Stratix III FPGA Family Overview

The Stratix^® III high-performance FPGA family includes two device variants:

• Stratix III L devices focused on logic-rich applications
• Stratix III E devices focused on digital signal processing (DSP)-rich and memory-rich applications

Stratix III FPGAs provide vertical migration, not only within, but across the L and E variants to offer the most flexibility in device selection. For the first time, Stratix III FPGAs can be also used as a migration platform to Stratix IV E devices. Application note AN557: Stratix III to Stratix IV E Cross-Family Migration Guidelines provides full details on this migration path.

Industry Leading Architecture

Altera has taken the industry leading architecture of the Stratix high-performance FPGA series and refined it even further for a 65-nm process node. As a result, Stratix III FPGAs are the ideal solution for your next-generation high-end system designs.

Key feature enhancements Stratix III FPGAs offer include:

• The lowest power requirements of any high-performance FPGA—up to 50 percent lower than Stratix II devices, without adding the reliability risk of heatsinks or forced-air cooling
• Higher performance to power next-generation systems—up to a 35 percent gain over Stratix II high-performance FPGAs
• Increased density that lets you integrate more of your product to reduce cost and reduce board space—up to twice the density of Stratix II FPGAs
• Development supported by Quartus^® II software—customer-acclaimed as the leading development software in productivity for low-power, high-density, high-performance FPGAs
• High-performance memory interfaces up to 533-MHz DDR3
• LVDS performance up to 1.6 Gbps and support for Serial Gigabit Media Independent Interface (SGMII) on the LVDS I/Os

Notes to Tables 1 and 2:

1. The EP3SE260 device (a Stratix III E family variant) provides optimum logic, DSP, and memory for this device density.
2. For full details on DSP resources see the Stratix III Digital Signal Processing web page.
3. For full package details, see the Altera^® Device Package Information.
4. The EP3SE260 and EP3SL200 devices use an H780 package, and the EP3SL340 is in an H1152 package to maintain vertical package migration. These packages require a keep-out area to be created to allow for the overhang of the H package.

Notes to Table 3:

1. All device densities that are available in the same package are vertically migratable (i.e. they share the same V_CC, GND, in-system programmables, and dedicated input pins).
2. Number of available user I/O pins.
3. The EP3SE260 and EP3SL200 devices use an H780 package, and the EP3SL340 is in a H1152 package to maintain vertical package migration. These packages require a keep-out area to be created to allow for the overhang of the H package.

Table 4 shows industrial temperature support for Stratix III FPGAs.

1. For more details regarding industrial temperature offerings on Stratix III FPGAs, contact your local Altera sales office or distributor.

Related Links

• Stratix III Device Family
• Quartus II Design Software
• Altera Device Package Information (PDF)
• Keep Your Design Cool with Programmable Power Technology
• Stratix III to Stratix IV migration
• Application note AN557: Stratix III to Stratix IV E Cross-Family Migration Guidelines

Contact Altera

Altera sells programmable logic devices (PLDs), including Stratix III FPGAs, and development software subscriptions exclusively through sales representatives and distributors. Please contact your local Altera sales representative or distributor listed below.

Altera Sales Offices

• North American Sales Offices
• International Sales Offices

Distributors and Representatives

• North American Distributors
• U.S. Sales Representatives
• International Distributors