Does Cyclone 3 FPGA have thermal protection?

[AnandRaj_S_Intel]

Hi,

Under Package Information for Cyclone III Devices you can find the more information.

if your are using  E144 packages,which is having an exposed pad at the bottom of the package.

This exposed pad is used for electrical connectivity and not for thermal purposes.

Most VCC and GND pins are located at the center of the package, the GND and VCC pins are located under the die.As a result, the heat generated in the device can be transferred out through the GND and VCC pins (i.e., the GND and VCC pins act as a heat sink).

You can have other options like

• pin-fin heat sink.
• motor-driven fan heat sink.

Check the Handbook & pin  Connection Guidelines for more details.

Other useful threads

https://forums.intel.com/s/question/0D50P00003yyKYQSA2/maximum-power-dissipation

https://forums.intel.com/s/question/0D50P00003yyR77SAE/cyclone-iii-144-qfp-package-forgot-the-ground-pad-on-circuit-board

Let me know if this has helped resolve the issue you are facing or if you need any further assistance.

Best Regards,

Anand Raj Shankar

(This message was posted on behalf of Intel Corporation)

[VDuon]

Hi,

Thanks for your response, I have two more questions:

1. Will EP3C40F324I7N reset if It operates out of its temperature range (-40 to 100 Celsius degree)? I tried to heat EP3C40F324I7N up to 150 Celsius degree last week, but it did not reset.
2. In which cases that EP3C40F324I7N will reset SOFTWARE only but not reset FIRMWARE?

[JosephC_Intel]

Hi,

First of all, thanks for using Intel forums to address your question. On the follow up question, we've been discuss this with several application engineers internally on how to deal with the out of range temperatures value. As we may know Cyclone III temperature range is between -40C to 100/125C depends on devices, it is actually strictly not recommended to test your devices out of those ranges and conditions.

Operated in such high temperature (150C), there is no guarantee on what will occurs where we might get performance issue and there is a high risk of chip damage. We don't have a reset function specifically for this device running beyond the supported temperature range. You devices ( EP3C40F324I7N) supported up to 125C because it was an extended temperature device. Refer to the details here:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/programmable/temperature.html

In order to better design your product, we recommend you to refer to thermal management guide as below:

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/programmable/us/en/pdfs/literature/an/an358.pdf

So, we would suggest that the device thermal power or cooling alternative used should resulted in within the range of supported temperature to gain performance optimization. This has been recommended by our peer (Anand) 10 days ago at the first reply. I hope this helps.

Thanks,

Joseph

Intel Customer Support

[VDuon]

Hi,

Thanks for answering my first question, what about my second question: "In which cases that EP3C40F324I7N will reset SOFTWARE only but not reset FIRMWARE?". We ran into problem as described below:

• We have 2 functions in project, one is Logging data (to external Flash) function, the other is to drive a servo by PWM signal.
• Few months ago, it seems like our device reseted SOFTWARE only because the Logging data function stopped working until the the SOFTWARE initialized successfully again. But the PWM function still worked (servo remained its current position for 4-5 seconds) until the SOFTWARE initialized successfully, and updated the default value to PWM register (the servo now turned to new position of default value). So we guess that the FIRMWARE still worked when the SOFTWARE reseted.

[JosephC_Intel]

Hi Vduon,

As I mentioned earlier, there is no reset function on Cyclone III device. It was an old device that don't have such capability. We've confirmed this internally with several application engineer on this issue and this is kind of expected.

Based your explanation, your device might behave differently due to high temperature conditions. Testing the device in the out of the box scenario will not guarantee how our product behave. I hope you can understand this.

Thanks,

Joseph

Intel Customer Support

[VDuon]

Hi JosephC,

You might misunderstand my question, sorry for not providing enough information. As I described, my device suddenly reseted few months ago (Ambient temperature was about only 30C). I doubted that one of many reasons might cause this issue was high junction temperature, but as you explained earlier,  there is NO reset function on Cyclone III device. So I understand that Temperature is not the root cause.

Can you tell me different reasons might cause this issue (not the temperature reason)?Please see detailed description in my previous post below:

"Hi,

Thanks for answering my first question, what about my second question: "In which cases that EP3C40F324I7N will reset SOFTWARE only but not reset FIRMWARE?". We ran into problem as described below:

• We have 2 functions in project, one is Logging data (to external Flash) function, the other is to drive a servo by PWM signal.
• Few months ago, it seems like our device reseted SOFTWARE only because the Logging data function stopped working until the the SOFTWARE initialized successfully again. But the PWM function still worked (servo remained its current position for 4-5 seconds) until the SOFTWARE initialized successfully, and updated the default value to PWM register (the servo now turned to new position of default value). So we guess that the FIRMWARE still worked when the SOFTWARE reseted."

Thank you!