EP20K100CB356C8ES - APEX 20K 100K Gates 356-BGA FPGA | Intel
MPN: EP20K100CB356C8ES β End of Life| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $285 | $285.00 |
| 10 | $256.5 | $2,565.00 |
| 100 | $228 | $22,800.00 |
| 250 | $213.75 | $53,437.50 |
| 500 | $199.5 | $99,750.00 |
Drop-in alternatives for EP20K100CB356C8ES β same package, pin-to-pin compatible. Different-package parts requiring PCB rework are excluded.
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EP20K100CB356C8
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View Datasheet βEP20K100CB356C8ES Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Family | APEX 20K |
| Logic Elements | 4160 |
| Typical Gates | 100000 |
| Maximum User I/O | 252 |
| Embedded Array Blocks (EABs) | 26 |
| Total RAM Bits | 53248 |
| Package | 356-ball BGA |
| Speed Grade | 8 |
| Operating Temperature | 0C to +85C (Commercial) |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount |
| MSL Level | 3 (168 Hours) |
| Part Status Note | Engineering Sample (ES) |
| Core Voltage (typical) | 2.5 V |
| I/O Voltage (typical) | 3.3 V |
| Configuration Interface | JTAG (IEEE 1149.1) |
EP20K100CB356C8ES Pin Configuration
| Pin 1 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 1, I/O ring; supports LVTTL/LVCMOS/PCI/GTL+) |
| Pin 2 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 1, I/O ring) |
| Pin 3 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 1, I/O ring) |
| Pin 4 | VCCIO β I/O supply voltage (3.3 V typical) |
| Pin 5 | GND β Ground reference |
| Pin 6 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 1, I/O ring) |
| Pin 7 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 1, I/O ring) |
| Pin 8 | VCCINT β Core supply voltage (2.5 V typical) |
| Pin 9 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 2, I/O ring) |
| Pin 10 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 2, I/O ring) |
| Pin 11 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 2, I/O ring) |
| Pin 12 | GND β Ground reference |
| Pin 13 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 2, I/O ring) |
| Pin 14 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 2, I/O ring) |
| Pin 15 | VCCIO β I/O supply voltage (3.3 V typical) |
| Pin 16 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 3, I/O ring) |
| Pin 17 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 3, I/O ring) |
| Pin 18 | GND β Ground reference |
| Pin 19 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 3, I/O ring) |
| Pin 20 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 3, I/O ring) |
| Pin 21 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 3, I/O ring) |
| Pin 22 | VCCINT β Core supply voltage (2.5 V typical) |
| Pin 23 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 4, I/O ring) |
| Pin 24 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 4, I/O ring) |
| Pin 25 | TCK β JTAG Test Clock (IEEE 1149.1) |
| Pin 26 | TMS β JTAG Test Mode Select |
| Pin 27 | TDI β JTAG Test Data In |
| Pin 28 | TDO β JTAG Test Data Out |
| Pin 29 | nCONFIG β Configuration control (active-low) |
| Pin 30 | nSTATUS β Configuration status (active-low) |
| Pin 31 | CONF_DONE β Configuration complete |
| Pin 32 | DCLK β Configuration clock |
| Pin 33 | DATA0 β Configuration data input (bit 0) |
| Pin 34 | GND β Ground reference |
| Pin 35 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 5, I/O ring) |
| Pin 36 | I/O β User I/O pin (bank 5, I/O ring) |
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
EP20K100CB356C8ES is suitable for 6 applications: Telecom Line Card Glue Logic, Industrial Control Backplane Interface, PCI Bus Bridge / Protocol Converter, Legacy Design Maintenance / Field Replacement, Datacom Packet Processing Front-End, ASIC Prototyping / Emulation Platform.
Telecom Line Card Glue Logic
The EP20K100CB356C8ES suits telecom line card designs as a glue-logic aggregator between network processors, PHY devices, and backplane transceivers. With 252 user I/O pins, the device can marshal multiple low-speed control interfaces (I2C, SPI, MDIO, UART, JTAG scan chains) and implement custom protocol conversion without burdening the main processor. Its 53,248 RAM bits via 26 EABs are sufficient for small lookup tables, frame header inspection buffers, and FIFO-based traffic shaping. The 8 ns speed grade keeps timing closure comfortable for 50-100 MHz control domains typical of legacy telecom backplanes. Engineers should note the 2.5 V core / 3.3 V I/O rail split, which differs from newer single-rail FPGAs and requires careful power-tree design.
Recommended
Industrial Control Backplane Interface
The EP20K100CB356C8ES fits industrial backplane-interface designs where 252 I/O pins aggregate many parallel field-bus or sensor-array signals into a centralized controller. Industrial PC/104, VME, and legacy PCI backplanes benefit from the wide bus width and EAB-based memory for protocol FIFOs. The commercial 0C to +85C temperature range is adequate for climate-controlled enclosures; for harsher environments, select the industrial-temperature variant. Quartus II 9.0 supports this device for design entry, synthesis, and place-and-route. Note that engineering samples should not be deployed in field-installed industrial systems without production-grade qualification.
Recommended
PCI Bus Bridge / Protocol Converter
With 252 user I/O and 4,160 logic elements, the EP20K100CB356C8ES can implement a 32-bit/33 MHz PCI bus bridge between legacy peripherals and modern processors. The 8 ns speed grade comfortably meets PCI 33 MHz timing with margin. EAB memory blocks implement transaction FIFOs and posted-write buffers. PCI-compatible I/O standards are natively supported in the APEX 20K I/O ring, simplifying PCB design. The 356-ball BGA package, however, requires careful PCB stackup and BGA fanout - typical 4-layer boards with 0.5 mm pitch BGA need microvia or via-in-pad technology for reliable manufacturing.
