EP1M120F48I6 - Mercury FPGA 120K Gates 4800 Cells | Intel/Altera
MPN: EP1M120F48I6 ✗ End of Life| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $245 | $245.00 |
| 10 | $220.5 | $2,205.00 |
| 100 | $195 | $19,500.00 |
| 500 | $175 | $87,500.00 |
| 1,000 | $158 | $158,000.00 |
Drop-in alternatives for EP1M120F48I6 — same package, pin-to-pin compatible. Different-package parts requiring PCB rework are excluded.
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EP1M120F484I6N
✅ Drop-In ⚠️ 参数待验证✓ In Stock
$188 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP1M120F484I6
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$95 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP1M120F484I6M
✅ Drop-In ⚠️ 参数待验证✓ In Stock
$325 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP1M120F484I7
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$125 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP1M120F484I8
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$110 / Unit
View Datasheet →EP1M120F486I6
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View Datasheet →EP1M120F48I6 Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Family | Mercury (Altera) |
| Logic Elements / Cells | 4800 |
| System Gates | 120,000 |
| Total User I/O | 303 |
| Number of Pins / Terminals | 484 |
| Package | 484-BBGA, FCBGA |
| Package Code | BGA, Square |
| Terminal Form | Ball |
| Speed Grade | -6 |
| Temperature Grade | Industrial |
| Operating Temperature | -40C to +100C |
| Core Voltage | 1.8 V |
| Transceiver Channels (max) | 8 channels at 1.25 Gbps; remaining 10 channels at <=1.0 Gbps |
| I/O Standards Supported | LVTTL, LVCMOS, PCI, LVDS |
| Memory Type | Embedded SRAM / dual-port RAM blocks |
EP1M120F48I6 bga, square Pin Configuration Guide
Complete pinout information for EP1M120F48I6 (bga, square package) with 484 pins. 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 EP1M120F48I6.
Refer to the datasheet for full pin configuration.
Estimated pin count: 484 pins (digital package)
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
EP1M120F48I6 is suitable for 6 applications: Telecom Line Card Backplanes, Serial RapidIO Bridges, Optical Transport Equipment, Custom High-Speed Protocol Converters, Military / Aerospace Signal Processing, Industrial Test & Measurement Instrumentation.
Telecom Line Card Backplanes
The EP1M120F48I6 is well suited for telecom line cards that aggregate multiple high-speed serial links onto a backplane. With 8 transceiver channels capable of 1.25 Gbps and a further 10 channels at up to 1.0 Gbps, the device can drive 18 serial lanes simultaneously - enough for STS-12/STM-4 Sonet/SDH tributaries plus Gigabit Ethernet uplinks. Its 120K gates provide ample logic for custom framing, pointer processing, and line-side overhead insertion. Industrial temperature rating permits deployment in outdoor DSLAM cabinets and central-office environments without active cooling. Place the FPGA adjacent to line-interface transformers and use controlled-impedance (50Ω differential) routing on transceiver pairs with intra-pair length matching under 150 mil.
Recommended
Serial RapidIO Bridges
The EP1M120F48I6's embedded serializer/deserializer macros with on-chip clock-data recovery make it a strong fit for Serial RapidIO (sRIO) bridge applications between DSP clusters and host processors. Each 1x sRIO lane at 1.25 Gbps occupies one transceiver channel, and 8 lanes provide 8x sRIO aggregate bandwidth of 10 Gbps - sufficient for DSP-to-FPGA data streaming in radar and signal-processing systems. The 4800 logic cells handle protocol layer-2 packet assembly, error detection, and DMA descriptors. Industrial temperature grade and FCBGA package's excellent thermal characteristics suit ruggedized embedded platforms.
Recommended
Optical Transport Equipment
Optical transport network (OTN) and dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) line cards benefit from the EP1M120F48I6's combination of high-speed serial I/O and reconfigurable logic fabric. The device can drive 1.25 Gbps fiber-optic transceivers directly through its SERDES macros while implementing forward-error-correction, scrambling, and OTN framing in the 120K-gate logic array. This eliminates external PHY chips and reduces BOM cost. The 303 user I/O pins provide ample GPIO for laser drivers, photodiode monitoring ADCs, and front-panel status LEDs. Industrial temperature grade enables deployment in uncontrolled-environment roadside cabinets.
Recommended
Custom High-Speed Protocol Converters
The EP1M120F48I6 excels in custom protocol-conversion bridges where standard ASSPs are unavailable - for example, translating proprietary serializer links to standard Ethernet or PCI Express. Its embedded SERDES macros support non-standard bit rates through user-configurable reference clocks, and the 120K-gate fabric handles packet buffering, rate matching, and protocol state machines. The 1.8V core voltage combined with low-power SRAM-based configuration memory reduces inrush during FPGA configuration, simplifying multi-FPGA board designs that need coordinated power-up sequencing.
