EPF81188AQC240-4 - 12K Gates FLEX 8000 FPGA 240-PQFP | Altera
MPN: EPF81188AQC240-4 ✗ End of Life| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $38.5 | $38.50 |
| 10 | $32.75 | $327.50 |
| 100 | $26.4 | $2,640.00 |
| 500 | $21.95 | $10,975.00 |
| 1,000 | $18.2 | $18,200.00 |
Drop-in alternatives for EPF81188AQC240-4 — same package, pin-to-pin compatible. Different-package parts requiring PCB rework are excluded.
Quick Comparison Tool — Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
EPF81188AQC240-3
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$30 / Unit
View Datasheet →EPF81188AQC240-2
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View Datasheet →EPF81188AQC240-4 Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Family | FLEX 8000 |
| Usable Gates | 12,000 |
| Logic Elements (LEs) | 1008 |
| Logic Array Blocks (LABs) | 126 |
| User I/Os | 184 |
| Process Technology | 0.42 µm CMOS SRAM |
| Supply Voltage (Core) | 5 V |
| Operating Frequency (max) | 125 MHz |
| Package | 240-pin PQFP (BFQFP) |
| Configuration Memory | SRAM (in-circuit reconfigurable) |
| Operating Temperature | 0 °C to +70 °C (Commercial) |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount |
| Configuration Mode | Serial / Byte-wide |
| Speed Grade | -4 (slowest / most economical) |
EPF81188AQC240-4 240-pin pqfp (bfqfp) Pin Configuration Guide
Complete pinout information for EPF81188AQC240-4 (240-pin pqfp (bfqfp) package). 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 EPF81188AQC240-4.
Refer to the datasheet for full pin configuration.
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
EPF81188AQC240-4 is suitable for 6 applications: Digital Signal Processing (DSP) Pipelines, Wide-Data-Path Bus Bridging and Glue Logic, Telecommunications Channel Coding and Framing, Industrial Control State Machines, ASIC Prototyping and Verification, Image and Video Preprocessing Front Ends.
Digital Signal Processing (DSP) Pipelines
The EPF81188AQC240-4 is well-suited to mid-density DSP pipelines such as FIR filters, FFT engines, and audio sample-rate converters. Its 1008 logic elements organized into 126 LABs deliver roughly 12,000 usable gates with a continuous FastTrack interconnect that provides uniform routing delay, simplifying pipelined arithmetic placement. The 184 user I/Os allow the device to ingest and emit wide parallel sample streams at 125 MHz with comfortable headroom. Compared with discrete DSP ICs, the FLEX 8000 architecture lets designers iterate coefficient tables and topology in HDL without respinning the PCB. Pair it with a parallel ADC front end and external SRAM for coefficient storage in a typical DSP accelerator card.
Recommended
Wide-Data-Path Bus Bridging and Glue Logic
With 184 user I/Os, the EPF81188AQC240-4 can integrate multiple 32-bit buses (e.g., three independent 32-bit ports plus control) into a single device, replacing several discrete CPLDs or ASICs on legacy boards. The 5 V tolerant I/O is directly compatible with TTL/CMOS bus logic of the 1990s and 2000s industrial and telecom equipment, where the part is most often encountered today. The 4-input LUT and dedicated carry chain per LE efficiently implement address decoding, byte-swapping, and bus-multiplexing functions. Designers migrating legacy designs benefit from the in-circuit reconfigurability to patch glue logic bugs in the field without board rework.
Recommended
Telecommunications Channel Coding and Framing
Telecom systems built around 5 V logic - including legacy SONET/SDH framer-adjunct designs, T1/E1 channel banks, and HDLC controllers - commonly use the EPF81188AQC240-4 to implement custom channel coding, scrambling, and framing logic. The 1008-LE fabric absorbs convolutional encoders, scramblers, and CRC engines while the 125 MHz internal clock rate supports E3/DS3 line rates with margin. FastTrack routing delivers predictable inter-LAB delays, simplifying static timing closure across the pipeline. The commercial temperature grade (0 to 70 °C) fits central-office and customer-premises environments.
Recommended
Industrial Control State Machines
Industrial controllers and PLCs use the EPF81188AQC240-4 to host custom state machines, sequencers, and pulse-train generators. The high register count (each LE includes a programmable flip-flop) supports deep FSMs with hundreds of states, while the 184 I/Os handle parallel sensor and actuator fan-out. The 5 V supply tolerance is compatible with legacy 24 V industrial backplanes stepped down to 5 V, and the 0.42 µm CMOS process provides proven long-term reliability in field-deployed equipment. The FLEX 8000 JTAG boundary-scan support also simplifies board-level test in manufacturing.
