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Fibocom to Unveil a Series of Linux-based Edge AI Solutions Mastering the Peak Performance for Industrial Applications Powered by Qualcomm Technologies at Embedded World 2024

Key word：

Fibocom

Release time：2024-04-16 11:14 reading：829 Continue reading>>

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3PEAK Partners with IAR to Build a New Embedded Development Ecosystem！

　　On January 18, 2024, 3PEAK and IAR jointly announced that IAR's flagship product, IAR Embedded Workbench for Arm, fully supports 3PEAK's mainstream TPS32 mixed-signal microcontrollers, giving developers a more complete and efficient development solution.　　Based in China, 3PEAK provides analog chips alongside embedded processors and solutions and has sales and technical support networks across the USA, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan (China). After years of deep exploration in the signal chain and power management domains, 3PEAK ventured into the embedded processor sector and achieved notable success.　　Following two years of dedicated research and development, and through careful process selection and strict quality control efforts, 3PEAK successfully launched its first mixed-signal MCU platform. The TPS32 Series is the flagship brand of 3PEAK's independently developed mixed-signal microcontrollers. Through our deep understanding of vertical applications and continuous exploration of customer needs, 3PEAK introduced the TPS325M0 Series and TPS325M5 Series to serve a broad range of industrial applications, which have rapidly earned widespread adoption and praise from leading industry customers.　　The IAR Embedded Workbench remains the optimal solution for many embedded software developers worldwide. This powerful toolkit provides comprehensive and efficient support for millions of developers. It enables developers to fully utilize code optimization features and offers a range of powerful debugging functions, including code and data breakpoints, runtime stack analysis, and call stack visualization. Additionally, the IAR Embedded Workbench features C-STAT, a static code analysis tool, and C-RUN, a dynamic code analysis tool, to help developers identify potential issues early and improve code quality. Notably, IAR also offers a TÜV SÜD-certified functional safety version that meets functional safety certification standards like ISO 26262. This version is an important tool for developers of functional safety products.　　Ms. Chen Lihua, Senior Director of the 3PEAK MCU BU, said,　　"While we are focused on providing high-quality devices, 3PEAK is also committed to creating an easy-to-use, high-quality, comprehensive, and open hardware and software development ecosystem for users. We are honored to be able to establish a partnership with renowned toolchain provider IAR. Our relationship has just started, but we expect to make steady progress. IAR's comprehensive support for 3PEAK devices and 3PEAK's full TPS32 SDK software package based on the IAR Embedded Workbench for Arm are just the first results of our work together. We believe that soon we will expand our collaboration with IAR into more areas to build a new embedded development ecosystem and create genuine value and convenience for our customers.　　Kiyo Uemura, Vice President of IAR Asia-Pacific Region, expressed,　　We are delighted to partner with 3PEAK, and we look to the future with confidence and anticipation. We have long recognized China's key position in the global market, with its vast potential and endless opportunities. As both a listed and domestically influential semiconductor company, 3PEAK possesses powerful technical capabilities and persistently pursues innovation. Our collaboration with 3PEAK highlights our mutual trust. Both companies will leverage their technical strengths in their respective fields to build a vibrant embedded ecosystem, as well as provide developers with world-class development tools and original manufacturer technical support.

Key word：

3PEAK

Release time：2024-03-22 14:51 reading：1833 Continue reading>>

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GigaDevice partners with SEGGER on Embedded Studio for RISC-V

