EP20K100CF144C8 - APEX-20K 100K Gate FPGA | Intel | 144-LQFP
MPN: EP20K100CF144C8 β End of Life| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $65 | $65.00 |
| 10 | $58 | $580.00 |
| 100 | $49.5 | $4,950.00 |
| 500 | $42 | $21,000.00 |
| 1,000 | $36 | $36,000.00 |
Drop-in alternatives for EP20K100CF144C8 β same package, pin-to-pin compatible. Different-package parts requiring PCB rework are excluded.
Quick Comparison Tool β Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
EP20K100CF144C7
β Drop-Inβ In Stock
$28.4 / Unit
View Datasheet βEP20K100CF144C7ES
β Drop-Inβ In Stock
$171 / Unit
View Datasheet βEP20K100CF144C8 Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Family | APEX-20K |
| Typical Gates | 100,000 |
| Logic Elements | 4,160 |
| Total RAM Bits | 53,248 |
| User I/O | 93 |
| Package | 144-LQFP |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount |
| Process Technology | 0.18 micron CMOS |
| Speed Grade | -8 (commercial) |
| Operating Temperature | 0C to +85C (commercial) |
| JTAG (IEEE 1149.1) | Yes |
| In-System Programmability (ISP) | Yes |
| PCI Compliance | 3.3V and 5.0V |
| Voltage - Supply | 2.5V / 3.3V |
EP20K100CF144C8 Pin Configuration
| Pin 1 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 2 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 3 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 4 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 5 | VCCINT β Core supply 2.5V |
| Pin 6 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 7 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 8 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 9 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 10 | GND β Ground |
| Pin 11 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 12 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 13 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 14 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 15 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 16 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 17 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 18 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 19 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 20 | VCCIO β I/O supply 3.3V or 5V |
| Pin 21 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 22 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 23 | I/O β User I/O pin |
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| Pin 27 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 28 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 29 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 30 | GND β Ground |
| Pin 31 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 32 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 33 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 34 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 35 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 36 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 37 | VCCINT β Core supply 2.5V |
| Pin 38 | nCONFIG β Configuration control (active-low) |
| Pin 39 | MSEL0 β Configuration mode select 0 |
| Pin 40 | MSEL1 β Configuration mode select 1 |
| Pin 41 | nSTATUS β Configuration status (active-low) |
| Pin 42 | CONF_DONE β Configuration done (open-drain) |
| Pin 43 | DCLK β Configuration clock / dual-purpose |
| Pin 44 | I/O β User I/O pin (dual-purpose) |
| Pin 45 | I/O β User I/O pin (dual-purpose) |
| Pin 46 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 47 | GND β Ground |
| Pin 48 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 49 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 50 | I/O β User I/O pin |
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| Pin 57 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 58 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 59 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 60 | VCCIO β I/O supply 3.3V or 5V |
| Pin 61 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 62 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 63 | I/O β User I/O pin |
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| Pin 68 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 69 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 70 | GND β Ground |
| Pin 71 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 72 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 73 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 74 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 75 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 76 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 77 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 78 | VCCINT β Core supply 2.5V |
| Pin 79 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 80 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 81 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 82 | I/O β User I/O pin |
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| Pin 84 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 85 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 86 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 87 | GND β Ground |
| Pin 88 | TDI β JTAG Test Data In (IEEE 1149.1) |
| Pin 89 | TMS β JTAG Test Mode Select (IEEE 1149.1) |
| Pin 90 | TCK β JTAG Test Clock (IEEE 1149.1) |
| Pin 91 | TDO β JTAG Test Data Out (IEEE 1149.1) |
| Pin 92 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 93 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 94 | CLK0 β Clock input 0 (dedicated) |
| Pin 95 | CLK1 β Clock input 1 (dedicated) |
| Pin 96 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 97 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 98 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 99 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 100 | VCCIO β I/O supply 3.3V or 5V |
| Pin 101 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 102 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 103 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 104 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 105 | I/O β User I/O pin |
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| Pin 107 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 108 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 109 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 110 | GND β Ground |
| Pin 111 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 112 | I/O β User I/O pin |
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| Pin 114 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 115 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 116 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 117 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 118 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 119 | VCCINT β Core supply 2.5V |
| Pin 120 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 121 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 122 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 123 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 124 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 125 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 126 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 127 | GND β Ground |
| Pin 128 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 129 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 130 | I/O β User I/O pin |
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| Pin 135 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 136 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 137 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 138 | VCCIO β I/O supply 3.3V or 5V |
| Pin 139 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 140 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 141 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 142 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 143 | I/O β User I/O pin |
| Pin 144 | I/O β User I/O pin |
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
EP20K100CF144C8 is suitable for 6 applications: Telecommunications Equipment, ASIC Prototyping and Emulation, Industrial Automation and Motor Control, PCI Bus Interface Bridge, DSP Pre/Post-Processing Front-End, Legacy Embedded Control and Custom Peripherals.
