MAX® 10 FPGA New Packages: Up to 59% Higher I/O Density vs. Competitors

Occasional Contributor

4 months ago

Altera has begun production shipments of its new MAX® 10 FPGA package options, featuring Variable Pitch Ball Grid Array (VPBGA) technology. These new package options bring big benefits to designers working in space-constrained and I/O-intensive applications.

With these packages, engineers can access 485 I/Os in 19 x 19 mm2, compared to the traditional 27 x 27 mm2, a 50% reduction in package size. Factoring in additional components required by competitors’ FPGAs (configuration flash or power supplies), customers can realize additional board space and cost savings by using these new Altera devices (Figure 1).

Figure 1. A comparison of I/O count available in 19 x 19 mm2 packages from various FPGA vendors, along with power supply and configuration flash requirements. *

New VPBGA Package Customer Benefits:

High I/O density in a small form factor (2X I/Os per mm2), with up to 485 I/Os

Compatibility with low-cost board designs (no High-Density Interconnect required)

Cost-effective integration with standard low-cost PCB manufacturing and reduced layer-count PCBs

Versions of the VBGA packages powered by a single power supply reduce the need for additional power supply devices, saving BOM cost and board space

Why This Matters?

In modern electronics, from consumer products to data centers, there’s a constant push to fit more functionality into smaller physical spaces, reduce power consumption, and weight. Designers are often faced with a tradeoff between board real estate and I/O count, especially in edge computing, industrial automation, portable medical devices, and automotive systems.

Why MAX 10 FPGAs?

Altera has been using variable-pitch semiconductor packaging technology in several of its high-end families and has now applied it to the popular MAX 10 FPGA family. The MAX 10 family integrates multiple system functions into a single non-volatile device:

Up to 50K logic elements, on-chip dual-configuration Flash, user flash, embedded ADCs, AI-capable DSP blocks, on-chip RAM, and support for Nios® V 32-bit RISC-V-based soft IP processors.

These features offer numerous customer benefits, including instant-on, dual images with failover, and built-in AES security, making them ideal for compact, low-power, and reliable designs across various applications. Other key features and benefits include:

MAX 10 FPGA Feature	Benefit
High I/O Density	Ideal for applications needing high amounts of GPIO, LVDS, and external memory interfaces
Compact Form Factor	Enables dense layouts for handheld or space-constrained systems
Low Power Operation	Maintains MAX 10’s hallmark of power efficiency
DSP blocks	Resources to efficiently implement mathematical expressions or AI inference algorithms
Embedded Flash	Supports instant-on functionality without an external boot memory device, as well as user flash space
Integrated ADC	Allows for analog monitoring and control directly on the FPGA

Key Applications:

Key Applications

Why MAX 10?

Use Case Examples

Industrial Control

Combines analog-to-digital conversion (ADC), digital logic, and memory in one device.

Real-time sensor acquisition and control (e.g., temperature, pressure, flow sensors).

Actuator control with deterministic logic timing (motors, valves).

Interface bridging (e.g., Modbus, CAN, SPI, UART) in PLCs and motor control units.

Automotive Systems

Offers high-speed I/O, deterministic performance, and a compact footprint suitable for harsh environments.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) for low-latency processing.

Dashboard integration (real-time data display, diagnostics).

Infotainment subsystems (fast peripheral interfacing and protocol translation).

Medical Devices

Built-in flash allows instant-on behavior and reduced board complexity—key for portable or battery-powered devices.

Portable diagnostics (ECG, pulse oximeters, handheld ultrasound).

Signal conditioning and real-time filtering.

Safety-critical control logic in Class II and III medical electronics.

IoT Gateways

Integrates flexible I/O and embedded processing to handle multiple protocols at the edge.

Protocol bridging (ZigBee, BLE, Wi-Fi, RS-485 to Ethernet/cloud).

Local preprocessing and decision-making to reduce cloud traffic.

Secure boot and local firmware authentication.

Server Platform Management

Provides secure, low-latency management and monitoring with instant-on capabilities for critical server functions.

Hardware Root of Trust (RoT) implementation for platform firmware security (PFR-compliant).

Power sequencing, fault detection, and thermal monitoring during pre-boot.

BMC companion for offloading GPIO, I2C/SPI expansion, and system event handling.

Next Steps:

As demand for compact, flexible, and cost-effective programmable logic continues to grow, these new devices offer engineers the tools they need to push the boundaries of embedded system design. If your next project demands small size, fast time-to-market, and a high number of I/Os, the new MAX 10 VPBGA options offer the FPGA industry’s highest I/O in a 19 x 19 mm2 package and deserve consideration.

Collateral & Support Resources:

With ample supply and manufacturing support until at least 2040, get started in designing with these new package options. Production devices are available to order via Altera-authorized distributors.

Quartus® Prime software: