Cyclone10 and S25FL256S

[KWN]

We have a custom board with multiple Cyclone 10 GX parts and are trying to use the Infineon S25FL256S the deprecated Altera NOR Flash from our previous design. We are using part number S25FL256SAGBHI200 (64k sectors).

We followed the Infineon Application Note “Enabling Infineon QSPI Flash to Configure Intel Cyclone 10 GX FPGA,” which is for the Infineon S25HS512T, and made change for the S25FL256S based on its data sheet.

The Quartus Programmer completed the programming of the Cyclone 10 without error, but afterwards the programmed FPGA was not functional and the JTAG for that part did not work. The JTAG was non-functional to the point that we could not even load a SOF to the Cyclone 10.

We switched the same Byte Blaster to a different Cyclone 10 on the same board. It worked as expected. Proving that the Byte Blaster and JTAG circuitry on the board was good.

We removed the suspect QPSI flash from the board and the "bad" Cyclone 10 returned to normal function. We programmed it with a SOF and the FPGA worked as expected.

These data points lead me to assume that something bad was programmed in the S25FL256S. The bad programming was loaded in the Cyclone 10. And that bad programming caused the Cyclone 10 in the JTAG to fail.

I am seeking advice for Device Configuration needed to program this QSPI Flash or advice about other QSPI flash that are easier to interface with a Cyclone 10 GX.

[KWN]

After consulting with our local FAEs, we decided to switch to the Micron MT25QU256ABA1EW7 flash. This part is supported out of the box in Quartus with a pre-built Device Configuration.

Our FAE said that he had customers that got the Infineon Flash to work, but it took trial and error to build the correct Device Configuration.

I hate to advocate switching parts rather than solving the issue in Quartus, however it was a far easier solution in our case.

[Fakhrul]

Hi,

It appears that flash support is unavailable for Cyclone 10 GX, and we haven't conducted tests on this device for clarity. You can refer to the provided link below to access the list of supported flash devices:

Link to the list of supported flash devices

Regards,

Fakhrul

[Fakhrul]

Since we haven't heard back from you about our previous message, we'll now move this discussion to community support. Feel free to start a new thread for any new questions or issues you have – our Intel experts will be there to help. But if you don't have more questions, the community users can still assist you here. Thanks for your understanding.