Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guide: PCB Design Tools

ID 683768
Date 4/01/2024
Public
Document Table of Contents

2.2. Reviewing Device Pin-Out Information in the Fitter Report

After you compile your design, you can use the reports in the Resource section of the Fitter report to check your device pin-out in detail.

The Input Pins, Output Pins, and Bidirectional Pins reports identify all the user I/O pins in your design and the features enabled for each I/O pin. For example, you can find use of weak internal pull-ups, PCI clamp diodes, and on-chip termination (OCT) pin assignments in these sections of the Fitter report. You can check the pin assignments reported in the Input Pins, Output Pins, and Bidirectional Pins reports against your PCB schematic to determine whether your PCB requires external components.

These reports also identify whether you made pin assignments or if the Fitter automatically placed the pins. If the Fitter changed your pin assignments, you should make these changes user assignments because the location of pin assignments made by the Fitter may change with subsequent compilations.

Figure 18. Resource Section ReportOpen the Compilation Report tab with Ctrl+R,. In the Plan Stage folder under Fitter open the Input Pins report. The following figure shows the pins the Fitter chose for the OCT external calibration resistor connections (RUP/RDN) and the name of the associated termination block in the Input Pins report. You should make these types of assignments user assignments.


The I/O Bank Usage report provides a high-level overview of the VCCIO and VREF requirements for your design, based on your I/O assignments. Verify that the requirements in this report match the settings in your PCB schematic. All unused I/O banks, and all banks with I/O pins with undefined I/O standards, default the VCCIO voltage to the voltage defined in the Voltage page of the Device and Pin Options dialog box.

The All Package Pins report lists all the pins on your device, including unused pins, dedicated pins and power/ground pins. You can use this report to verify pin characteristics, such as the location, name, usage, direction, I/O standard and voltage for each pin with the pin information in your PCB schematic. In particular, you should verify the recommended voltage levels at which you connect unused dedicated inputs and I/O and power pins, especially if you selected a migration device. Use the All Package Pins report to verify that you connected all the device voltage rails to the voltages reported.

Errors commonly reported include connecting the incorrect voltage to the predriver supply (VCCPD) pin in a specific bank, or leaving dedicated clock input pins floating. Unused input pins that should be connected to ground are designated as GND+ in the Pin Name/Usage column in the All Package Pins report.

You can also use the All Package Pins report to check transceiver-specific pin connections and verify that they match the PCB schematic. Unused transceiver pins have the following requirements, based on the pin designation in the Fitter report:

  • GXB_GND—Unused GXB receiver or dedicated reference clock pin. This pin must be connected to GXB_GND through a 10k Ohm resistor.
  • GXB_NC—Unused GXB transmitter or dedicated clock output pin. This pin must be disconnected.

Some transceiver power supply rails have dual voltage capabilities, such as VCCA_L/R and VCCH_L/R, that depend on the settings you created for the ALTGX parameter editor. Because these user-defined settings overwrite the default settings, you should use the All Package Pins report to verify that these power pins on the device symbol in the PCB schematics are connected to the voltage required by the transceiver. An incorrect connection may cause the transceiver to function not as expected.

If your design includes a memory interface, the DQS Summary report provides an overview of each DQ pin group. You can use this report to quickly confirm that the correct DQ/DQS pins are grouped together.

Finally, the Fitter Device Options report summarizes some of the settings made in the Device and Pin Options dialog box. Verify that these settings match your PCB schematics.