Recommended
ASIC Prototyping and Verification
Before committing an ASIC design to silicon, engineers prototype the RTL on the EPF81188AQC240-4 to validate functionality, throughput, and I/O behavior in the real system. In-circuit reconfigurability (ICR) lets the designer iterate the bitstream in seconds rather than re-spinning the board. The 12K-gate density matches many mid-complexity ASICs of the era, and the 240-pin PQFP package is widely supported on prototype adapter boards. FastTrack interconnect delivers predictable timing that closely correlates to the eventual ASIC synthesis results, improving sign-off confidence.
Recommended
Image and Video Preprocessing Front Ends
Mid-resolution image preprocessing - such as thresholding, morphological filtering, and histogram equalization on 8-bit grayscale streams - fits comfortably within the EPF81188AQC240-4's 1008 LEs. The 184 user I/Os absorb parallel pixel buses from a CCD/CMOS sensor at pixel clocks up to 125 MHz. The FLEX 8000 architecture's LUT-based LE plus dedicated cascade paths implements wide comparators and adder trees efficiently for histogram bins and convolution kernels. Legacy machine-vision systems in factory automation continue to rely on this part for sensor fusion and pre-DSP conditioning.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EPF81188AQC240-4 — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EPF81188AQC240-3 | EPF81188AQC240-2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Package | 240-pin PQFP (BFQFP) | 240-pin PQFP (BFQFP) - same | 240-pin PQFP (BFQFP) - same |
| Brand | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) |
| Family | FLEX 8000 | FLEX 8000 | FLEX 8000 |
| Usable Gates | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 |
| Logic Elements (LEs) | 1008 | 1008 | 1008 |
| LABs | 126 | 126 | 126 |
| User I/Os | 184 | 184 | 184 |
| Speed Grade | -4 (slowest) | -3 (faster) | -2 (fastest) |
| Supply Voltage | 5 V | 5 V | 5 V |
| Operating Temperature | 0 °C to +70 °C | 0 °C to +70 °C | 0 °C to +70 °C |
| Unit Price (qty 1, USD) | 38.50 | [DATA_NEEDED] | [DATA_NEEDED] |
Key Differentiators
- Same 240-pin PQFP footprint as EPF81188AQC240-3 with identical pinout (vs EPF81188AQC240-3)
- Slower but most economical speed grade in the FLEX 8000 EPF81188 line (vs EPF81188AQC240-2)
- Highest I/O count in the 240-pin PQFP EPF81188 family (vs EPF81188AQC208-4)
Design Notes
The EPF81188AQC240-4 requires a stable 5 V core supply. Place a 10 µF to 47 µF bulk tantalum or polymer capacitor near each VCC pin group of the 240-pin PQFP, supplemented by 0.1 µF ceramic decoupling capacitors at every VCC pin. Power-rail sequencing is not critical for this SRAM-based FLEX 8000 part, but the supply must remain within ±5% during configuration load to prevent bitstream corruption. Allow at least 100 ms ramp time if power is brought up slowly. Source: Altera FLEX 8000 datasheet configuration chapter.
The 240-pin PQFP uses a 0.5 mm pitch gull-wing lead. Plan PCB pad geometry with a minimum 0.3 mm land length to ensure reliable solder fillets, and add a small thermal relief pattern on the ground-pour connection to vias to ease hand-rework and inspection. Because the PQFP-240 is a fine-pitch package, reflow profile should follow JEDEC J-STD-020 MSL3 conditions at peak 245-250 °C for 20-30 s. Source: industry-standard PQFP-240 PCB layout guidelines.
Do not confuse the EPF81188AQC240-4 (240-pin PQFP, 184 I/Os) with the EPF81188AQC208-4 (208-pin PQFP, fewer I/Os); they share the same die but are NOT pin-compatible because the package footprints differ. Also, do not mix up speed grades (e.g., installing a -3 in a -4 board is fine, but downgrading from -2 to -4 may break timing). Verify the JTAG chain includes all FLEX 8000 devices in TDO-TDI order before boundary-scan test. Source: Altera FLEX 8000 datasheet pin-compatibility notes.
Compliance Information
RoHS, lead-free, and halogen-free status were not stated in the verified distributor data and are marked unknown. The EPF81188AQC240-4 is a legacy Altera FLEX 8000 part originally released in the 1990s, so older date-code units are likely non-RoHS; newer date-codes may be compliant. Consult the distributor's certificate of conformance for the specific lot.
