Intel® Quartus® Prime Software
Intel® Quartus® Prime Design Software, Design Entry, Synthesis, Simulation, Verification, Timing Analysis, System Design (Platform Designer, formerly Qsys)
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Output signal voltage too low

Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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Hello, 

 

I am looking for some advice - hopefully i have made a schoolboy error. 

 

I have a problem with an output from a cyclone III starter kit. 

 

I have written a very basic block of code in VHDL to send the clock from the board directly to one of the outputs: 

 

library ieee; use ieee.std_logic_1164.all; use ieee.std_logic_unsigned.all; ENTITY hsmc_test IS PORT ( input : IN STD_LOGIC; hsmc : OUT STD_LOGIC); END hsmc_test; ARCHITECTURE behav OF hsmc_test IS BEGIN hsmc <= input; END behav; 

 

In the pin planner i have tried several settings for the IO standard inlcuding: 

3.0V LVCMOS, 3.0V LV TTL etc. 

 

The problem is that the output is only being driven to about 700mV peak to peak. 

 

I am using Quartus II version 8.0. 

 

I origionally had a more complicated VHDL function which was working in simulation but not in hardware. 

 

The external hardware i am trying to drive requires the clock from the FPGA to have a minimum 2.5V for logic high, therefore i assume that this is the reason i had a problem. 

 

I would be grateful for any assistance. Thanks in advance.  

 

Regards 

 

Ade
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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Do you have a ground connection between the starter kit and the external hardware?

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