Are there any special (adapter) sockets that will convert the Xilinx BGA package on the XC2S600E to a PGA (that I can solder by hand) or a QFP, or something that has accessible leads to solder manually?
These adapters are quite expensive from 500 to several 1000 euros, but they are good for prototyping. Also capacitive load and contact resistance will increase with the usage of such adapters, but if you are not pushing the limits with your design, it’s OK.
Or you try to sold the BGA at home.
There is a german guy who did it with a electric iron and a hot air unit
The Webside is in german: **broken link removed**
I don’t want to sound skeptical, but I don’t recommend you to sold BGAs at home. Even with the professional equipment it is sometimes very difficult to solder these bad boys correctly, especially if BGA has 900+ pins (balls).
are there companies out there that will solder BGA for me? I give them my one BGA package, give them my PCB and tell them where to solder the BGA and they'll do it for me?
Of course they are. If you need to solder only one BGA, they will not be too happy, but you can tell them that this is just a test sample. If they have good equipment with high-resolution camera, they can just scan your PCB and manually enter BGA’s position. In that case you don’t need a P&P file.
Secondly, a bit off topic, but how much does a BGA soldering station cost? With camera and heat profiling? What the cheapest one out these that could do Xilinx FPGAs.
You should take a look for such companies in your country.
I honestly don’t know, how much the BGA soldering equipment costs, but the owner of the company, who is soldering BGAs told me that P&P machine (Siplace from Siemens) costs more than a new top of the line Mercedes.