Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guide: Design Constraints

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ID 683143
Date 7/07/2025
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Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
Answers to Top FAQs 1. Constraining Designs 2. Interface Planning 3. Managing Device I/O Pins 4. Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guide: Design Constraints Document Archives A. Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guides
1. Constraining Designs x
1.1. Specifying Design Constraints in the GUI 1.2. Constraining Designs with Tcl Scripts 1.3. A Fully Iterative Scripted Flow 1.4. Constraining Designs Revision History
1.1. Specifying Design Constraints in the GUI x
1.1.1. Global Constraints and Assignments 1.1.2. Node, Entity, and Instance-Level Constraints 1.1.3. Probing Between Components of the Quartus® Prime GUI 1.1.4. Specifying Timing Constraints
1.1.2. Node, Entity, and Instance-Level Constraints x
1.1.2.1. Specify Instance-Specific Constraints in Assignment Editor 1.1.2.2. Specify NoC Constraints in NoC Assignment Editor 1.1.2.3. Specify Dual Simplex Assignments in DS Assignment Editor 1.1.2.4. Specify I/O Constraints in Pin Planner 1.1.2.5. Plan Interface Constraints in Interface Planner and Tile Interface Planner 1.1.2.6. Adjust Constraints with the Chip Planner 1.1.2.7. Constraining Designs with the Design Partition Planner
1.1.2.1. Specify Instance-Specific Constraints in Assignment Editor x
1.1.2.1.1. Specifying Multi-Dimensional Bus Constraints
1.1.2.2. Specify NoC Constraints in NoC Assignment Editor x
1.1.2.2.1. NoC Assignment Editor Interface Controls 1.1.2.2.2. Troubleshooting NoC Assignment Editor
1.2. Constraining Designs with Tcl Scripts x
1.2.1. Create a Project and Apply Constraints 1.2.2. Assigning a Pin 1.2.3. Generating Quartus® Prime Settings Files 1.2.4. Synopsys* Design Constraint (.sdc) Files 1.2.5. Tcl-only Script Flows
2. Interface Planning x
2.1. Using Interface Planner 2.2. Using Tile Interface Planner 2.3. Interface Planning Revision History
2.1. Using Interface Planner x
2.1.1. Interface Planner User Interface 2.1.2. Interface Planner General Tool Flow 2.1.3. Interface Planner NoC Tool Flow 2.1.4. Interface Planner Reports
2.1.1. Interface Planner User Interface x
2.1.1.1. Flow Controls 2.1.1.2. Home Tab Controls 2.1.1.3. Assignments Tab Controls 2.1.1.4. Plan Tab Controls 2.1.1.5. Reports Tab Controls
2.1.2. Interface Planner General Tool Flow x
2.1.2.1. Step 1: Setup and Synthesize the Project 2.1.2.2. Step 2: Initialize Interface Planner 2.1.2.3. Step 3: Update Plan with Project Assignments 2.1.2.4. Step 4: Plan Periphery Placement 2.1.2.5. Step 5: Report Placement Data 2.1.2.6. Step 6: Validate and Export Plan Constraints
2.1.2.4. Step 4: Plan Periphery Placement x
2.1.2.4.1. Plan Clock Networks 2.1.2.4.2. Saving & Loading Floorplans
2.1.3. Interface Planner NoC Tool Flow x
2.1.3.1. Viewing the NoC in Interface Planner 2.1.3.2. Reporting NoC Performance
2.1.4. Interface Planner Reports x
2.1.4.1. Report Summary 2.1.4.2. Report Pins 2.1.4.3. Report HSSI Channels 2.1.4.4. Report Clocks 2.1.4.5. Report Periphery Locations 2.1.4.6. Report Cell Connectivity 2.1.4.7. Report Instance Assignments
2.2. Using Tile Interface Planner x
2.2.1. Tile Interface Planner Terminology 2.2.2. Tile Interface Planner Tool Flow 2.2.3. Constraining Dynamic Reconfiguration IP 2.2.4. Tile Interface Planner GUI Reference
2.2.2. Tile Interface Planner Tool Flow x
2.2.2.1. Step 1: Instantiate IP and Run Design Analysis 2.2.2.2. Step 2: Initialize Tile Interface Planner 2.2.2.3. Step 3: Update Plan with Project Assignments 2.2.2.4. Step 4: Create a Tile Plan 2.2.2.5. Step 5: Save Tile Plan Assignments 2.2.2.6. Step 6: Run Logic Generation and Design Synthesis
2.2.2.4. Step 4: Create a Tile Plan x
