Friday, December 6, 2013

Strange bedfellows

How do you get ready to solder an Altera BGA?... with a Xilinx BGA, of course

I intend to build the rev B bityExpress prototype entirely on my own this time including the 484 pin BGA (Altera FPGA).  Since the part is so expensive I decided to practice on a simpler card with a cheaper BGA.  The result was a small, 2 layer PCB:

Layer 1 check-plot of bityBGA

I was hoping to use an Altera Max V CPLD like I used on the JTAG programmer, but the only BGA package available at Digikey was $12.00.  I found a 56pin BGA Xilinx Coolrunner-II for $1.60.  I should get the test board in about two weeks before the bityExpress rev B PCB.

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