Telecommunications Equipment
The EP20K100CF144C8 fits telecom equipment such as base-station controllers, line-card interfaces, and protocol converters because its 4,160 logic elements and 53 Kbits of embedded dual-port RAM can implement channelized data paths, framing, and CRC engines without external SRAM. The 93 user I/Os are sufficient for parallel backplane buses (UTOPIA, H.110, or proprietary LVDS) and the -8 speed grade supports PCI 33/66 MHz for fabric interconnect. The JTAG 1149.1 ISP enables remote configuration across geographically distributed chassis. The 144-LQFP's moderate 1.0 mm pitch is still hand-solderable for low-volume OEM repair scenarios typical of legacy telecom infrastructure.
Recommended
ASIC Prototyping and Emulation
The EP20K100CF144C8 is widely deployed in ASIC prototyping because 100K system gates approximates mid-complexity ASIC partitions, and Quartus synthesis tools support seamless migration from Altera APEX-20K to ASIC libraries. Embedded system blocks (ESBs) provide dual-port RAM that emulates on-chip SRAM buses, and the 144-LQFP package simplifies rework on prototype boards. Engineers typically use multiple EP20K100CF144C8 devices in a multi-FPGA partition for ASICs of up to ~400K gates. The -8 speed grade is sufficient for 100 MHz ASIC clock domains commonly used in prototyping of networking ASICs.
Recommended
Industrial Automation and Motor Control
The EP20K100CF144C8 supports industrial PLC, motion controller, and machine-vision front-end applications where 100K gates is sufficient for combinational control logic, PWM generation, and encoder interface glue. The 93 user I/Os can fan out to 24V-tolerant opto-isolated field buses via external level shifters, and the 5V-tolerant I/Os can interface directly to legacy industrial sensors. Hardware multipliers in the ESBs accelerate fixed-point arithmetic for PID loops. The commercial 0C to +85C operating range covers most factory-floor environments; for harsher environments an industrial-grade variant would be required.
Recommended
PCI Bus Interface Bridge
The EP20K100CF144C8 is certified 3.3V and 5.0V PCI-compliant per the PCI Local Bus Specification, making it ideal for implementing custom PCI target or initiator cores, PCI-to-local-bus bridges, and embedded host adapters. Its 93 user I/Os cover the 49-pin PCI bus plus local-side data, address, and control signals, while the 4,160 logic elements support 32-bit/33 MHz PCI state machines with DMA engines. The JTAG interface enables production-line PCI compliance testing. This was a flagship use case for APEX-20K devices in the early 2000s and remains relevant for legacy industrial PCI cards.
Recommended
DSP Pre/Post-Processing Front-End
The EP20K100CF144C8 fits as a DSP co-processor front-end in audio/video processing pipelines, where it can implement FIR filters, FFT pre-processing, format conversion, and sample-rate conversion between dedicated DSPs and ADCs/DACs. The ESB embedded RAM blocks serve as data buffers and coefficient stores, and the 4,160 logic elements handle address generation and pipeline control. With 93 user I/Os, the device can connect to parallel video buses (e.g., BT.656) or multi-channel audio serial streams (I2S, TDM). The -8 speed grade supports video line-rate processing up to ~100 MHz pixel clocks.
