EOLed EPM240T100C5N - replacements with suffixes like RR, AD, AH, AC or AA

[jnap]

Dear all, we have got EPM240T100C5N designed in our device. Since this part has been EOLed our manufacturing has asked to approve possible replacements, that are still active

EPM240T100C5NAD, AH, RR (and possibly AA and AC)

Datasheet doesn't seem to detail these suffixes, there is one post in forum about the RR, but the A* cannot be found. Would you please advise, what do these suffixes specify and if we could consider these parts as drop-in replacements? Also, for those that could be used, would you please advise planned EOLs for them (if known)?

Thank you!

[AqidAyman_Intel]

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

I am sorry that the answer you require has been delayed. Please accept our apology and our assurance that steps will be taken to give you the answer as soon as possible. I am currently in contact with internal team to see the possible replacement for EPM240T100C5N.

Regards,

Aqid Ayman

[AqidAyman_Intel]

Hi,

As per check in the Intel system, EPM240T100C5N is still an active part and orderable. It is not EOL yet. You may refer to your local Intel authorized distributor to check on this.

You can refer here: Marketplace Partner Program: Distributor Partner - Intel® Solutions Marketplace.

Regards,

Aqid Ayman

[jnap]

Hello,

thank you for your answer. We have received a LTB notice approximately a year ago (DigiKey) with EOL status. No news since that so even if the product is now "active", there are obvious concerns about its availability. Based on that, my interest in its replaceability remains. Could you please answer that?

EPM240T100C5NAD, AH, RR (and possibly AA and AC) - Would you please advise, what do these suffixes specify and if we could consider these parts as drop-in replacements? 

Thank you,

Jiri

[ak6dn]

Intel originally issued a PDN to EOL the MAXII series, but got enough pushback afterwards from some key customers, such that Intel issued a revised PDN that removed MAXII from the current EOL list. They indicated its status would be reviewed sometime again in 2024.

So your vendor may be going off the original PDN and have not have updated to the revised PDN.

The AD, AH, RR, AA, AC suffixes are not standard. Where do you see these part numbers?

I have seen this done before where the part is preprogrammed from the vendor, and they make it orderable by a unique suffix.

So in that case you could buy the preprogrammed part and just reprogram it with your image.

[jnap]

Hello,

 thanks for the update, EOL withdrawal for at least another couple of years is certainly good, despite the products are not much available (but that's not a surprise these days).

The other endings were found by our production at "Silicon Expert" service. Agreed that they look quite non-standard (at least by datasheets available) - that's why my initial question, if there is any info you could provide us with and mainly - can any of these be used as a drop-in replacement for the original part?

Despite the no-longer valid EOL, I'm still interested due to fluctuating availability/allocation of the original part.

Thank you

[ak6dn]

Well, I think you need to talk to your "Silicon Expert" service contact and see where they got those part numbers from.

[jnap]

Silicon expert is a service provided by Avnet, i.e. these part numbers most likely came from there. How does the sourcing (logistical information) affect the functional compatibility (technical topic)?

[ak6dn]

FPGAs generally fall into two groups:

(1) Those devices with non-volatile internal memory that store their programming contents when powered off (CPLDs generally do this).
and
(2) Those devices with only volatile internal memory that lose their programming when powered off (most FPGAs, esp larger ones).

Group (1) devices can be pre-programmed by a vendor/distributor prior to delivery, so that they are 'live' when an assembled board is first powered on. Most all modern devices have the capability of being reprogrammed in circuit also.

Group (2) devices will be blank when first powered on, and will go thru a configuration cycle to read their programming from some external source (like a SPI EEPROM, or an attached uProcessor, etc).

If you have a board with a group (1) device AND it happens to come pre-programmed from a vendor with an INCOMPATIBLE design for your system, it could possibly do damage when first powered on. So ideally if you can only source preprogrammed devices with 'program X' but your system requires 'program Y' you would need to get those devices preprogrammed (again) to overwrite the irrelevant 'program X' image. Only if you knew that 'program X' was benign in your application could you build with it and then reprogram the devices to 'program Y' yourself.

You still need to get SiliconExperts/AVNET to tell you what the extra suffix characters mean.

[jnap]

Hello,

  apologies, my previous question was probably misleading (even for myself in the end) - do I get it right that these suffixes might have been made up by the distribution channel and they are definitely not Intel ones?

Thank you

[AqidAyman_Intel]

Hi,

The extra suffixes are coming from Intel, but the OPN is for specific customer respectively with special instructions.

Regards,

Aqid Ayman