Create breakout for small FPGA in BGA package

Question

I'm going to buy a MachXO3 FPGA by Lattice, famous for the low cost, in order to create a bridge between an HDMI input and a MIPI DSI output for low cost/high res display.

Lattice lets you buy only the FPGA without the breakout (link) and I have no idea how to obtain a dev board (no one seems to produce something with the machxo3) or how to create it.

Is it reasonably possible to create a DIY PCB (instructions?) or buy a breakout for the BGA package that seems to be a FBGA-256?

PS: I'm quite new in electronic development, and I'm not able to use any EDA software (yet).

Answer 1

Since these parts are preliminary and are not really in distribution yet (you say 13 weeks or 1/4 year to get initial units).. you might want to contact Lattice sales and see if they plan to have eval boards available around the same time as actual parts.

This eval board for the QFP144 LCMXO2 (Mach02) is sold for only $30, and chances are that even a more capable evaluation board will not be much more than $200. Having a multilayer board fabbed and BGA soldered to it will not be cheaper, even if you had the tools to create the Gerbers yourself, and there will be a lot of room for problems with tons of bypass capacitors, USB programming circuitry and so on.

Answer 2

Since the comments are going too far I am giving my opinion here.

You should search for a commercial evaluation board with a device similar to your target, possibly with the HDMI connector already soldered. There is a ton of reasons behind my opinion, I am giving what comes to me from the top of my mind.

• This seem a one time project - no production, no board selling - designing a whole board just for that is a waste of time.
• You don't seem to have the know-how: an FPGA is a great, fast beast: it would need a lot of decoupling capacitors, you should put extra care in traces impedances, especially the HDMI ones, you should take care of a whole lot of things that you would encounter during the PCB design phase and possibly after the first prototype.
• You don't seem to have the appropriate hardware: soldering that package without a reflow oven is impossible, soldering the other components might be feasible but... Have you ever soldered even 3216 parts? (I love the SI).
• You don't really want to deal with all the other things that an FPGA needs to run properly: what about the clock? What about the programmer? What about power? These guys can draw quite a bit of current.
• I am pretty sure you can't do a multi layer PCB on your own... Nobody probably can anyway.

That said, your best option is to just buy an EVAL board and stick with it.