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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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14 years ago

CFI Flash Interfaces in the Cyclone III

Hi

I want to design new Cyclone III custom board

In my design i want to use CFI Flash memory but i don't know how to interface CFI Flash memory Pins in FPGA

for example, i want to know that i have to assign all CFI Flash Pins to the specific bank or i can assign these Pins to any pins on Cyclone III FPGA

Please give me suggestion

4 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    CFI flash has no special pins like DDR/DDR2/DDR3 memory, so You can connect it to any pins You want, except watch out for clock inputs, they can be used only as inputs.

    Edit:

    I would offer You to download any Altera development board (which has CFI flash) schematics and check the connections there. E.g. You can use Cyclone III starter kit.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    And of course the voltage levels.

    I have to say that for C3 we only use EPCS flash, but that is for you to decide. (The cheap version from Nymonux(?)).

    If you have a lot of code or data then you need CFI, but for small projects (Even with TSE MAC and OS) then the EPCS is generally big enough.

    I guess it all comes down to the cost.

    apus
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    Thank you so much

    I used EPCS16 instead of CFI Flash Memory in my design and i can download ELF and SOF Files successfully to EPCS16

    I think that EPCS16 is big enough too :-D
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    Cool,

    but do your numbers before submitting this to production.....

    You might want to safeguard yourself by ensuring that the footprints can handle the bigger devices.

    Always nice to have the top sector available for misc data...

    apus