SGS-THOMSON innovates in flash solutions

With the introduction of its latest programmable non-volatile 4Mbit memories, SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics has not only demonstrated how quickly it has caught up with the early leaders in terms of flash memory technology but has also reaffirmed its strategy of offering customers a lower cost alternative to flash in applications where repeated reprogramming of the memory is not required.

The new devices are the popular M29F040 5V-only flash device, the M29V040, the first low voltage (3V) version, and the M27C405 and M27V405 compatible One Time Programmable (OTP) devices built with the company's highly cost-effective EPROM technology. Up till now, SGS-THOMSON's participation in the flash memory market has been largely channelled through a relatively small number of high volume customers but the company is keen to address the needs of the wider market as it ramps up its production capacity.

SGS-THOMSON's single-supply 4M flash memories are designed to the same specification as the equivalent devices from AMD and Fujitsu, with which they are pin-compatible, but they are built with a proprietary 0.6um double-metal CMOS flash technology. Thanks to an aggressive process development programme, SGS-THOMSON has been able to bring this 3V version of the popular 29F040 to the market before anybody, a remarkable achievement in a technology as demanding as flash. In addition, the SGS-THOMSON part offers lower active power consumption and faster average erase/program times through the use of technique that reliably erases multiple 64K sectors in parallel.

The OTP EPROM alternatives M27C405 and M27V405 continue SGS-THOMSON's successful policy of using its EPROM technology leadership to offer a lower cost alternative to flash in applications where the code is stable. Because of the additional masking steps, the more complex on-chip programming circuitry and the higher testing costs, flash memories cost significantly more to manufacture than OTP memories, which are EPROMs housed in low cost plastic packages.

Although flash and OTP memories offer comparable speed and functionality, they differ in their reprogrammability; flash memories can typically be erased and reprogrammed over ten thousand times but OTPs can only be programmed once. In practice, however, there are many applications where OTP offers the ideal compromise between the higher cost but more flexible flash memory and the lower cost but less flexible masked ROM. Typical examples include modems, engine management units, mobile phones, hard disk drives and many other applications in the computer, industrial, telecom and consumer segments where the product has entered the maturity phase of its life and further code changes are unlikely.

Commenting on the new introductions, Philippe Berge, Marketing Director of the Flash Memory Division, noted that SGS-THOMSON's success in developing the first 3V-only 4M flash memories reflected the substantial commitment to flash technology within the company. "We are still making considerable investments, not only in process development but also in additional capacity that will increase our capacity and enable us to be a major player in the flash market", he said.

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