EP1M120F484C7A - Mercury FPGA 120K Gates 484-FBGA | Intel
MPN: EP1M120F484C7A ⚠ Last Time Buy| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $285 | $285.00 |
| 10 | $268 | $2,680.00 |
| 100 | $245 | $24,500.00 |
| 500 | $220 | $110,000.00 |
| 1,000 | $198 | $198,000.00 |
Drop-in alternatives for EP1M120F484C7A — same package, pin-to-pin compatible. Different-package parts requiring PCB rework are excluded.
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View Datasheet →EP1M120F484C7A Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Family | Mercury FPGA |
| Logic Family | CMOS |
| Equivalent System Gates | 120,000 |
| Logic Cells | 4,800 |
| User I/Os | 303 |
| Total Pins | 484 |
| Package | 484-pin FineLine BGA (FC-FBGA) |
| Core Supply Voltage | 1.8 V |
| Operating Temperature | 0 C to 85 C (commercial) |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount (BGA) |
| Transceiver Data Rate | Up to 1.25 Gbps with CDR |
| Programmable Logic Type | Loadable PLD |
| Terminal Form | Ball |
| Package Shape | Square |
EP1M120F484C7A Pin Configuration
| Pin A1 | IO — General-purpose user I/O (bank 1) |
| Pin A2 | IO — General-purpose user I/O (bank 1) |
| Pin A3 | VCCIO1 — I/O bank 1 supply voltage |
| Pin A4 | GND — Ground reference |
| Pin A5 | IO — General-purpose user I/O (bank 1) |
| Pin A6 | IO — General-purpose user I/O (bank 1) |
| Pin A7 | GXB_RXP0 — Transceiver channel 0 receive positive |
| Pin A8 | GXB_RXN0 — Transceiver channel 0 receive negative |
| Pin A9 | VCC_GXB — Transceiver analog supply |
| Pin A10 | GND — Ground reference |
| Pin A11 | GXB_TXP0 — Transceiver channel 0 transmit positive |
| Pin A12 | GXB_TXN0 — Transceiver channel 0 transmit negative |
| Pin B1 | IO — General-purpose user I/O (bank 2) |
| Pin B2 | VCCIO2 — I/O bank 2 supply voltage |
| Pin B3 | IO — General-purpose user I/O (bank 2) |
| Pin B4 | IO — General-purpose user I/O (bank 2) |
| Pin B5 | GND — Ground reference |
| Pin B6 | VCCINT — Core supply voltage 1.8V |
| Pin B7 | REFCLK_P — Transceiver reference clock positive |
| Pin B8 | REFCLK_N — Transceiver reference clock negative |
| Pin B9 | GXB_RXP1 — Transceiver channel 1 receive positive |
| Pin B10 | GXB_RXN1 — Transceiver channel 1 receive negative |
| Pin B11 | GND — Ground reference |
| Pin B12 | GXB_TXP1 — Transceiver channel 1 transmit positive |
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
EP1M120F484C7A is suitable for 7 applications: Telecommunications Backplane Interface, High-Speed Serial Protocol Bridge, DSP Co-Processing for Baseband, Network Switch and Router Line Cards, Test and Measurement Equipment, Industrial Imaging and Video Processing, Legacy Sustainment and Defense Systems.
Telecommunications Backplane Interface
The EP1M120F484C7A fits telecommunications backplane designs because its integrated transceivers deliver clock data recovery up to 1.25 Gbps per channel, supporting gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and proprietary serial protocols across a backplane. The 120K-gate logic capacity absorbs parallel glue logic for link training, error correction, and protocol multiplexing without requiring a companion ASIC. The 484-FBGA package enables dense board layouts typical of line-card designs where multiple high-speed channels share a constrained PCB area.
Recommended
High-Speed Serial Protocol Bridge
For protocol bridging between SPI, I2C, UART, or proprietary serial buses and high-speed links, the EP1M120F484C7A's 303 user I/Os and integrated transceivers provide the necessary parallel and serial bandwidth. The 120K-gate fabric implements bridge state machines, FIFOs, and protocol conversion logic on-chip. Designers benefit from the 1.8V core supply simplifying power architecture relative to legacy 3.3V-only FPGAs, and from the 484-FBGA footprint allowing layout reuse across product variants.
Recommended
DSP Co-Processing for Baseband
The EP1M120F484C7A's 4,800 logic cells and 120K equivalent gates support moderate-complexity DSP co-processing tasks such as baseband demodulation, channel filtering, and FFT preprocessing alongside a host processor or DSP chip. Its high I/O count accommodates wide data buses and multiple ADC/DAC interfaces common in baseband designs. The 1.25 Gbps transceivers can also forward preprocessed baseband data to higher-layer processors, reducing system-level pin and trace counts.
Recommended
Network Switch and Router Line Cards
In network switch and router line cards, the EP1M120F484C7A handles packet buffering, queue management, and PHY interface logic while the integrated 1.25 Gbps transceivers connect directly to SFP modules or backplane SERDES. The 303 user I/Os accommodate multiple PHY connections, management interfaces, and lookup-memory buses. Its commercial temperature grade (0C to 85C) suits controlled-environment central-office and data-center switching platforms where thermal management is well-defined.