Recommended
Military / Aerospace Signal Processing
Military and aerospace subsystems use the EP1M120F48I6 for reconfigurable signal processing - including software-defined radio IF processing, radar pulse compression, and electronic-countermeasure waveform generation. The industrial temperature range (-40°C to +100°C) covers most Mil-Std-810 environmental profiles, and the FCBGA package withstands high-vibration environments better than QFP alternatives when properly underfilled. Reconfigurability allows in-field firmware updates for new threat libraries without hardware changes. For deployment in harsher environments, source military-screened variants such as EP1M120F484I6M when available.
Recommended
Industrial Test & Measurement Instrumentation
High-end benchtop instruments such as protocol analyzers, BERT (bit-error-rate testers), and logic-analyzer backends benefit from the EP1M120F48I6's reconfigurable fabric. Engineers can implement custom pattern generators, error detectors, and protocol-state visualizers directly in the FPGA without ASIC NRE costs. The 8 high-speed SERDES channels at 1.25 Gbps support multi-lane protocol analysis (PCI Express, Serial ATA, Gigabit Ethernet), and the 4800 logic cells implement deep trace buffers with compression. The 484-FCBGA package's excellent thermal performance suits densely-populated instrument mainboards.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP1M120F48I6 — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP1M120F484I6N | EP1M120F484I6 | EP1M120F484I6M | EP1M120F484I7 | EP1M120F484I8 | EP1M120F486I6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Intel | Intel | Intel | Intel | Intel | Intel | Intel |
| Package | 484-BBGA, FCBGA | 484-BBGA, FCBGA - same | 484-BBGA, FCBGA - same | 484-BBGA, FCBGA - same | 484-BBGA, FCBGA - same | 484-BBGA, FCBGA - same | 484-BBGA, FCBGA - same |
| System Gates | 120,000 | 120,000 | 120,000 | 120,000 | 120,000 | 120,000 | 120,000 |
| Logic Elements | 4800 | 4800 | 4800 | 4800 | 4800 | 4800 | 4800 |
| Speed Grade | -6 | -6 | -6 | -6 | -7 (slower) | -8 (slowest) | -6 |
| Temperature Grade | Industrial (-40C to +100C) | Industrial | Industrial | Industrial / Military | Industrial | Industrial | Industrial |
| User I/O Pins | 303 | 303 | 303 | 303 | 303 | 303 | [DATA_NEEDED] |
| Transceiver Channels at 1.25 Gbps | 8 channels | 8 channels | 8 channels | 8 channels | 8 channels | 8 channels | 8 channels |
Key Differentiators
- Drop-in identical package across the Mercury family (vs EP1M120F484I7)
- Industrial temperature grade in the base variant (vs EP1M120F484C6)
- 8 dedicated 1.25 Gbps SERDES channels integrated (vs EP1K100FC484 (ACEX family))
Design Notes
The 484-ball FCBGA package with 1.0mm pitch requires a PCB with at least 6 layers and microvia or via-in-pad technology for reliable breakout routing. Place a continuous ground plane directly beneath the BGA to control impedance for high-speed transceiver pairs. Use length-matched differential routing (target 50Ω differential, 100Ω differential) for all SERDES lanes and keep intra-pair skew below 5 mil. Reference the Mercury family datasheet for recommended decoupling: at least 12 low-ESL ceramic capacitors (0.1µF and 0.01µF) within 100 mil of each power pin, plus 4 bulk tantalum or polymer capacitors (10µF to 22µF) on each supply rail.
Transceiver channels at 1.25 Gbps demand careful attention to signal integrity. Use only the reference-clock pins specified in the Mercury datasheet for each channel group - substituting a non-dedicated clock pin will cause CDR (clock-data recovery) lock failures. Maintain separation of at least 3 trace-widths between adjacent high-speed differential pairs to minimize crosstalk. If multiple transceivers share a reference clock, route that clock on an internal stripline layer with ground planes above and below. Perform post-layout simulation with the IBIS-AMI models available from Intel/Altera to validate channel performance before fabrication.
Estimated: with all 8 transceivers active at 1.25 Gbps and 80% logic utilization, total power dissipation can reach 3-4W. The 484-FCBGA package has a typical θJA of approximately 18 C/W with a 6-layer PCB and adequate thermal via array. This yields a junction temperature rise of 54-72 C above ambient - well within the 100 C industrial limit but requires 25-30 thermal vias under the die-attached pad connected to internal ground planes. For high-altitude or sealed-enclosure deployments, derate the logic utilization to 60% and reduce transceiver count to maintain thermal margin.
Do not confuse EP1M120F48I6 with the smaller EP1K50 or EP1K30 ACEX families - the Mercury pinout is NOT compatible with ACEX. Also verify the configuration mode (PS, AS, JTAG) and the configuration PROM (EPCS or EPC2) before board bring-up. The Mercury family requires a specific configuration sequence documented in the datasheet; legacy Altera ByteBlaster cables must use the Mercury-compatible programming file format. When sourcing from brokers, always X-ray or cross-section incoming parts to detect remarking - this is a common issue with obsolete Mercury FPGAs.
Compliance Information
RoHS and lead-free status not explicitly stated in the verified web data for the original Altera Mercury datasheet. The 'N' suffix variants (e.g., EP1M120F484I6N) typically indicate lead-free packaging. RoHS compliance status for the obsolete EP1M120F48I6 base part is unknown.