　　GigaDevice and SEGGER jointly announced today that GigaDevice's customers can now use SEGGER's leading multi-platform IDE Embedded Studio free of charge across all GigaDevice RISC-V microcontrollers (MCUs) including the latest GD32VW553.　　GigaDevice officially launched the world's first RISC-V based GD32VF103 series of 32-bit general-purpose MCU products in 2019, and very recently introduced the dual-band wireless GD32VW553 series, based on a 160MHz RISC-V core. The device is equipped with 4MB of flash and 320KB of SRAM. GD32VW553 supports the latest Wi-Fi 6 and BLE 5.2 wireless communication protocols. It also integrates rich peripheral interfaces and hardware encryption functions to create a safe and reliable wireless connection solution. High performance and low energy consumption make it ideal for smart home appliances, industrial Internet, communication gateway and other wireless connection scenarios.　　Characterized by its flexibility of use, Embedded Studio has all the tools and features a developer needs for professional embedded C and C++ development, including a complete toolchain, optimized run-time library, core simulator and hardware debugging with the J-Link debug probes. Other SEGGER tools that also fully support GD32V RISC-V MCUs include: The market-leading J-Link debug probe, Ozone debugger, real-time operating system embOS and software libraries for communications, data storage, compression, and IoT, as well as the Flasher family of in-circuit programmers.　　“GigaDevice and SEGGER have a long history of cooperation”, says Eric Jin, GigaDevice's Product Marketing Director. “SEGGER was the first ecosystem partner to support the GD32V RISC-V core MCUs. Making SEGGER Embedded Studio available to our customers free of charge facilitates software development for our GD32V series. Embedded Studio fully supports and adapts to the GD32V family of RISC-V MCUs in terms of efficiency, performance, and ease of use, significantly accelerating the development and mass production of innovative applications.”　　“We have been partners with GigaDevice and have supported GigaDevice products for many years now,“ says Ivo Geilenbruegge, Managing Director of SEGGER. “We immediately added full tool support when they unveiled the first commercially available flash-based RISC-V microcontroller back in 2019. We are impressed by their speed of innovation, the many new devices they have brought to market, and the extent to which they’ve quickly become a key player in the industry.”　　For user registration and downloads, visit wiki.segger.com/GD32V now to get Embedded Studio available free of charge for commercial development on GD32V MCUs.　　About GigaDevice　　GigaDevice Semiconductor Inc. (SSE Stock Code 603986) is a global leading fabless supplier. The company was founded in April 2005 and headquartered in Beijing, China, with branch offices in many countries and regions worldwide, providing local support at customers' fingertips. Committed to building a complete ecosystem with four major product lines – Flash memory, MCU, sensor and analog – as the core driving force, GigaDevice can provide a wide range of solutions and services in the fields of industrial, automotive, computing, consumer electronics, IoT, mobile, networking and communications. GigaDevice has received the ISO26262:2018 automotive functional safety ASIL D certification, as well as ISO9001, ISO14001, ISO45001, and Duns certifications. In a constant quest to expand our technology offering to customers, GigaDevice has also formed strategic alliances with leading foundries, assembly, and test plants to streamline supply chain management. For more details, please visit: www.gigadevice.com.　　About SEGGER　　SEGGER Microcontroller, now in its fourth decade in the embedded system industry, produces cutting-edge RTOS and Software Libraries, the marketing-leading J-Link and J-Trace debug and trace probes, a fast, robust, reliable, and easy-to-use family of Flasher In-System Programmers and second-to-none software development tools.　　SEGGER's all-in-one solution emPower OS provides an RTOS plus a complete spectrum of software libraries including communication, security, data compression and storage, user interface software and more. Using emPower OS gives developers a head start, benefiting from decades of experience in the industry.　　SEGGER's professional embedded development software and tools are simple in design, optimized for embedded systems, and support the entire embedded system development process through affordable, high-quality, flexible, and easy-to-use tools.　　The company was founded by Rolf Segger in 1992, is privately held, and is growing steadily. SEGGER also has a U.S. office in the Boston area and branch operations in Silicon Valley, Shanghai, and the UK, plus distributors on most continents, making SEGGER’s full product range available worldwide.

Key word：

GigaDevice

Release time：2024-01-02 16:39 reading：2246 Continue reading>>

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Fibocom launches 5G FWA solutions embedded with FG190 and FG180 5G modules at MWC Shanghai 2023

