EPF8820ARC208-3N - FLEX 8000 FPGA, 672 LEs, 125MHz, 208-RQFP | Altera
MPN: EPF8820ARC208-3N ✗ End of Life| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $145 | $145.00 |
| 10 | $130 | $1,300.00 |
| 100 | $115 | $11,500.00 |
| 500 | $98 | $49,000.00 |
| 1,000 | $85 | $85,000.00 |
Drop-in alternatives for EPF8820ARC208-3N — 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:
EPF8820ARC208-3
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View Datasheet →EPF8820ARC208-2N
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View Datasheet →EPF8820ARC208-3N Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Family | FLEX 8000 |
| Device Type | Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) |
| Usable Gates | 8,000 |
| Logic Elements | 672 |
| Logic Array Blocks (LABs) | 672 / 10 ≈ 67 LABs |
| FlipFlops | 152 |
| Maximum Operating Frequency | 125 MHz |
| Propagation Delay | 5 ns (speed grade -3) |
| Process Technology | 0.42 µm CMOS |
| Supply Voltage (VCCINT) | 4.75 V to 5.25 V (5 V nominal) |
| User I/O Voltage | 3.3 V or 5 V (selectable) |
| User I/O Count | 152 |
| Package | 208-pin RQFP / BFQFP Exposed Pad (28x28 mm) |
| Configuration Memory | SRAM (volatile, external configuration device required) |
| Configuration Devices | EPC1, EPC1213, EPC1064, EPC1441 |
| In-System Reconfigurability | Yes (ICR via configuration device or controller) |
| JTAG Support | Yes (boundary-scan + configuration) |
| Speed Grade | -3 |
| RoHS Status | unknown |
EPF8820ARC208-3N Pin Configuration
| Pin 1 | I/O — User I/O pin (bank dependent) |
| Pin 2 | I/O — User I/O pin (bank dependent) |
| Pin 3 | I/O — User I/O pin (bank dependent) |
| Pin 4 | I/O — User I/O pin (bank dependent) |
| Pin 5 | I/O — User I/O pin (bank dependent) |
| Pin 6 | I/O — User I/O pin (bank dependent) |
| Pin 7 | I/O — User I/O pin (bank dependent) |
| Pin 8 | I/O — User I/O pin (bank dependent) |
| Pin 9 | I/O — User I/O pin (bank dependent) |
| Pin 10 | I/O — User I/O pin (bank dependent) |
| Pin 11 | VCCIO — I/O bank supply voltage (3.3 V or 5 V) |
| Pin 12 | I/O — User I/O pin (bank dependent) |
| Pin 13 | I/O — User I/O pin (bank dependent) |
| Pin 14 | GND — Ground |
| Pin 15 | I/O — User I/O pin (bank dependent) |
| Pin 16 | I/O — User I/O pin (bank dependent) |
| Pin 17 | MSEL0 — Configuration mode select |
| Pin 18 | MSEL1 — Configuration mode select |
| Pin 19 | I/O — User I/O pin (bank dependent) |
| Pin 20 | I/O — User I/O pin (bank dependent) |
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
EPF8820ARC208-3N is suitable for 6 applications: Legacy Industrial Control Logic, ASIC Replacement and Glue Logic, Telecommunications Backplane Interface, Digital Signal Processing Front-End, Test and Measurement Equipment, Aerospace and Defense Legacy Systems.
Legacy Industrial Control Logic
The EPF8820ARC208-3N's 672 logic elements and 152 user I/Os make it well-suited for legacy industrial control boards that require 5 V tolerant I/O interfacing to optocouplers, relays, and 24 V fieldbus drivers. The 208-RQFP package provides robust mechanical reliability in factory-floor environments with vibration and thermal cycling, while the 5 V core supply integrates directly with legacy 5 V microprocessors such as the Intel 80C186 or 8051 family. Designers can implement state machines, PWM controllers, encoder quadrature decoders, and communication protocol bridges in a single chip, replacing dozens of discrete 74-series logic ICs and reducing PCB area. The 125 MHz fMAX comfortably handles multi-axis motion control loops.
Recommended
ASIC Replacement and Glue Logic
With 8,000 usable gates and register-rich architecture, the EPF8820ARC208-3N serves as a flexible alternative to fixed-function ASICs in low-to-medium volume production. The 152 I/Os are sufficient to bridge mismatched bus widths (e.g., 8-bit to 16-bit) and combine multiple glue-logic functions such as address decoding, wait-state generation, chip-select generation, and interrupt prioritization onto one device. In-system reconfigurability allows late-stage design changes without board rework. This makes the EPF8820ARC208-3N ideal for telecom backplane glue logic and test-equipment front panels where design evolution is common.
Recommended
Telecommunications Backplane Interface
The 208-RQFP EPF8820ARC208-3N provides 152 5 V tolerant user I/Os, ideal for telecommunications backplane applications requiring high pin count and 5 V TTL/CMOS compatibility. Designers can implement bus arbiters, TDM framers, HDLC controllers, and clock-recovery circuits in a single FLEX 8000 device, taking advantage of dedicated high-speed carry chains for arithmetic operations like CRC calculation and convolutional encoding. The 125 MHz fMAX easily supports E1/T1 (2.048 / 1.544 MHz) and even higher-speed serial protocols. The exposed pad on the RQFP aids thermal dissipation when the device is densely routed with switching I/O at maximum toggle rates.
