How to read a Xilinx part number

Anatomy of an ordering code

XC7Z007S-1LCLG225C — a Zynq-7000 device, speed grade 1L, in a 225-ball Pb-free chip-scale BGA, commercial temperature.

Read it from both ends, not left to right

The suffix has no separators, so the only reliable method is to take the ends first and let the middle fall out:

1. 1. Front — the prefix. Two or three letters. XC is the standard line; XA, XQ and XQR mark automotive, defense and space qualification.
2. 2. Back — the temperature letter. The single trailing letter after the last run of digits.
3. 3. Back again — the ball count. The last run of digits in the string. Two to four digits.
4. 4. Front again — the base device. Everything between the prefix and the hyphen.
5. 5. What is left is the speed grade and the package letters, run together — and splitting those two is the only genuinely hard step.

The speed grade / package boundary

Take XC6SLX100-1LFGG676C. After the ball count and temperature letter come off, you are holding 1LFGG. There are two readings:

Nothing in the string marks the boundary. The rule that resolves it is: the package designator must be one that actually exists. Match the longest real designator that ends the run, and whatever precedes it is the speed grade. A speed grade is one or two digits plus at most one letter — the L for low voltage, occasionally M. If what is left over does not fit that shape, the split is wrong.

This is also why we would rather decode part of a code than all of it. Where a designator is not one we can verify — a newer or rarer package — the base device, ball count and temperature grade are still unambiguous and are shown, and the speed/package split is left alone rather than guessed at.

Worked examples

Product-line prefixes

Device codes by family

The characters immediately after the prefix identify the family. Listed in matching order — the first row that fits wins, which is what keeps KU…P (UltraScale+) apart from KU… (UltraScale).

Package designators

63 designators. The digits that follow are the ball or pin count, so FFG900 is the FFG package with 900 balls. A trailing G means Pb-free.

Temperature grades

The letter gives the grade, not the range. The actual limits differ by family, and some datasheets quote junction temperature where others quote ambient — so a C on a Spartan-3 and a C on a Zynq UltraScale+ are not the same numbers. Take the range from the device datasheet, never from the suffix.

What the part number does not tell you

• Available I/O. The number in the package code is the total ball count. Usable user I/O is always lower, differs per device in the same package, and comes from the package file.
• Lifecycle status. Nothing in an ordering code says whether a part is active, NRND or obsolete. That comes from the manufacturer's product change notices.
• Whether it was ever built. A code can be perfectly well formed and describe a combination that was never offered. Valid syntax is not evidence of a real part.
• Die revision or date code. Not encoded. If a build requires a specific revision, it has to be specified separately on the order.

Decode a specific part

Every part page in the catalogue carries this breakdown for that exact code, together with the device specifications and the datasheet it came from. Search a part number, or send us one for price, availability and lead time — including obsolete and end-of-life devices.