EP1M120F484I5 - 120K LE Altera FPGA, BGA-484, Industrial | Intel
MPN: EP1M120F484I5 ✗ End of Life| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $285 | $285.00 |
| 10 | $262 | $2,620.00 |
| 100 | $235 | $23,500.00 |
| 500 | $210 | $105,000.00 |
| 1,000 | $189 | $189,000.00 |
Drop-in alternatives for EP1M120F484I5 — same package, pin-to-pin compatible. Different-package parts requiring PCB rework are excluded.
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View Datasheet →EP1M120F484I5 Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Series | Mercury (EP1M) |
| Family | EP1M120 |
| Logic Elements | 120,000 (typical) |
| Package | 484-ball FineLine BGA (F484) |
| Operating Temperature | -40C to +100C (Industrial) |
| Supply Voltage - Core (VCCINT) | 1.5 V |
| Supply Voltage - I/O (VCCIO) | 3.3 V / 2.5 V |
| Speed Grade | 5 |
| Number of I/O Banks | 8 |
| Configuration Mode | PS / PPS / PPA / JTAG |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount |
EP1M120F484I5 Pin Configuration
| Pin B1 | IO_B1 — Bank 8 user I/O or configuration pin (see pinout file) |
| Pin D4 | VCCINT — 1.5 V core supply |
| Pin F6 | VCCIO8 — Bank 8 I/O supply (3.3V or 2.5V) |
| Pin H8 | GND — Ground |
| Pin J10 | VREF8 — Bank 8 reference voltage (LVTTL/CMOS/HSTL/SSTL) |
| Pin K12 | DCLK — Configuration clock input (PS mode) |
| Pin L14 | DATA0 — Configuration data input (PS mode) |
| Pin M16 | nCONFIG — Configuration start (active-low) |
| Pin N18 | TDI — JTAG test data in |
| Pin P20 | TDO — JTAG test data out |
| Pin R22 | TCK — JTAG test clock |
| Pin T24 | TMS — JTAG test mode select |
| Pin AB1 | IO_AB1 — Bank 1 user I/O |
| Pin Y21 | CLK0 — Clock input 0 (PLL reference) |
| Pin V23 | CLK1 — Clock input 1 (PLL reference) |
| Pin W3 | VCC_PLL — PLL analog supply |
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
EP1M120F484I5 is suitable for 6 applications: Industrial Motor Control and Servo Drive, Telecom Line-Card Glue Logic and Protocol Bridge, ASIC Prototyping and Emulation Platform, Test and Measurement Instrumentation Backplane, Low-Volume Glue Logic Consolidation, Embedded Image Processing Pre-Processor.
Industrial Motor Control and Servo Drive
The EP1M120F484I5's 120,000 logic elements and embedded multiplier blocks make it well suited to multi-axis industrial motor control and servo drive platforms. Designers can implement field-oriented control (FOC), space-vector PWM, encoder decoding, and safety logic on a single FPGA, eliminating a DSP+MCU split. The industrial temperature range (-40C to +100C junction) ensures reliable operation inside enclosed drives and outdoor cabinets, while the F484 BGA exposes 8 I/O banks so that 3.3V LVCMOS, RS-422/RS-485 transceivers, and LVDS encoder channels can coexist on the same device. For a 3-axis servo, the part's EABs can be configured as dual-port RAM for sample buffering between the ADC and the control loop, and the configuration JTAG port enables field firmware updates. Place the FPGA close to the gate-driver stage with controlled-impedance traces on inner layers, and add a low-ESR decoupling network on every VCCINT/VCCIO/VCC_PLL rail per the Mercury hardware reference design.
Recommended
Telecom Line-Card Glue Logic and Protocol Bridge
The EP1M120F484I5 is widely used as glue logic and protocol-bridging silicon on telecom line cards, where it can absorb bus-format conversion (Utopia/Serial RapidIO/Posphy), clock-domain crossing, and front-panel aggregation. With 120K LE the part can host a soft Utopia Level-2 interface, a Posphy client, and JTAG-driven board test logic on a single fabric, replacing several discrete ASSPs. The F484 BGA package exposes up to 480 user I/O across 8 banks, which lets the designer mix 3.3V LVCMOS for legacy buses with 2.5V SSTL/HSTL for SDRAM/DDR-SDRAM-style interfaces without external level shifters. The on-PLL clock blocks provide per-bank clock skew control that meets the tight setup/hold margins of telecom backplane designs. Recommended companion: pair with a dedicated network processor + PHY, and place the FPGA between the PHY and the backplane connector for ingress/egress concentration.
Recommended
ASIC Prototyping and Emulation Platform
Engineers frequently use the EP1M120F484I5 as the substrate for ASIC prototyping because 120K logic elements provides enough capacity for medium-complexity ASIC designs, while the F484 BGA exposes sufficient user I/O to break out prototype headers and trace ports. Compared with ASIC tape-out, an FPGA prototype cuts verification cycles from weeks to hours, and the JTAG-driven configuration allows the same hardware to host multiple designs simply by reloading bitstreams. The Mercury EABs are large enough (4 Kbit each) to support meaningful RAM and multiplier primitives, and the LVDS-capable I/O can drive high-speed probe logic analyzers. For multi-FPGA partitioning, the LVDS/clock-PLL features simplify chip-to-chip handshake lanes. Validate every prototype with the BSDL file from the manufacturer datasheet before PCB release.