　　During MWC Shanghai 2023, Fibocom introduces the cutting-edge 5G FWA solution embedded with 3GPP Release 17 compliant modules FG190 and FG180, with the advanced and scalable configurations, the solution ensures the smooth escalation of 5G FWA applications towards 10 Gigabits era, especially crucial for CPE and mobile hot-spot use cases.　　a global leading provider of IoT (Internet of Things) wireless solutions and wireless communication modules, introduces the pioneering 5G FWA solution based on the latest generation 5G modules FG190 and FG180 at MWC Shanghai 2023. The solution offers a wide range of flexible configurations and multiple enhancements to CPE and mobile hot-spot customers, significantly reducing the complexity to deploy advanced 5G solutions and accelerate the time to market.　　As 5G technology has improved, mobile broadband service providers are no longer limited to older technologies, mobile data subscriptions associated with mobile phones, dongles or even hot-spot devices are looking for agile and high data throughput network connectivity solutions. The cutting-edge 5G FWA solution specialized in CPE and mobile hot-spot use cases, embedded with Fibocom's latest generation 5G Sub-6GHz and mmWave modules FG190 and FG180. The 5G CPE solution is architected with a set of rich interfaces plus flexible dual-band/tri-band Wi-Fi 7 combinations. For example, an FG190 can simultaneously connect three PCIe and two USXGMII ports, in addition to the Wi-Fi 7 selections, CPE customers can adjust the combinations between QFW7114 and QFW7124 to utilize the band capacity from maximum BE21000 to BE5000. Regarding the wired configurations, either the10GbE+2.5GbE or 2.5GbE+2.5GbE could be the most recommendable and efficient options to unleash the full potential of cable access.　　However, the solution for 5G mobile hot spot offers a range of top-quality wireless performance to mobile scenarios. In the support of a highly integrated WCN7851 chip, the multi-channel options will be utilized efficiently to increase the data rate, depending on the requirements, the dual-band options can be switched to 2.4GHz/5GHz/6GHz to achieve maximum throughput up to BE5800. The seamless Wi-Fi 7 connectivity is also benefiting from the contribution of MLO (Multi-Link Operation) and 4K QAM modulation schemes, offering a highly reliable connectivity service, especially in congested environments like airport terminals, sports venues, and hospitals, etc.　　In software design, Fibocom's cutting-edge 5G FWA solution embedded with FG190 and FG180 is loaded with OpenWRT, which allows maximum customization for CPE and mobile hot-spot customers.　　Powered by the Snapdragon® X75 and X72 5G Modem-RF System, Fibocom FG190 and FG180 is compliant with 3GPP Release 17 and equipped with a quad-core A55 CPU to enable a lightning-fast and ultra-reliable 5G network experience. With Snapdragon®X75, Fibocom FG190 supports 5G Sub-6GHz and mmWave dual-connectivity, thus capable of NR 10CA with up to 1000MHz bandwidth in the mmWave spectrum, and NR5CA with up to 300MHz bandwidth in the Sub-6GHz, significantly elevating the maximum downlink speed to 10Gbps. Followed by the FG180, the module integrated with Snapdragon® X72, offers an agile solution for various 5G FWA customers by supporting up to 400MHz bandwidth of NR 4CA under mmwave bands, and 200MHz bandwidth of NR 3CA under Sub-6GHz. Both FG190 and FG180 are adopting LGA form factors, therefore making both modules the ideal wireless solution for a diversified FWA market.

Key word：

Fibocom

Release time：2023-09-12 10:52 reading：3337 Continue reading>>

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BIWIN Embedded Storage for High-end Smart Watches

　　Trends in smart wearables head towards multi-functional integration, longer battery life, and smoother user experience, placing higher requirements on chips to deliver smaller size, better power consumption, improved performance, better application tuning, and more. ePOP storage chips are ideal for smart wearable devices for their small size, low power consumption, high performance, and high reliability. Now BIWIN brings the LPDDR4X 144-Ball ePOP for high-end smart watches, offering 128.6% higher frequency and 32% less chip size compared with LPDDR3.　　Having passed the Qualcomm 5100 SOC platform certification, BIWIN LPDDR4X ePOP integrates eMMC 5.1 and LPDDR4X in a compact dimension of 8 mm x 9.5 mm x 0.8 mm, delivering ROM sequential read and write speeds of up to 310 MB/s and 240 MB/s respectively. With RAM frequency up to 4266 Mpbs and capacity up to 32 GB + 16 Gb (with a 64 GB+16 Gb version coming soon), BIWIN ePOP is a flagship storage solution for high-end smart watches.　　BIWIN LPDDR4X 144-Ball ePOP Advantages:　　1. Complies with JEDEC standards, integrates eMMC 5.1 and LPDDR4X, and allows smart watches to have a more compact design (by mounting directly on the SoC chip).　　2. Low power consumption and high performance (with frequency up by 128.6%), powered by low-power LPDRAM and optimized firmware.　　3. Works faultlessly in extended temperature from -20 ℃ ~ 85 ℃, featuring Wear Leveling, LDPC (Low-Density Parity Check) codes, and FFU (Field Firmware Update).　　4. Simplifies system design and speed up your product’s time-to-market with Qualcomm 5100 SoC platform certification.　　With high performance, low power consumption and high reliability, BIWIN LPDDR4X 144-Ball ePOP significantly improves user experience for smart wearables. BIWIN ePOP provides high data storage efficiency, smooth switching on/off, APP start/shutdown, screen-off and lock. It efficiently deals with different loads of sensors and the demand for multi-threaded storage to ensure fast response to the user's operations and commands. Featuring low power consumption, BIWIN ePOP reduces heat dissipation in multi-threaded, high-load, and long-work time scenarios, preventing the overheating which can cause system collapse and bad user experience. In addition, BIWIN ePOP is highly reliable in dealing with abnormalities such as blue screen error, cold start, and reset.　　Compared with memory chips in cell phones, storage solutions for smart wearables require higher responsiveness and more customized service. BIWIN ePOP features high performance, low power consumption, small size, and high reliability, showing the advantages in BIWIN R&D, packaging and testing. BIWIN storage solutions for smart wearables already serve the supply chain system of world-class customers, capturing a dominant share of the market. BIWIN offers proven storage solutions that bring compatibility with their existing SOC platform, system, and application. Moving forward, BIWIN will continue to optimize user experience for different user scenarios, helping customers increase the competitiveness of their terminal products.

