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Renesas Technology Releases World's Fastest 4-Gigabit AG-AND Type Flash Memory for Multimedia Products That Require Large Storage Capacity and Fast Recording Speeds
SAN JOSE, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- Sept. 27, 2004 Renesas Technology America, Inc. (NYSE:HIT)--
-- The device -- the first Renesas Technology chip built with a 90-nanometer process -- attains a programming speed of 10 Megabytes/second, fast enough to record a 2-hour movie in about two minutes using MPEG-4 coding.
Renesas Technology America, Inc. today announced two 4-Gigabit (4Gbit) AG-AND type flash memories that deliver the world's fastest programming speed: 10 Megabytes/sec. The R1FV04G13R (512Mbit x 8-bit) and R1FV04G14R (256Mbit x 16-bit) devices enable users to record large volumes of data faster, including movies, moving pictures and similar multimedia content, as well as computer data files. For example, in approximately two minutes, one of these flash chips can store an entire two-hour movie, formatted using MPEG-4 coding.
Renesas Technology expects that the devices' capacity and speed will prove invaluable for large-capacity storage media for familiar high-end digital still cameras and silicon movie devices. Beyond those applications, the new memory devices will greatly expand the range of products that employ flash memory as a storage medium. They will make it possible to use mobile terminals and digital home appliances for activities and applications that previously had to be performed on systems such as PCs. For mobile terminals, for instance, they make storage capacities of several Gigabytes conveniently accessible via a high-speed interface such as USB2.0 to products such as silicon audio recorders/players.
“These new 4-Gbit flash memory ICs showcase the substantial benefits of our advanced design and process capabilities,” said Sudeep Sharma, vice president, geographic account business unit at Renesas Technology America, Inc. “They're the first chips to use our 90nm fabrication process. That process, combined with an improved AG-AND flash memory cell that uses assist gates (AGs) to prevent inter-cell interference, results in the world's smallest die size among currently commercially developed 4-Gbit flash memory devices. Compared to our 1-Gbit flash memory device, the total chip area of the new 4-Gbit flash chips is nearly two-thirds smaller on a per-Gbit basis. That's a significant achievement.”
Meeting market needs for higher flash capacities, faster speeds
High-density flash memory is beginning to permeate our lives as a bridge to digital storage medium, especially in mobile applications, and the new 4Gbit flash chips are ideal for flash cards and the USB storage devices. They will enable next-generation flash-based products that can store large multimedia files and have the higher programming speeds necessary for handling data downloads. One chip can accommodate about 160 minutes of MPEG-4 moving picture data, approximately 130 tracks of MP3 music data, or nearly 500 4-Megapixel digital camera photographs.
Besides fast speed and high capacity, the 4Gbit flash memory devices have several other features that aid system designers. A power-on read function allows up to 2Kbytes of data to be read when the system is powered on, just by controlling two pins: /CE and /RE. This eliminates the need for the CPU to generate a command or address input. They include a cache programming function for the next 2Kbytes of data, a maximum of two times (4Kbytes), while the device is being programmed. This makes it easier for the system to allocate bus operation to another task. Another built-in function performs a one-time input of up to the next 2Kbytes of data while the device is being erased. Also, the R1FV04G13R and R1FV04G14R devices are compatible with NAND-type flash memory at the command levels. Thus, they can be used in systems currently employing NAND-type flash memory, with minimum software modification.
Posted by Darren in our News category on September 27, 2004