Altera to sample its 14nm FPGA test-chips by end-2013

Altera has introduced Generation 10 FPGAs and SoCs which include Arria 10 and Stratix 10 FPGAs and SoCs with embedded processors. Generation 10 devices includes Intel’s 14-nm Tri-Gate process and TSMC’s 20 nm process.

“Our Generation 10 products will strengthen the penetration of programmable logic into new markets and applications and further accelerate the implementation of FPGAs into systems traditionally served by ASSPs and ASICs,” said Patrick Dorsey, senior director of product marketing at Altera. “The optimizations we made in our Generation 10 devices allow customers to develop highly customized solutions that dramatically increase system performance and system integration while lowering operating expenses.”

Altera says Stratix 10 FPGAs and SoCs have an operating frequency over one gigahertz, 2X the core performance of current high-end 28 nm FPGAs. For high-performance systems that have the most strict power budgets, Stratix 10 devices allow customers to achieve up to a 70 percent reduction in power consumption at performance levels equivalent to the previous generation, adds Altera.

The key features include:
More than four million logic elements (LEs) on a single die
56-Gbps transceivers
More than 10-TeraFLOPs single-precision digital signal processing
A third-generation ultra-high-performance processor system
Multi-die 3D solutions capable of integrating SRAM, DRAM and ASICs

Availability: Initial samples of Arria 10 devices to be available in early 2014. Altera to have 14 nm Stratix 10 FPGA test chips in 2013 and Quartus II software support for Stratix 10 FPGAs and SoCs in 2014.