SST Integrates 16Mbit Flash With 8 Mbit SRAM

By Bernard Cole
iApplianceWeb
(05/12/02, 03:29:31 PM EDT)

Sunnyvale, Ca. - Aimed at many increasingly memory-hungry embedded and small footprint iAppliance designs, Silicon Storage Technology, Inc., has integrated 16 Mbits of dual-bank flash memory with 8 Mbits of SRAM in a single, space-saving ball grid array (BGA) package.

Previously, designers requiring 8 Mbits of SRAM in a combination memory device were limited to solutions paired with 32 Mbits of flash memory. With the new SST34HF1681 ComboMemory device has the industry's lowest energy consumption of any combination memory device. The low energy consumption coupled with an optimum memory configuration makes useful in a variety of iAppliance designs such as cellular phones, wireless data modules, PDA add-in cards/modules, handheld PCs, GPS receivers and wireless LAN cards.

According to Paul Lui, vice president, Special Product Group, SST, the company uses a number of new proprietary techniques to achieve the lowest energy consumption due to the inherent fast program/erase speed coupled with the small sector size of SST's SuperFlash technology.

The SST34HF1681 offers fast programming and erase speeds of 14 microseconds (µs) per Word for programming; 18 milliseconds (ms) for sector/block erase and 70 ms for chip erase. Competing combination memories require much longer program and erase times, thus driving higher levels of current consumption and resulting in shorter battery life for portable applications.

The new SST34HF1681 ComboMemory device provides an easy migration path from SST's existing ComboMemory products, such as the SST34HF1621 (16 Mbit flash with 2 Mbit SRAM) and the SST34HF1641 (16 Mbit flash with 4 Mbit SRAM). The ability to easily upgrade devices allows SST's ComboMemory customers to differentiate their product's features without changing the board layout.

The SST34HF1681, as with all of SST's ComboMemory products, incorporates the SoftPartition architecture, which allows system designers to seamlessly partition the data and program code into small, granular 1 KWord sectors, allowing developers to the amount of memory used for code and data storage depending on the application. It incorporates a dual-bank flash memory architecture which allows concurrent operation between the two internal flash memory banks and the SRAM.

Production quantities of the SST34HF1681 ComboMemory device are available priced at $11.95 each in a BGA package and 10K unit quantities. For more information go to http://www.sst.com