Forum Discussion

Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
15 years ago

FPGA Device lifetime

Hi everyone, I wonder how long a FPGA device can live. So far I used Cyclone III device, I have search for information, and I only found information about lifetime percentage of 10 years dev...
Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
15 years ago

I fear, the said numbers are idle speculations. Particularly the expectation of different lifetimes with FPGA grades is ignoring the real device properties and in my opinion shows the statement's obvious ignorance.

Unless you're permanently violating the recommended operation conditions, you can expect much longer lifetimes. There's possibly a lifetime reduction, if system is stressed by permanent thermal cycles. But I would rather expect failure of solder joints than of the FPGA device itself.