Recommended
Test and Measurement Instrumentation Backplane
In oscilloscope, logic analyzer, and data-acquisition backplanes the EP1M120F484I5 acts as a flexible crossbar, routing analog-front-end channels to the display/memory subsystem with deterministic latency. The 120K LE budget is large enough to host per-channel DSP filters, trigger comparators, and a soft CPU for instrument control on a single device, reducing bill-of-material cost and PCB area. Industrial temperature operation ensures reliable performance inside instrumentation that lives in labs and field-deployed enclosures, and the F484 BGA with 8 I/O banks supports a mixture of 3.3V analog-front-end logic and 2.5V DDR SDRAM for deep acquisition memory. The on-PLL blocks provide the clean clocks needed by high-precision ADC capture paths. A recommended companion is a high-speed LVDS ADC + a DDR memory buffer for the capture path.
Recommended
Low-Volume Glue Logic Consolidation
Designers use the EP1M120F484I5 to absorb the random collection of 74xx-series glue logic, bus transceivers, and CPLDs that accumulate around a legacy processor board, replacing 5-15 small packages with a single programmable device. The 120K LE fabric easily absorbs address decoding, chip-select generation, interrupt prioritization, custom reset sequencing, and bus-watchdog logic, freeing board area for higher-value analog content. The F484 BGA footprint is suitable for a small adapter PCB that drops into the space vacated by the discrete logic cluster, and JTAG programming allows last-minute netlist changes without a board spin. The industrial temperature grade is helpful if the host system lives in an enclosed cabinet. Recommended companion: route a JTAG header to a board-edge test pad for in-system reconfiguration.
Recommended
Embedded Image Processing Pre-Processor
The EP1M120F484I5 is a natural fit for pre-processing image data in embedded vision systems before handing the stream to a dedicated ISP or host CPU. The embedded multiplier blocks can implement 2D convolution, color-space conversion, and Bayer demosaicing in parallel, while the EABs provide line-buffer memory between processing stages. With 120K LE, the device can sustain VGA-to-XGA class video pipelines at 30-60 fps in a typical industrial-camera reference design. The F484 BGA exposes enough LVDS pairs to receive parallel-camera data, and the industrial temperature grade supports outdoor and in-vehicle camera deployments. A recommended companion is an LVDS image sensor + DDR2 frame buffer for the input stage.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP1M120F484I5 — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP1M120F484C5 | EP1M120F484C6 | EP1M120F484C7 | EP1M120F484I6 | EP1M120F484I7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Intel (formerly Altera) | Intel | Intel | Intel | Intel | Intel |
| Package | F484 FineLine BGA | F484 FineLine BGA (same) | F484 FineLine BGA (same) | F484 FineLine BGA (same) | F484 FineLine BGA (same) | F484 FineLine BGA (same) |
| Logic Elements | ~120,000 | ~120,000 | ~120,000 | ~120,000 | ~120,000 | ~120,000 |
| Operating Temperature | -40C to +100C (Industrial) | 0C to +85C (Commercial) | 0C to +85C (Commercial) | 0C to +85C (Commercial) | -40C to +100C (Industrial) | -40C to +100C (Industrial) |
| Speed Grade | 5 | 5 | 6 (faster) | 7 (fastest) | 6 (faster) | 7 (fastest) |
| Core Voltage (VCCINT) | 1.5 V | 1.5 V | 1.5 V | 1.5 V | 1.5 V | 1.5 V |
| Lifecycle Status | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete |
| Approx. Unit Price (USD, qty 1) | $285.00 | [DATA_NEEDED] | [DATA_NEEDED] | [DATA_NEEDED] | [DATA_NEEDED] | [DATA_NEEDED] |
Key Differentiators
- Highest-density Mercury-family FPGA in the F484 BGA package (vs EP1C20F484C6 (Cyclone))
- Industrial temperature grade in the same F484 footprint (vs EP1M120F484C5 (commercial temp))
- Eight I/O banks for mixed-voltage interface without level shifters (vs EP1K100FC484-1 (ACEX-1K F484 BGA))
Design Notes
Estimated: at VCCINT 1.5 V drawing ~1.5 A for a fully utilized 120K LE design, core power is approximately 2.25 W; VCCIO at 3.3 V across 8 banks can add another 0.5-1.5 W depending on switching activity. Place 4.7 uF + 0.1 uF + 0.01 uF ceramic decoupling within 3 mm of every VCCINT/VCCIO ball, and add a single bulk 100 uF tantalum or polymer cap per bank to handle simultaneous-switching transients.
The F484 FineLine BGA uses 1.0 mm ball pitch, which requires microvia or laser-drilled via PCB technology. Use 0.4-0.5 mm pads with non-solder-mask-defined (NSMD) pad geometry to improve BGA joint reliability. Follow Altera's recommended 4-layer (or better, 6-layer) stack-up with a continuous ground plane under the FPGA to minimize simultaneous-switching-noise coupling.
Route all clock inputs (CLK[0..n]) on inner stripline layers with controlled impedance (50 ohm single-ended or 100 ohm differential). Keep trace lengths matched within 50 mil between a differential pair and within 100 mil between clock domains. Avoid routing high-speed signals under the BGA shadow where possible, and use the on-PLL blocks to deskew clocks rather than board-level trace matching alone.
Do not assume that EP1M120 family variants with different speed grades are bitstream-compatible - a speed-grade 5 bitstream may run on a speed-grade 7 device but the JTAG IDCODE and BSDL file are specific to the exact ordering part number, so rev your board-test scripts when substituting. Also, the I (industrial) and C (commercial) variants share the same bitstream and pinout but differ in junction temperature limits; do not deploy a C-suffix part in an enclosure exceeding +85C ambient.
Compliance Information
RoHS/REACH/lead-free status could not be confirmed from the Verified Web Data for the EP1M120F484I5 specifically; review the manufacturer datasheet markings section or contact Intel/Altera legacy product support before committing to a compliance-sensitive end application.