Recommended
Digital Signal Processing Front-End
The FLEX 8000 dedicated carry-chain architecture enables high-throughput DSP operations such as FIR filters, multipliers, and accumulators at the 125 MHz fMAX. With 672 logic elements, designers can implement 8-tap FIR filters, 16-bit accumulators, and digital down-conversion stages for audio and baseband signal processing. The 5 V I/O tolerance simplifies interface to legacy 5 V ADCs and DACs, while the in-system reconfigurability allows algorithm updates without board removal. Aerospace and defense programs historically use this device for radar signal preprocessing and sonar beam-forming front-ends.
Recommended
Test and Measurement Equipment
The EPF8820ARC208-3N's 152 user I/Os and 5 V tolerance are valuable in test and measurement equipment such as logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, and JTAG-based boundary-scan controllers. The 208-RQFP package provides generous I/O count for parallel bus probing, while the 125 MHz fMAX supports real-time capture of fast digital signals. In-system reconfigurability enables the same hardware platform to support multiple test protocols by simply reloading the configuration bitstream. The dedicated JTAG interface also allows the FPGA itself to be used as a chain master for testing surrounding devices on the UUT.
Recommended
Aerospace and Defense Legacy Systems
The EPF8820ARC208-3N continues to be deployed in aerospace and defense programs with long-life-cycle requirements (20+ years). Its 5 V tolerance, RQFP ruggedized package, and availability through authorized aftermarket distributors (Rochester Electronics) make it suitable for maintaining legacy avionics, radar, and navigation systems where a full redesign would be cost-prohibitive and require recertification. The 8K-gate density is sufficient for mission-critical logic such as flight-control state machines, sensor-fusion preprocessing, and MIL-STD-1553 bus interfaces. Its 0.42 µm CMOS process offers known reliability characteristics that have been validated over decades of service.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for EPF8820ARC208-3N — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | EPF8820ARC208-3 | EPF8820AQC208-3N | EPF8820AQC208-3 | EPF8820ARC208-2N | EPF8820ARC208-2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Package | 208-RQFP (28x28 mm) | 208-RQFP (28x28 mm) - same | 208-PQFP (28x28 mm) - different footprint | 208-PQFP (28x28 mm) - different footprint | 208-RQFP (28x28 mm) - same | 208-RQFP (28x28 mm) - same |
| Brand | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) | Altera (Intel) |
| Usable Gates | 8,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 |
| Logic Elements | 672 | 672 | 672 | 672 | 672 | 672 |
| Maximum Frequency | 125 MHz | 125 MHz | 125 MHz | 125 MHz | [DATA_NEEDED: exact fMAX for speed grade -2] | [DATA_NEEDED: exact fMAX for speed grade -2] |
| Speed Grade | -3 | -3 | -3 | -3 | -2 | -2 |
| Supply Voltage | 4.75 V to 5.25 V | 4.75 V to 5.25 V | 4.75 V to 5.25 V | 4.75 V to 5.25 V | 4.75 V to 5.25 V | 4.75 V to 5.25 V |
| Lead-Free (RoHS) | Yes (Pb-free 'N' suffix) | No (lead termination) | Yes (Pb-free) | No (lead termination) | Yes (Pb-free) | No (lead termination) |
| Lifecycle Status | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete |
Key Differentiators
- Lead-free (Pb-free) finish variant of the FLEX 8000 family (vs EPF8820ARC208-3)
- Speed grade -3 (faster than -2 alternatives) (vs EPF8820ARC208-2N)
- RQFP package with exposed thermal pad for better heat dissipation (vs EPF8820AQC208-3N)
Design Notes
Estimated: at 5 V VCCINT, the EPF8820ARC208-3N core typically draws 100-300 mA depending on utilization and toggle rate. Decouple VCCINT with one 10 µF tantalum or ceramic bulk capacitor and one 0.1 µF ceramic capacitor per VCCINT pin, placed within 5 mm of the package. VCCIO banks should be similarly decoupled, especially if I/O switching causes simultaneous switching noise (SSN) on adjacent output pins.
The 208-RQFP package features an exposed thermal pad beneath the IC that should be soldered to a thermal land on the PCB with at least 8 thermal vias (0.3 mm drill) connecting to an internal ground plane. This pad is the primary heat-dissipation path; failing to solder it will increase junction temperature significantly at high toggle rates. Trace width on I/O signals should be 50 Ω controlled impedance if routing high-speed clock outputs (CLKOUT) more than 25 mm.
Configure MSEL0/MSEL1 pins to the correct configuration mode (PS, AS, or JTAG) before power-up; incorrect mode selection will prevent configuration. Tie CONF_DONE high with a 10 kΩ pull-up to VCCINT to allow observation of configuration status. If using passive serial (PS) mode, route the DCLK and DATA0 traces as short as possible and avoid running them parallel to switching I/O signals to prevent crosstalk into the bitstream.
Estimated: a common pitfall is selecting an EPC-series configuration device with insufficient density for the bitstream. The EPF8820ARC208-3N bitstream is approximately 1 Mbit, so the EPC1441 (4 Mbit) is typically recommended; using the EPC1064 (1 Mbit) may be marginal and is not recommended. Another pitfall is forgetting that FLEX 8000 SRAM configuration is volatile - any power interruption or reset will reload the bitstream, so ensure clean power sequencing with sufficient rise time on VCCINT.
Compliance Information
RoHS compliant per the 'N' suffix indicating lead-free process. Reach / halogen-free / conflict-mineral data not explicitly published by Altera/Intel for this legacy part; consult Rochester Electronics documentation for aerospace/defense compliance documentation.
