Do unused pins reserved "as output driving ground" need to be connected to a ground pin on the board?

Description

When you reserve a pin "as output driving ground" in the Quartus^® II software, the software connects a ground signal to the output pin internally. You do not have to connect the output pin to the ground plane on your PCB.

Connecting the output driving ground to the ground plane is known as creating a virtual ground pin which will help minimize SSN and ground bounce effects.

Related Articles

• What is Altera's recommendation for configuring unused I/O pins?