Recommended
Test and Measurement Equipment
Test and measurement platforms benefit from the EP1M120F484C7A's reconfigurable logic and high-speed transceivers to implement arbitrary waveform generators, protocol analyzers, and bit-error-rate testers. The 120K-gate fabric accommodates real-time signal processing, while the 303 I/Os support parallel acquisition paths and front-panel interfaces. Its 1.8V core reduces power consumption in benchtop and portable instrument designs, and the 484-FBGA package fits standardized form factors common in modular test platforms.
Recommended
Industrial Imaging and Video Processing
For industrial imaging systems, the EP1M120F484C7A provides the parallel I/O bandwidth needed to ingest high-resolution sensor data and perform real-time preprocessing such as color-space conversion, gamma correction, and basic image enhancement. The 120K-gate capacity supports line-buffer management and timing generation, while the 1.25 Gbps transceivers forward processed video to backhaul networks. Its commercial temperature range suits factory-floor imaging enclosures with active cooling or controlled ambient temperatures.
Recommended
Legacy Sustainment and Defense Systems
The EP1M120F484C7A's last-time-buy status makes it a critical component for legacy sustainment programs including defense, aerospace, and industrial systems already deployed in the field. Its Mercury family architecture has proven reliability in long-lifecycle platforms, and qualified drop-in alternatives such as the EP1M120F484C7 and EP1M120F484C6N allow continued production of legacy boards. Sustainment engineers should validate FPGA bitstream compatibility across speed-grade variants before substitution.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP1M120F484C7A — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP1M120F484C7 | EP1M120F484C6N | EP1M120F484C6 | EP1M120F484C5N |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Package | 484-FBGA (FineLine) | 484-FBGA (FineLine) - same | 484-FBGA (FineLine) - same | 484-FBGA (FineLine) - same | 484-FBGA (FineLine) - same |
| Brand | Intel | Intel - same brand | Intel - same brand | Intel - same brand | Intel - same brand |
| Family | Mercury FPGA | Mercury FPGA | Mercury FPGA | Mercury FPGA | Mercury FPGA |
| Speed Grade | C7A | C7 | C6 | C6 | C5 |
| Equivalent System Gates | 120,000 | 120,000 | 120,000 | 120,000 | 120,000 |
| Logic Cells | 4,800 | 4,800 | 4,800 | 4,800 | 4,800 |
| User I/Os | 303 | 303 | 303 | 303 | 303 |
| Core Voltage | 1.8 V | 1.8 V | 1.8 V | 1.8 V | 1.8 V |
| Transceiver Data Rate | 1.25 Gbps | 1.25 Gbps | 1.25 Gbps | 1.25 Gbps | 1.25 Gbps |
| Lifecycle Status | Last-time-buy | Last-time-buy | Last-time-buy | Last-time-buy | Last-time-buy |
Key Differentiators
- A-suffix revision identifier (vs EP1M120F484C7)
- Higher speed grade than C6 variants (vs EP1M120F484C6N)
- Higher speed grade than C5 variants (vs EP1M120F484C5N)
- Commercial temperature screening vs military (vs EP1M120F484C5M)
Design Notes
The 484-pin FineLine BGA package requires a PCB stack-up with microvias and fine-pitch routing rules. Use 0.4 mm to 0.5 mm pitch escape routing on the top layer with via-in-pad technology for clean signal egress. Maintain continuous ground planes beneath the BGA to control impedance and provide a low-inductance return path for high-speed transceiver channels. Decoupling capacitors should be placed as close as possible to the VCCINT, VCCIO, and VCC_GXB balls with short, wide traces.
Differential transceiver pairs (GXB_TXP/N and GXB_RXP/N) must be routed as 100-ohm matched-length differential pairs with intra-pair skew held under 5 mils. Use length matching on the REFCLK_P/N reference clock lines to within 10 mils of the data pair length to minimize deterministic jitter. Avoid routing high-speed signals across power plane splits; if unavoidable, place stitching capacitors near the split crossings to maintain return-path continuity.
Power-rail sequencing between VCCINT (1.8V core) and VCCIO bank supplies must follow the Mercury family datasheet specification to prevent latch-up during configuration. A typical sequence enables VCCINT first, then VCCIO, with monotonic rise times under the datasheet maximum. The VCC_GXB transceiver analog supply should be heavily filtered with ferrite beads and bulk capacitance to isolate switching noise from the sensitive CDR circuitry.
Estimated: substituting C5 or C6 speed-grade parts for C7 in timing-critical paths may violate setup/hold margins by 10-25%. Always re-run static timing analysis after speed-grade substitution. Configuration bitstreams are not always speed-grade portable; confirm with the Quartus design software before deploying alternatives in production. Avoid mixing VCCIO bank voltages beyond the datasheet-supported combinations to prevent I/O buffer damage.
Compliance Information
Compliance fields not present in verified web data; set to 'unknown' per data authenticity rules. Mercury family parts in last-time-buy status should be checked directly with Intel for current compliance certifications.
