EP3C55F484C7N
EP3C55F484C7N - Cyclone III FPGA, 55K LE, 484-FBGA | Intel
The Intel (formerly Altera) EP3C55F484C7N is a Cyclone III Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) featuring 55,856 logic elements, 2,396,160 bits of embedded memory, and 327 maximum user I/O pins in a 484-ball FineLine BGA (FBGA) package. It belongs to the lowest-cost, lowest-power Cyclone III family fabricated on a 60 nm process, with a commercial speed grade 7 device operating from 0C to 85C ambient.
An FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) is a reprogrammable semiconductor device built around an array of configurable logic blocks (CLBs) connected by a programmable interconnect fabric. FPGAs sit above microcontrollers and fixed-function ASICs in the programmable logic hierarchy: microcontrollers run sequential firmware, ASICs are hard-wired for one function, while FPGAs deliver hardware-level parallelism and can be reconfigured in-system to implement custom digital signal processing, glue logic, control planes, and high-speed bus interfaces. The Cyclone III family is positioned by Intel as the lowest-power FPGA family of its generation, optimized for cost-sensitive, high-volume applications.
Key features of the EP3C55F484C7N include 4 transceivers absent (no high-speed serial transceivers - digital I/O only), 156 embedded 18x18 multipliers for DSP blocks, dedicated hardware for memory controllers and PLL clock management, and support for external memory interfaces including DDR, DDR2, and QDRII SRAM. The device is built on TSMC's low-power 60 nm process, achieving substantially lower static and dynamic power than the prior Cyclone II generation. Embedded RAM is distributed as true dual-port M9K blocks totalling 2.4 Mbits, ideal for FIFO buffers, register files, and small lookup tables.
The Cyclone III architecture provides DSP blocks, embedded multipliers, and dual-port block RAM tightly coupled to the logic array, enabling efficient implementation of video processing pipelines, motor control loops, and protocol bridging. Configuration is supported through JTAG, Active Serial (AS), Active Parallel (AP), and Passive Serial (PS) modes with built-in decompression and decryption using AES-256. The device is supported by the Quartus II design toolchain.
Typical applications include industrial motor control and PLC logic, video surveillance image processing, machine vision front-ends, telecom protocol bridging, low-cost ASIC prototyping, and embedded display controllers. Designers choose Cyclone III when they need FPGA-class logic density and DSP performance at a unit cost below larger families such as Stratix, while still benefiting from hardened memory controllers and PLL.
When designing with the EP3C55F484C7N, allocate dedicated VCCINT, VCCA, VCCD_PLL, and VCCIO bank supplies with sufficient decoupling - each bank can operate at a different I/O standard voltage (1.2V, 1.5V, 1.8V, 2.5V, 3.0V, 3.3V LVTTL/LVCMOS). A multi-rail power-on sequence (VCCINT first, then VCCA, then VCCIO) is recommended for in-system programming reliability.
This page consolidates current distributor pricing, drop-in FPGA alternatives in the 484-FBGA footprint, and practical design notes beyond the manufacturer datasheet to accelerate Cyclone III part selection and supply chain decisions.
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