Altera Enhances Performance Leadership Through Array Driver Technology.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 19, 2001

Altera Corporation (Nasdaq:ALTR), a leading supplier of programmable logic devices (PLDs), today announced the implementation of advanced array driver technology and flip-chip packaging available in its new Mercury(TM) device family. For the first time in the PLD industry, these two leading-edge technologies have been incorporated in a programmable device. The state of the art array driver technology implements I/O pads within the center of the device core. This dramatically reduces the distance traveled by the signals from logic to I/O pads to solder balls, improving the overall I/O performance and supporting the high speeds needed for Clock Data Recovery (CDR). Additionally, the high I/O performance requirements of the Mercury device family required coordinated development of silicon design process and the packaging. By incorporating printed circuit board (PCB) requirements into package considerations, the Mercury silicon was able to place multiple phase-locked loops (PLLs), I/O bands, and high speed serial receive and transmit channels in a manner best suited for PCB layout.

"The layout process for the Mercury device package uses state of the art substrate and assembly technology to combine optimal placement of package balls from a PCB perspective with optimal silicon placement of the flip-chip bumps," said Tarun Verma, Altera director of package development. "The methodology derived here will allow us to continue offering the most effective packaging solutions for high performance PLDs."

The Mercury family extends Altera's device packaging leadership as a means of obtaining I/O performance levels of up to 1.25 Gbps and in order to support advanced high-speed communications applications. This enables the implementation of up to 18 channels all toggling simultaneously at 1.25 Gbps, for a total device bandwidth of 45 Gbps. The array driver implementation also eliminates the limitation on I/O count created by the length of the device perimeter, and therefore enables higher I/O counts for a given die size.

"Altera has worked closely with the Kyocera package design team to design and optimize our substrate layout to meet Altera's device performance objectives." said Fritz Johnson, National Sales Manager for Organic Products, Kyocera America, Inc. - the world's leading manufacturer of advanced flip chip substrates. "Kyocera's ability to route the signal I/O pads from the device core enables Altera's array driver technology to achieve improved I/O performance."

Advanced Flip-Chip Technology

Altera has shipped over 75,000 devices utilizing flip-chip packaging technology since the introduction of flip-chip to the PLD industry in the APEX(TM) EP20K400 in September 1999. These packages provide a thermally optimized solution by distributing pins across the face of the die and improving heat dissipation. Flip-chip technology also enables greater flexibility in pin placement for enhanced migration capabilities, faster time-to-market for PLD products, improved I/O performance, and a simplified package assembly process.

The World's First Programmable ASSP 

Mercury, the world's first programmable ASSP, provides up to 18 channels of CDR transceivers and performance optimized programmable logic in a single device in order to address key communications requirements. CDR transceivers eliminate the frequency barriers faced by source synchronous systems by offering data rates of up to 1.25 Gbps and support for commonly used I/O standards such as Gigabit Ethernet, SONET, IEEE 1394, and Fibre Channel. This is combined with a programmable core built for bandwidth, using a prioritized interconnect structure, distributed multiplier circuitry, dedicated interfaces to high speed external memory, and quad-port embedded RAM blocks. Mercury devices are ideally suited for serial backplane, chip-to-chip, and line side communications applications.

About Altera

Altera Corporation, The Programmable Solutions Company(R), was founded in 1983 and is a leading supplier of programmable logic devices (PLDs). Altera's CMOS-based PLDs are user-programmable semiconductor chips that enhance flexibility and reduce time-to-market for companies in the communications, computer peripheral, and industrial markets. By using high performance devices, software development tools, and sophisticated intellectual property cores, system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) solutions can be created with embedded processors, memory, and other complex logic together on a single PLD. Altera common stock is traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol ALTR. More information on Altera is available on the Internet at http://www.altera.com.

Altera, The Programmable Solutions Company, Mercury, APEX, and specific device designations are trademarks and/or service marks of Altera Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.