© September 2009 Altera Corporation AN 557: Stratix III-to-Stratix IV E Cross-Family Migration Guidelines
AN-557-2.0© September 2009
AN 557: Stratix III-to-Stratix IV E
Cross-Family Migration Guidelines
Introduction
This application note provides guidelines in cross-family migration designs between
the Altera
®
Stratix
®
III and Stratix IV E device family variant using the Quartus
®
II
software. Use these guidelines for drop-in replacement of either device placed on a
single PCB through your hardware design. Altera recommends using the following
guidelines throughout your PCB design process to ensure a seamless migration of
designs from Stratix III-to-Stratix IV E devices.
You can design your Stratix III FPGAs to take advantage of the higher performance,
higher density, and lower power benefits of Stratix IV E FPGAs. With up-front
planning that considers the different power supply voltages and available packages in
both families, it is possible to design a PCB assembled with either a Stratix III or a
Stratix IV E device in the same package.
Cross-family migration between Stratix III and Stratix IV E FPGAs allows you to
design with Stratix III FPGAs today and move to Stratix IV E FPGAs in the future
without changing the device pin-outs or the PCB layout.
Cross-Family Migration Overview
Cross-family migration is supported between the Stratix III and Stratix IV E device
families, targeting device packages that are pin-to-pin compatible across the two
families. This allows you to migrate an existing design already compiled for a
Stratix III device to a Stratix IV E device with pin-out compatibility. A single PCB is
designed to switch between a Stratix III and Stratix IV E device on the same board.
Page 2 Cross-Family Migration Overview
AN 557: Stratix III-to-Stratix IV E Cross-Family Migration Guidelines © September 2009 Altera Corporation
Supported Migration Device Packages
Table 1 lists the various migration paths supported between the Stratix III and
Stratix IV E device packages.
Differences Between Stratix III and Stratix IV E Devices
Similar to Stratix III devices, all device densities in the Stratix IV device family that are
available in the same package are vertically migratable. Pin-outs for Stratix IV E
devices are designed to allow design migrations between the Stratix III and
Stratix IV E devices with a common PCB with minimal impact on the power supply
design.
1 If you are designing a PCB for both Stratix III and Stratix IV E devices, you must
consider the power supply requirements.
Table 1. Stratix III-to-Stratix IV E Device Vertical Migration Package Options
Device
User I/Os, LVDS Count (Note 1), (2), (3)
F780 (29 mm) F1152 (35 mm) F1517 (40 mm) F1760 (43 mm)
Stratix III
EP3SL50 488, 56 — — —
EP3SL70 488, 56 — — —
EP3SL110 488, 56 744, 88 — —
EP3SL150 488, 56 744, 88 — —
EP3SL200 488, 56 (4) 744, 88 976, 112 —
EP3SL340 — 744, 88 (5) 976, 112 1,120, 132
EP3SE50 488, 56 — — —
EP3SE80 488, 56 744, 88 — —
EP3SE110 488, 56 744, 88 — —
EP3SE260 488, 56 (4) 744, 88 976, 112 —
Stratix IV E
EP4SE230 488, 56 — — —
EP4SE360 488, 56 (4) 744, 88 — —
EP4SE530 — 744, 88 (7) 976, 112 (7) 976, 112 (8)
EP4SE820 (6) — 744, 88 (7) 976, 112 (7) 1,120, 132
Notes to Table 1:
(1) All devices are offered in flip chip ball-grid array (BGA) with 1.0-mm pitch.
(2) For each device package, the first number indicates the number of I/Os; the second number indicates the LVDS count. The user I/O
count includes all general purpose I/Os, dedicated clock pins, and dual-purpose configuration pins. Dedicated configuration pins are
not included in the user I/O count.
(3) Device packages in the same column and marked under the same arrow sign have vertical migration capability.
(4) The 780-pin EP3SL200, EP3SE260, and EP4SE360 devices are only available in the 33-mm × 33-mm hybrid flip chip package.
(5) The 1152-pin EP3SL340 device is only available in the 40-mm × 40-mm hybrid flip chip package.
(6) Due to its large configuration file size, the EP4SE820 device is not currently supported by serial configuration devices. Altera
recommends using the JTAG, passive serial (PS), or fast passive parallel (FPP) configuration schemes to allow vertical migration from
the Stratix III device to a EP4SE820 device.
(7) The 1152-pin and 1517-pin EP4SE530 and EP4SE820 devices are only available in the 42.5-mm × 42.5-mm hybrid flip chip package.
(8) The 1760-pin EP4SE530 device has fewer user-available I/O pins when compared with the EP3SL340 device of the same package. For
more information about the availability of I/O banks and user I/O pins, refer to the Stratix III Device Pin-Outs and Stratix IV Device
Pin-Outs.