Recommended
Legacy Embedded Control and Custom Peripherals
The EP20K100CF144C8 is well-suited for legacy embedded control applications such as custom microcontroller peripherals, bus monitors, and instrumentation glue logic. Engineers often use the APEX-20K MultiCore architecture to consolidate multiple discrete CPLDs and PALs into a single device, simplifying board layout and reducing BOM cost. The 93 user I/Os can replace several 84-pin PLCC CPLDs while adding embedded RAM for buffering and JTAG ISP for in-field firmware updates. The 144-LQFP package is hand-solderable for prototyping.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EP20K100CF144C8 β comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EP20K100CF144C7 | EP20K100CF144C7ES | EP20K100BC356-1 | EP20K100CB356C8 | EP20K100CB356C9 | EP20K100CB356C7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Intel (Altera) | Intel (Altera) | Intel (Altera) | Intel (Altera) | Intel (Altera) | Intel (Altera) | Intel (Altera) |
| Package | 144-LQFP | 144-LQFP - same | 144-LQFP - same | 356-BGA - different, NOT drop-in | 356-BGA - different, NOT drop-in | 356-BGA - different, NOT drop-in | 356-BGA - different, NOT drop-in |
| System Gates | 100K | 100K - same | 100K - same | 100K - same | 100K - same | 100K - same | 100K - same |
| Logic Elements | 4,160 | 4,160 | 4,160 | 4,160 | 4,160 | 4,160 | 4,160 |
| Speed Grade | -8 (commercial) | -7 (faster) | -7 engineering sample | -1 industrial | -8 (same) | -9 (slower) | -7 (faster) |
| User I/O | 93 | 93 | 93 | 252 (BGA) | 252 (BGA) | 252 (BGA) | 252 (BGA) |
| Embedded RAM Bits | 53,248 | 53,248 | 53,248 | 53,248 | 53,248 | 53,248 | 53,248 |
| Lifecycle Status | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete |
| Operating Temperature | 0C to +85C | 0C to +85C | 0C to +85C | -40C to +100C (industrial) | 0C to +85C | 0C to +85C | 0C to +85C |
| Drop-in for Original PCB | Reference | YES (same footprint) | YES (same footprint) | NO (BGA, requires PCB redesign) | NO (BGA, requires PCB redesign) | NO (BGA, requires PCB redesign) | NO (BGA, requires PCB redesign) |
Key Differentiators
- Faster speed grade within same package footprint (vs EP20K100CF144C8 vs EP20K100CF144C7)
- Higher user I/O count via BGA package option (vs EP20K100CF144C8 vs EP20K100CB356C8)
- Industrial temperature grade option (vs EP20K100CF144C8 vs EP20K100BC356-1)
Design Notes
The EP20K100CF144C8 requires two separate supply rails: VCCINT (2.5V core) and VCCIO (3.3V or 5V tolerant I/O). Place one 100 nF X7R ceramic decoupling capacitor as close as physically possible to every VCCINT and VCCIO pin, and add bulk 10 uF-47 uF tantalum or aluminum electrolytic capacitors near each supply plane. Decoupling VCCINT and VCCIO planes separately prevents I/O switching noise from coupling into the core logic, which can otherwise corrupt internal logic-element storage bits and create soft errors in configuration RAM during JTAG configuration.
The 144-LQFP package has 1.0 mm pitch and requires surface-mount soldering. For prototype boards, hand-soldering is feasible with a fine-tip soldering iron and 0.4 mm solder wire, but for production use reflow soldering with a profile reaching 220C-230C peak temperature is mandatory. Keep high-speed signal traces short and avoid 90-degree bends. Place a 4-layer PCB stack-up with dedicated ground and power planes; the APEX-20K MultiCore interconnect relies on continuous ground reference for impedance-controlled signal integrity, particularly on clock and JTAG signals.
Several configuration pitfalls affect the EP20K100CF144C8. First, nCONFIG must be held low during power-up and then released; if the JTAG controller is in test mode at power-up, configuration will be blocked. Second, the MSEL0/MSEL1 pins must be tied to known logic levels (typically GND for AS mode or VCC for PS mode) before power-up; floating MSEL pins can cause configuration errors. Third, the CONF_DONE pin is open-drain and requires an external pull-up to VCCIO. Finally, the JTAG chain must include proper TCK termination; long JTAG cables (>150 mm) without series damping resistors can cause signal integrity issues during ISP programming.
Place the JTAG connector at the board edge for test probe access. The TCK signal should be buffered near the connector to prevent ringing; a 33 ohm series resistor placed within 25 mm of the TCK pin is recommended. Use a star-routing topology from the JTAG connector to all EP20K100CF144C8 devices on the board, never a daisy chain, because the APEX-20K JTAG TAP controller does not have bypass-mode buffering equivalent to modern Cyclone devices. Ensure the JTAG chain length (sum of all TCK trace lengths) does not exceed 250 mm to maintain signal integrity at 10 MHz TCK.
Differential pair routing on EP20K100CF144C8 supports LVDS and PCI signaling. For 66 MHz PCI operation, maintain 65 ohm differential impedance and 50 ohm single-ended impedance on the PCI bus traces. Series termination resistors (33 ohm) should be placed within 25 mm of the FPGA transmit pin. For 33 MHz PCI, the same rules apply but with relaxed trace-length matching tolerance of +/- 1.5 cm. Avoid stubs on PCI bus traces by using daisy-chain routing between PCI devices with no more than 4 inches of trace between any two PCI devices.
Compliance Information
RoHS, REACH, and conflict-minerals compliance not stated in the verified web data; APEX-20K family was introduced in 1999 before RoHS mandatory compliance. AEC-Q100 not applicable - this is an industrial/commercial FPGA not designed for automotive safety-critical applications.
