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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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11 years ago

Altera EPM-7128SQI100-10 Latch-up/Failure

Hi all,

We are using this chip on our CPU control board (EPM-7128SQI100-10) this is installed in a High Power Amplifier that has high voltages in it (~18-19KVDC).

We've recently started seeing catastrophic failures of the chip but only this chip fries.

Any ideas on what might be causing this? We do have a ribbon cable that connects directly to the Altera pins and goes around the HPA with no protection on it, my most likely suspect is that when the HV arcs to the chassis for some reason a current spike is induced on this ribbon cable which then fries the inputs of the Altera.

The chip once it failes has a dark discoloration in the middle of the IC.

Any suggestions would be helpful!

Thanks

1 Reply

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    11 years ago

    I suspect you're assessment has merit. How far away from the HPA can you route the ribbon cable?

    Whatever the answer, you need a safe way off assessing the advantage of moving the cable. Assuming you're keen not to blow more of these devices up I suggest you work with a board with the device removed. You then need to assess why:

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    the HV arcs to the chassis for some reason

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    so you can do your best to reproduce it and observe what, if anything, is induced on to the ribbon cable.

    Regards,

    Alex