Stratix® II devices are the industry’s biggest and fastest 90-nm FPGAs shipping in volume today. The largest Stratix II family member, the EP2S180 device, features 186,576 equivalent 4-input look-up tables (LUTs), over 9 Mbits of on-chip memory, 384 embedded 18x18 multipliers, and up to 1,170 user I/O pins. It has 5 percent more logic, 50 percent more memory, 4 times more digital signal processing (DSP) resources, and 21 percent more user I/O pins than any other available FPGA, firmly establishing Altera as the unprecedented density leader at 90 nm in the FPGA industry.
Partnership With Foundry Leader TSMC
Having the right partner, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), is the key to Altera’s ability to deliver high-density FPGAs in volume. Stratix II FPGAs are manufactured on 300-mm wafers using TSMC’s 90-nm, low-k dielectric process technology. TSMC—the world’s largest foundry with approximately 50 percent of the foundry business—has the R&D strength to invest and innovate in leading-edge technology. As a result, TSMC has quickly fine-tuned its processes on large Stratix II devices to produce higher yields and offer better economies of scale.
Redundancy Improves Yield and Cost
Altera’s unique and patented redundancy technology dramatically increases yields and lowers device costs and is another major factor behind Altera’s ability to deliver high-density Stratix II FPGAs on schedule and in volume. Defects in one column can be fixed by turning on the redundant column in the Stratix II device. With redundancy, large devices that would otherwise be highly susceptible to the early yield variability of a new process can be reliably manufactured. In some cases, this technology can improve yields more than fivefold. Yielding more die per wafer also reduces unit cost for each device.
Benefits to You
Stratix II FPGAs are well suited for prototyping ASICs. By using the highest density FPGA, you can emulate a complete ASIC in as few FPGAs as possible, increasing performance and reducing emulation board complexity.
Altera has shipped more FPGAs with over 70,000 logic elements (LEs) than any other vendor, and has established an excellent track record of rapid delivery of high-density devices. Stratix II devices offer you the lowest risk for high-density designs. You can benefit from Altera’s partnership with TSMC and patented redundancy technology for on-time delivery, volume availability, and low cost. Further cost reduction for high-volume designs can be achieved by migrating to Altera’s HardCopy® II ASICs.
