High-speed serial transceivers form the backbone of today’s networks, communications, servers and many other electronic systems. Altera® is a pioneer and technology leader in integrated FPGA serial transceivers. In 2001, we introduced our first FPGA family with integrated transceivers. Since then, we've introduced a number of innovations to make transceivers run faster, operate more reliably, decrease power consumption, and support emerging protocols with each generation of technology. All of Altera’s transceiver technology is designed in-house by an experienced team of transceiver and signal integrity engineers.
At the 28 nm node, with Stratix® V GT FPGAs, we launched the fastest monolithic FPGA transceivers with data rates of up to 28.05 Gbps, as well as the fastest backplane-capable transceivers in our Stratix V GX FPGAs, which support data rates up to 14.1 Gbps.
Next-Generation Transceiver Technology
Altera's next-generation 14 nm and 20 nm product families include a number of groundbreaking features, including monolithic 28 Gbps backplane-capable transceivers and 56 Gbps transceivers for optical module interface applications.
Stratix 10 FPGA and SoC transceivers break through the barriers of serial technology to deliver unprecedented performance with the highest bandwidth for the highest density applications. Fabricated on the Intel 14 nm Tri-Gate process, Stratix 10 FPGAs feature transceivers with:
- 56 Gbps data rates for leading edge interface standards
- 28 Gbps backplane capability for versatile data switching applications
- Up to 144 transceiver channels for high port count designs
Arria® 10 FPGA and SoC transceivers combine high bandwidth and low power to provide high-end performance in a midrange platform including:
- Technology for mainstream protocol and interface standards including: PCI Express® (PCIe®), 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE), Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI), Fibre Channel, serial digital interface (SDI), and many more
- Low-power transceiver options with the lowest power for wireless applications
- 28 Gbps transceivers for next-generation 100G interfaces
- Advanced backplane capability up to 17.4 Gbps, including 10GBASE-KR
- Hardened forward error correction (FEC) to maximize system reliability
Learn more about Arria 10 FPGA and SoC transceivers and check out the industry’s first 20 nm FPGA transceiver from Altera in action.
Next-Generation Transceiver Technology
Altera's Transceiver Portfolio
Altera provides a broad portfolio of FPGAs and SoCs with integrated transceivers to address bandwidth needs from low-cost consumer applications to the most demanding wireline applications. Within this portfolio, you will discover a diverse mix of devices with transceivers for high-density applications to cost-sensitive applications designed to fit your system needs. See Table 1 for more details about our wide range of FPGAs and SoCs with integrated transceivers.
Table 1. FPGAs and SoCs with Integrated Transceivers
| Device | Process Technology | Maximum Number of Channels |
Maximum Data Rate (Gbps) |
Backplane Support | Optical Module Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stratix 10 GT 
|
14 nm Tri-Gate | 144 | 56 | Yes | Yes |
|
Stratix 10 GX |
14 nm Tri-Gate |
144 |
32 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Stratix 10 SX |
14 nm Tri-Gate |
144 |
32 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Arria 10 GT
|
20 nm |
96 |
28.1 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Arria 10 GX
|
20 nm |
96 |
17.4 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Arria 10 SX
|
20 nm |
48 |
17.4 |
Yes |
Yes |
| Stratix V GT | 28 nm | 36 | 28.05 | Yes | Yes |
| Stratix V GX | 28 nm | 66 | 14.1 | Yes | Yes |
| Stratix IV GT | 40 nm | 48 | 11.3 | Yes | Yes |
| Stratix IV GX | 40 nm | 48 | 8.5 | Yes | Yes |
| Arria V GT | 28 nm | 20 | 10.3125 | Yes | - |
| Arria V GX | 28 nm | 36 | 6.5536 | Yes | - |
| Arria V GZ | 28 nm | 36 | 12.5 | Yes | Yes |
| Arria II GZ | 40 nm | 24 | 6.375 | Yes | Yes |
| Arria II GX | 40 nm | 16 | 6.375 | Up to 3.75 Gbps | - |
| Cyclone® V GT | 28 nm | 12 | 6.144 | - | - |
| Cyclone V GX | 28 nm | 12 | 3.125 | - | - |
| Cyclone IV GX | 60 nm | 8 | 3.125 | - | - |
The portfolio also offers the productivity advantage of the comprehensive Quartus® II design software, a common set of IP cores, sophisticated signal integrity tools, and a variety of supporting reference designs and design examples.
With Quartus II design software, you’ll experience:
- Faster design and compile times
- More efficient system resource utilization resulting in higher system integration
- Higher integration with higher density products
- Optimized core performance, so you can efficiently close timing on designs and lower your engineering costs
- The ability to seamlessly connect IP blocks with a simple, intuitive GUI
In addition, as part of the Quartus II design environment, Altera's Transceiver Toolkit gives you the ability to validate transceiver link signal integrity real-time in a system and reduce board bring-up time.
Related Links
- White paper: Extending Transceiver Leadership at 28 nm (PDF)
- Solution sheet: Altera’s 28 nm, Power-Efficient Transceivers (PDF)
- White paper: Using 10 Gbps Transceivers in 40G/100G Applications (PDF)
- Altera Product Catalog (PDF)
- Transceivers and Direct Optical Interfaces
