Electronica: Micron Unveils 45nm Automotive-Grade NOR Flash Portfolio

At Electronica 2018, Micron Technology, Inc. announced its complete high-density automotive AEC-Q100 Grade 1 (+125°C) qualified NOR flash portfolio to enable next-generation, high temperature automotive solutions with fast boot and instant-on performance, along with direct execute-in-place (XiP) operation.

The portfolio encompasses the company’s 45nm NOR flash solutions utilizing both quad-SPI and Xccela bus interfaces, with densities ranging from 128Mb up to 2Gb.

As the performance of automotive advanced driver assisted systems (ADAS) technologies such as vision, LiDAR, radar and infrared sensors increases to address autonomous driving requirements, the system temperature levels also increase. The rise in system temperature is due to both the heat generated by the more advanced processors and the miniaturization of the sensors embedded into a vehicle’s bodywork.

To ensure reliable and safe system operation, the application firmware code, key parametric and calibration data, and incident and error data logs must be stored in and executed from a high-speed non-volatile memory that is capable of withstanding elevated temperaturesof +125°C.

Automotive system designers have long used NOR flash to provide reliability, robustness and performance. With initial latencies of 78ns and operating temperature support up to +125°C, the firm’s NOR flash allows safety systems to reliably boot in an instant to meet the needs of next-generation ADAS sensors and control units.

“Micron’s advanced 45nm automotive NOR devices are produced in our high-reliability wafer fab that is solely dedicated to long-lifecycle products, which underlines our commitment to supplying the automotive market with high-quality NOR solutions,” stated Richard De Caro, director, NOR flash product line, Micron. “Our 45nm automotive NOR solutions have also been designed with specific features not available in our industrial-grade offerings. These features are included to further enhance data integrity and the reliability of the devices to meet the stringent requirements of the automotive market.“

The company produces the 45nm NOR flash devices at its wafer fabrication facility located in Manassas, VA, which is the production plant dedicated to long-lifecycle memory and storage technologies. The firm  earned International Automotive Task Force (IATF) 16949:2016 quality certification.

Xccela flash
Through close partnership and collaboration with automotive customers and chipset vendors, the company’s architected Xccela flash to meet the requirements of next-generation automotive applications.

With the latest product line extension, MT35X Xccela flash product family meets the Automotive Electronics Council (AEC) qualification standard of AEC-Q100 Grade 1 with an extended temperature range of -40°C to +125°C, as well as AEC-Q100 Grade 2 with a temperature range of -40°C to +105°C.

With initial latencies of 78ns, sequential byte reads of 2.5ns, and sustained read throughputs as of 400MB/s (3.2Gb/s), Xccela flash changes the way the electronics industry develops systems to meet the ‘instant-on’ and fast system responsiveness requirements for ADAS and advanced dashboard cluster systems. Xccela flash densities range from 256Mb to 2Gb, with samples and production volumes available for all densities.

Serial NOR Multi-I/O flash
The company’s MT25Q Serial NOR flash product family is qualified to meet both the AEC-Q100 Grade 1 and Grade 2 standards. With quad-I/O operation at clock frequencies of 166MHz in single transfer rate (STR) mode and 90MHz in dual transfer rate (DTR) mode, coupled with features to enhance data integrity, reliability, and security, the MT25Q family provides ADAS and infotainment applications with the speed and feature flexibility necessary for robust system designs.

MT25Q densities range from 128Mb to 2Gb, with samples and production volumes available for all densities (+125°C version of the 2Gb will ramp production in 2Q19).