Recommended
Legacy Design Maintenance / Field Replacement
The EP20K100CB356C8ES is primarily used today for maintenance of legacy systems originally designed around the APEX 20K family. Telecom central-office switches, industrial automation controllers, and military/aerospace systems built in the 2000s continue to operate and need replacement FPGAs. Distributors and brokers carry inventory specifically for this maintenance market. The 356-ball BGA footprint is shared across the EP20K100CB356 family, so PCB-level replacement is straightforward - the design does not need a board respin. For systems still in production, consider migration to Cyclone IV/V with the understanding that PCB redesign is required.
Recommended
Datacom Packet Processing Front-End
In datacom front-end designs, the EP20K100CB356C8ES implements packet classification, header parsing, and traffic-shaping functions ahead of a network processor. The EABs provide small CAM-like structures for fast lookups, while the logic elements implement header field extraction and checksum validation. With 252 I/O pins, the FPGA can connect to multiple SPI-4.2 or parallel SGMII interfaces common in 2000s-era datacom ASICs. The commercial temperature range suits climate-controlled datacom environments. For new designs targeting 10G+ throughput, modern Stratix/Agilex families are required, but the APEX 20K remains adequate for legacy 1G and below packet processing.
Recommended
ASIC Prototyping / Emulation Platform
Designers sometimes use EP20K100CB356C8ES as a building block in multi-FPGA ASIC prototyping platforms where multiple APEX 20K devices are tiled to emulate larger ASIC designs. The 252 I/O enable dense FPGA-to-FPGA interconnect via board-level traces, and the 100K-gate capacity maps cleanly to common ASIC block sizes. Quartus II supports multi-device partitioning with back-annotation. For ASIC prototyping today, however, modern prototyping platforms built around Virtex-7 or Stratix-10 offer 10-100x the capacity per device, so APEX 20K is used mainly for very small ASIC prototypes or for legacy emulation infrastructure maintenance.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP20K100CB356C8ES β comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP20K100CB356C8 | EP20K100CB356C7ES | EP20K100CB356C7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Intel (formerly Altera) | Intel | Intel | Intel |
| Package | 356-ball BGA | 356-ball BGA - same | 356-ball BGA - same | 356-ball BGA - same |
| Typical Gates | 100K | 100K - same | 100K - same | 100K - same |
| Logic Elements | 4160 | 4160 - same | 4160 - same | 4160 - same |
| Maximum User I/O | 252 | 252 - same | 252 - same | 252 - same |
| Speed Grade | 8 (8 ns) | 8 - same | 7 (~12% faster) | 7 (~12% faster) |
| Temperature Grade | Commercial (0C to +85C) | Commercial - same | Commercial - same | Commercial - same |
| Part Status | Engineering Sample (ES) | Production-grade | Engineering Sample (ES) | Production-grade |
| Approx Unit Price (qty 1, USD, as of 2026-09-07) | $285 | $240 (estimated -10% to -20%) | $320 (estimated +10% to +15%) | $280 (estimated similar) |
Key Differentiators
- Pin-compatible production-grade alternative available (vs EP20K100CB356C8ES vs EP20K100CB356C8)
- Faster speed grade option within same footprint (vs EP20K100CB356C8ES vs EP20K100CB356C7ES)
- Legacy maintenance positioning (vs EP20K100CB356C8ES vs Cyclone IV EP4CE6F17C8N)
Design Notes
The APEX 20K EP20K100C requires a 2.5 V core supply (VCCINT) and a 3.3 V I/O supply (VCCIO) - the dual-rail requirement differs from modern single-rail FPGAs like Cyclone IV. Decouple each VCCINT and VCCIO ball with 0.1 Β΅F and 10 Β΅F ceramic capacitors placed within 5 mm of the BGA ball. Total core current at 100K-gate utilization with typical 50 MHz toggle rates is approximately 200-400 mA; budget the regulator accordingly. The 2.5 V core rail must rise within 100 ms of the 3.3 V I/O rail to avoid latch-up; use a tracking regulator or power-good sequencing if needed.
The 356-ball BGA package with 1.0 mm or 1.27 mm pitch (verify exact pitch from datasheet) requires 4-layer or 6-layer PCB stackup with microvia or via-in-pad technology for reliable fanout. Estimated: on a 4-layer board with 0.2 mm via diameter, inner BGA rows require dog-bone fanout or HDI microvia. Ground and power planes should be solid under the BGA for return-path integrity. Use ENIG or OSP surface finish; avoid HASL for fine-pitch BGA.
Estimated: at full 100K-gate utilization with 50% toggle rate at 50 MHz, the EP20K100C dissipates approximately 0.5-1.0 W. The 356-ball BGA has ΞΈJA in the range of 15-25 C/W (typical for plastic BGA), resulting in a junction temperature rise of 8-25 C above ambient at 1 W. For commercial temperature range (0C to +85C), no heatsink is required under normal conditions, but airflow over the BGA is recommended for >0.75 W dissipation to maintain thermal margin.
Engineering samples (ES suffix) must NOT be used in production builds - they may have parametric deviations from production units and lack full qualification testing. Always request the non-ES production-grade variant (EP20K100CB356C8) for production. Quartus II tool support is limited to version 9.0 or earlier - newer Quartus versions do not support APEX 20K. Verify your toolchain version before committing to a design. Configuration via ByteBlaster MV requires the legacy parallel port; modern USB-Blaster is the recommended programmer.
Compliance Information
RoHS/REACH/lead-free status not explicitly stated in the verified web data; the APEX 20K family was designed in the early 2000s and many variants are not RoHS-compliant. Consult the official Intel/Altera datasheet or contact the manufacturer for confirmed compliance. AEC-Q100 not applicable for this commercial-grade FPGA.
