The XCKU035-1FFVA1156C is a high-performance Xilinx FPGA from AMD’s Kintex® UltraScale™ family, built on a 20nm process node. Designed for engineers who demand an optimal balance of price, performance, and power efficiency, this IC delivers the signal processing bandwidth of a high-end device in a mid-range, cost-effective package. Whether your application involves 100G networking, 8K video, medical imaging, or wireless infrastructure, the XCKU035-1FFVA1156C is engineered to meet the challenge.

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What Is the XCKU035-1FFVA1156C?

The XCKU035-1FFVA1156C is a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) manufactured by AMD (formerly Xilinx). It belongs to the Kintex UltraScale family — AMD’s mid-range FPGA series optimized for DSP-intensive and high-bandwidth workloads. The device features 444,343 logic cells, 520 user I/O pins, and a 1156-pin FC-BGA package, making it one of the most capable mid-range FPGAs available today.

The “-1” suffix indicates Speed Grade -1, the standard commercial speed grade. The “FFVA1156” refers to the 1156-pin Fine-Pitch Ball Grid Array (FCBGA) package with a 35mm × 35mm body.

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XCKU035-1FFVA1156C Key Specifications

The table below summarizes the core electrical and physical parameters of the XCKU035-1FFVA1156C at a glance.

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XCKU035-1FFVA1156C Logic and Memory Resources

Understanding the on-chip resource budget is critical during FPGA design planning. The table below breaks down the logic, memory, and DSP resources of the XCKU035-1FFVA1156C.

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Package and Pinout Details

The 1156-FCBGA package offers an excellent density-to-footprint ratio. Its footprint compatibility with certain Virtex UltraScale devices provides a migration path for designs that require higher logic density in the future without a full PCB redesign.

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Architecture: Kintex UltraScale Technology

UltraScale FPGA Architecture Overview

The Kintex UltraScale architecture is AMD’s second-generation 20nm FPGA platform. It introduced ASIC-like clocking, next-generation routing, and greatly improved DSP performance versus the 7 Series. Key architectural innovations include:

• UltraScale routing architecture — Eliminates combinatorial logic in the routing fabric, reducing congestion and improving timing closure.
• UltraScale CLBs — Each CLB contains two slices, each with 8 LUTs and 16 flip-flops, increasing logic density per tile.
• GTH Transceivers — 16 high-speed serial transceivers running at up to 16.3 Gb/s, supporting PCIe Gen3, 10G/25G Ethernet, SRIO, and other protocols.
• DSP48E2 Slices — 1,080 DSP slices enable high-throughput signal processing with cascaded multiply-accumulate pipelines.
• Integrated Hard IP — PCIe Gen3 ×8 blocks and 100G Ethernet MACs reduce fabric utilization and improve timing.

Power Efficiency

The Kintex UltraScale family delivers up to 40% lower power compared to previous-generation 28nm devices. ASIC-like fine-granular clock gating further minimizes dynamic power consumption at the design level. The XCKU035-1FFVA1156C operates with a core voltage (VCCINT) between 0.922V and 0.979V, keeping static and dynamic power consumption well-controlled.

SSI and Monolithic Technology

The XCKU035-1FFVA1156C uses monolithic die technology, delivering fully integrated performance without the inter-die bandwidth constraints of Stacked Silicon Interconnect (SSI) devices. SSI technology is reserved for the larger members of the UltraScale family (e.g., XCKU115).

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XCKU035-1FFVA1156C Applications

Networking and Data Centers

The dual PCIe Gen3 ×8 hard blocks and 16 GTH transceivers make the XCKU035-1FFVA1156C an ideal choice for 100G networking line cards, packet processing engines, and SmartNIC acceleration. The 1,080 DSP slices and 19 Mb of block RAM provide sufficient resources for deep packet inspection, traffic shaping, and encryption offload.

Wireless Infrastructure

The device supports heterogeneous wireless infrastructure including 4G LTE, 5G NR baseband processing, and Remote Radio Head (RRH) Digital Front End (DFE) designs. Its high DSP-to-logic ratio and next-generation transceivers address demanding beamforming and massive MIMO algorithms.

Video and Imaging

With enough logic and memory bandwidth for 8K4K video processing pipelines, the XCKU035-1FFVA1156C is well-suited for broadcast video capture, real-time image processing, and camera interface aggregation.