2.2.2.4.1. Placing IP Components 2.2.2.4.2. Constraining IP Building Blocks
2.2.3. Constraining Dynamic Reconfiguration IP x
2.2.3.1. Defining a Dynamic Reconfiguration Group 2.2.3.2. Assigning Dynamic Reconfiguration Group Placement
2.2.4. Tile Interface Planner GUI Reference x
2.2.4.1. Flow Controls 2.2.4.2. Home Tab 2.2.4.3. Assignments Tab Controls 2.2.4.4. Plan Tab Controls 2.2.4.5. Tcl Console Window
2.2.4.4. Plan Tab Controls x
2.2.4.4.1. Design Tree and Filters 2.2.4.4.2. Reconfiguration Groups View 2.2.4.4.3. Legal Locations Pane
3. Managing Device I/O Pins x
3.1. I/O Planning Overview 3.2. Assigning I/O Pins 3.3. Importing and Exporting I/O Pin Assignments 3.4. Validating Pin Assignments 3.5. Verifying I/O Timing 3.6. Viewing Routing and Timing Delays 3.7. Scripting API 3.8. Managing Device I/O Pins Revision History
3.1. I/O Planning Overview x
3.1.1. Basic I/O Planning Flow 3.1.2. Integrating PCB Design Tools 3.1.3. Altera FPGA Device and I/O Terminology
3.2. Assigning I/O Pins x
3.2.1. Assigning to Exclusive Pin Groups 3.2.2. Assigning Slew Rate and Drive Strength 3.2.3. Assigning I/O Banks 3.2.4. Changing Pin Planner Highlight Colors 3.2.5. Showing I/O Lanes 3.2.6. Assigning Differential Pins 3.2.7. Entering Pin Assignments with Tcl Commands 3.2.8. Entering Pin Assignments in HDL Code
3.2.6. Assigning Differential Pins x
3.2.6.1. Overriding I/O Placement Rules on Differential Pins
3.2.8. Entering Pin Assignments in HDL Code x
3.2.8.1. Using Low-Level I/O Primitives
3.3. Importing and Exporting I/O Pin Assignments x
3.3.1. Importing and Exporting for PCB Tools 3.3.2. Migrating Assignments to Another Target Device
3.4. Validating Pin Assignments x
3.4.1. I/O Assignment Validation Rules 3.4.2. I/O Assignment Analysis 3.4.3. Understanding I/O Analysis Reports
3.4.2. I/O Assignment Analysis x
3.4.2.1. Early I/O Assignment Analysis Without Design Files 3.4.2.2. I/O Assignment Analysis With Design Files 3.4.2.3. Overriding Default I/O Pin Analysis
3.5. Verifying I/O Timing x
3.5.1. Running Advanced I/O Timing 3.5.2. Adjusting I/O Timing and Power with Capacitive Loading
3.5.1. Running Advanced I/O Timing x
3.5.1.1. Board Trace Models 3.5.1.2. Defining the Board Trace Model 3.5.1.3. Modifying the Board Trace Model 3.5.1.4. Specifying Near-End vs Far-End I/O Timing Analysis 3.5.1.5. Advanced I/O Timing Analysis Reports
3.7. Scripting API x
3.7.1. Generate Mapped Netlist 3.7.2. Reserve Pins 3.7.3. Set Location 3.7.4. Exclusive I/O Group 3.7.5. Slew Rate and Current Strength
Answers to Top FAQs
1. Constraining Designs
2. Interface Planning
3. Managing Device I/O Pins
4. Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guide: Design Constraints Document Archives
A. Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guides

3.4. Validating Pin Assignments

The Quartus® Prime software validates I/O pin assignments against predefined I/O rules for your target device. You can use the following tools to validate your I/O pin assignments throughout the pin planning process:

Note: You must assign all I/Os in your design before you can generate a .sof file for programming the target device. Starting in Quartus® Prime Pro Edition version 25.1.1, the Assembler does not generate a .sof programming file during compilation unless all I/Os have location and I/O standard assignments. Previously, Quartus® Prime Pro Edition only issued a critical warning during the Fitter stage if a design lacks complete pin location and I/O standard assignments but still allowed .sof generation.
Table 31.  I/O Validation Tools

I/O Validation Tool

Description

Click to Run

Advanced I/O Timing

Fully validates I/O assignments against all I/O and timing checks during compilation

Processing > Start Compilation

Section Content
I/O Assignment Validation Rules
I/O Assignment Analysis
Understanding I/O Analysis Reports

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