YU484C8G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Altera | Altera | Altera | Altera | Altera | Altera | Altera | Altera |
| Package | 400-ball FBGA | 400-ball FBGA - same | 400-ball FBGA - same | 400-ball FBGA - same | 400-ball FBGA - same | 400-ball FBGA - same | 256-ball FBGA | 484-ball UBGA |
| Logic Elements | 4,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 20,060 | 20,060 | 4,000 | 15,408 |
| User I/Os | 301 | 301 | 301 | 301 | 301 | 301 | 179 | 340 |
| Speed Grade | C7 (-7) | C6 (-6, slower) | C6 (-6, slower, lead-free) | C8N (-8, slowest, lead-free) | C7 (-7) | C6 (-6, slower) | C8N (-8) | C8G (-8) |
| Core Voltage | 1.5 V | 1.5 V | 1.5 V | 1.5 V | 1.5 V | 1.5 V | 1.2 V | 1.2 V |
| Device Family | Cyclone I (130 nm) | Cyclone I (130 nm) | Cyclone I (130 nm) | Cyclone I (130 nm) | Cyclone I (130 nm) | Cyclone I (130 nm) | Cyclone IV E (60 nm) | Cyclone 10 LP (60 nm) |
| Lifecycle Status | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Active | Active |
| Approx. Unit Price @ 1k | USD 18.75 | USD 17.50 | USD 18.20 | USD 16.40 | USD 35.00 | USD 33.50 | USD 22.00 | USD 28.00 |
Key Differentiators
- Highest speed grade available in 400-ball FBGA Cyclone I family (vs EP1C4F400C6)
- 5x logic density upgrade path available in same package (vs EP1C20F400C7)
- Migration path to active-lifecycle Cyclone IV E devices (vs EP4CE4F17C8N)
Design Notes
The EP1C4F400C7 requires at minimum eight decoupling capacitors per VCCINT/VCCIO bank: bulk 4.7 uF tantalum plus six 0.1 uF ceramic spread evenly across the package footprint. Use separate analog/digital ground planes stitched together at a single point under the FPGA to avoid ground loops. The Cyclone I core draws 100-300 mA typical at 1.5 V depending on utilization; design the regulator with at least 30% headroom. Apply power-up sequencing: VCCINT first, then VCCIO, to prevent I/O latch-up.
Route all 8 dedicated clock inputs with 50 ohm controlled-impedance traces and via-stitch ground fences on both sides to maintain signal integrity. Avoid right-angle bends on global clock nets - use 45-degree bends or arcs. Maintain 3W spacing (3x dielectric thickness) between adjacent LVDS pairs to avoid crosstalk above 640 Mbps. Place configuration memory (EPCS4) within 100 mm of the FPGA to minimize JTAG passive-mode timing violations.
Three pitfalls commonly delay Cyclone I designs. First, do not enable JTAG boundary-scan tests during configuration without verifying MSEL pin settings - mismatch causes failure-to-configure at power-up. Second, leave at least one LVDS pair per bank unused to provide a known-good termination reference. Third, do not exceed 640 Mbps per LVDS pair even though the datasheet quotes higher values - signal-integrity margin shrinks rapidly above 500 MHz with FR-4 dielectrics. Always run the Quartus II TimeQuest timing analyzer with SDC constraints covering all clock domains before board bring-up.
Although the commercial junction range is 0-85°C, hot-spot heating under high utilization can create local junctions 15-20°C above ambient. For designs above 70% LE utilization at 200 MHz, attach a small heat spreader (15x15 mm copper pad under the BGA thermal ball cluster) and ensure at least four thermal vias to an internal ground plane. The 400-ball FBGA's center balls are predominantly GND, providing a low-thermal-resistance heat path. Estimate: at 1 W total dissipation, junction rise is approximately 20°C with adequate thermal vias.
Compliance Information
Lifecycle status confirmed obsolete per Altera/Intel FPGA product lifecycle classifications. RoHS, REACH, lead-free, and halogen-free status not verified in the provided distributor data; the C7 speed grade designation predates RoHS compliance versioning. The N-suffixed variants (C6N, C8N) are typically lead-free per Altera's transition catalog but specific lot certificates should be requested.