Medical Imaging

DSP-intensive algorithms required in medical imaging — such as CT reconstruction, ultrasound beamforming, and MRI signal acquisition — benefit directly from the device’s 1,080 DSP48E2 slices and high on-chip memory bandwidth.

Defense and Aerospace

The commercial temperature-range XCKU035-1FFVA1156C is widely used in defense prototyping and COTS-based systems. Industrial and extended temperature variants (XCKU035-1FFVA1156I / E) are available for harsher environments.

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Supported High-Speed Interfaces

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Configuration and Development Tools

Vivado Design Suite

The XCKU035-1FFVA1156C is supported exclusively by the Xilinx Vivado Design Suite (ISE is not supported for UltraScale devices). Vivado provides:

• HDL synthesis (VHDL, Verilog, SystemVerilog)
• Place-and-route with advanced timing closure algorithms
• IP Integrator for block-diagram-based design
• Simulation with integrated simulator or third-party tools (ModelSim, QuestaSim, VCS)

IP Cores and Reference Designs

AMD provides a rich library of Vivado-compatible IP cores for the XCKU035, including:

• AXI4 Interconnect and peripherals
• PCIe Endpoint / Root Complex
• 100G/10G Ethernet MAC
• DDR4 Memory Controller
• JESD204B interface

Xilinx Power Estimator (XPE)

For power budget analysis during early design stages, AMD’s Xilinx Power Estimator (XPE) tool provides accurate static and dynamic power estimates for the XCKU035-1FFVA1156C based on resource utilization and toggle rates.

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Ordering Information and Part Number Decoder

Understanding the part number structure helps identify the exact variant required for your design.

Available speed grades for XCKU035: -3, -2, -1, -1L Available temperature variants: C (Commercial), I (Industrial), E (Extended)

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Comparison: XCKU035-1FFVA1156C vs. Similar Devices

The XCKU035 occupies the sweet spot between the entry-level KU025 and the mid-high-end KU040, making it the most popular device in the Kintex UltraScale family for price-sensitive, performance-demanding designs.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is the XCKU035-1FFVA1156C used for?

The XCKU035-1FFVA1156C is used in 100G networking, data center acceleration, DSP-intensive processing, medical imaging, 8K video, and wireless infrastructure applications. Its combination of 444,343 logic cells, 1,080 DSP slices, and 16 GTH transceivers makes it highly versatile.

What is the difference between XCKU035-1FFVA1156C and XCKU035-2FFVA1156C?

The only difference is the speed grade. The -2 variant operates at a higher performance specification and requires a slightly higher VCCINT voltage (0.95V nominal, 1.0V for -3), while the -1 variant is the standard commercial speed grade at 0.95V. The -2 grade provides better timing margins for high-frequency designs.

Is XCKU035-1FFVA1156C RoHS compliant?

Yes. The XCKU035-1FFVA1156C is fully RoHS compliant and manufactured using lead-free processes.

What software is required to program the XCKU035-1FFVA1156C?

The XCKU035-1FFVA1156C requires AMD Vivado Design Suite (version 2014.1 or later). The older Xilinx ISE design suite does not support UltraScale devices.

What is the operating temperature of the XCKU035-1FFVA1156C?

The “C” suffix denotes the commercial temperature grade: 0°C to 85°C junction temperature (TJ). Industrial-grade variants with a wider temperature range are available under the “I” suffix.

Can the XCKU035-1FFVA1156C be migrated to a Virtex UltraScale device?

Yes. AMD designed the Kintex UltraScale and Virtex UltraScale families with footprint compatibility on selected packages (including the 1156-pin FCBGA), allowing designers to scale up to higher-density Virtex devices without full PCB redesign.

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Summary

The XCKU035-1FFVA1156C is a production-active, RoHS-compliant Kintex UltraScale FPGA that delivers best-in-class price/performance/watt at the 20nm node. With 444,343 logic cells, 1,080 DSP slices, 19 Mb of block RAM, 16 GTH transceivers, hard PCIe Gen3 and 100G Ethernet blocks, and 520 user I/O in a 1156-pin FCBGA package, it is one of the most capable and versatile mid-range FPGAs on the market. It is the go-to device for 100G networking, data center acceleration, advanced signal processing, and next-generation video applications.