Key word：

BIWIN

Release time：2023-09-01 13:16 reading：3314 Continue reading>>

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Quicker, More Advanced GUI as TARA Systems' Embedded Wizard Partners with GigaDevice

　　Created by TARA Systems GmbH, Embedded Wizard is the market-leader for embedded GUI technology. The company has announced a new partnership with GigaDevice Semiconductor, a leading supplier of high-performance memory and microcontrollers.　　The partnership represents a groundbreaking update to Embedded Wizard's popular graphical user interfaces, making embedded GUI software development faster and more cost-effective for customers.　　According to Mr. Eric Jin, Product Marketing Director at GigaDevice, "This collaboration is set to bring advanced solutions to our clients, providing customers with exceptional user experiences and faster time-to-market for their products."　　Manuel Melic, Product Manager at Embedded Wizard and Managing Director of TARA Systems, says: "We are excited to work with GigaDevice and provide software engineers with a more comprehensive, quicker method for developing custom GUIs."　　The exciting combination of leading microcontroller hardware plus powerful embedded GUI software means customers can effectively reduce the system resource footprint of advanced graphic displays and simplify the human-machine interface (HMI) development process.　　Customers can be confident that the hardware will work flawlessly with all Embedded Wizard software. From idea to production, with the expertise of Embedded Wizard and GigaDevice, customers can get their GUI products to market and deploy them in less time, manage their budgets more easily.　　The advantages of the partnership are easily demonstrated in the recent integration of GigaDevice's GD32 family of microcontrollers to the range of Embedded Wizard’s platform partners. Through this collaboration, customers will be treated to faster performance, lower power consumption, a richer set of peripherals and a more user-friendly graphical interface.　　For a free trial of Embedded Wizard GUI software, download now at embedded-wizard.de/download.　　About GigaDevice　　GigaDevice Semiconductor Inc. (SSE Stock Code 603986) is a leading global fabless supplier. The company was founded in April 2005 with branch offices in many countries and regions worldwide, providing local support at customers' fingertips. Committed to building a complete ecosystem with major product lines – Flash memory, MCU, sensor, and power as the core driving force, GigaDevice can provide a wide range of solutions and services in the fields of industrial, automotive, computing, consumer electronics, IoT, mobile, networking, and communications. GigaDevice management system has achieved ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 certifications. Constantly looking to expand the technology offering to customers, GigaDevice has also formed multiple strategic alliances with leading foundries, assembly, and test plants to streamline supply chain management.　　About TARA Systems' Embedded Wizard　　Embedded Wizard is a market-leading solution for creating Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) for embedded systems with more than 30 years of experience in the industry. Its mission is to provide developers with the most convenient and efficient tool for programming embedded GUIs by simplifying development efforts. Developers use this versatile tool to create complex user interfaces in the shortest possible time and stand out from their competitors due to the numerous highly sophisticated features of the tool. Additionally, Embedded Wizard's GUI Services team offers their customers a portfolio of different services. These range from Embedded Wizard trainings, via GUI prototyping and implementation of dedicated GUI controls up to holistic GUI application development. Under the patronage of the independent software company TARA Systems, Embedded Wizard is constantly improving and entering more industries and markets worldwide. Embedded Wizard is driven by the idea of providing a comfortable workflow for embedded systems in consumer electronics, industrial, automotive, medical, home appliances and mobile devices. GUIs created with Embedded Wizard are already used on over 100 million devices worldwide.

Key word：

GigaDevice

Release time：2023-08-29 11:18 reading：3461 Continue reading>>

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Embedded AI Solutions Ease ML Development

　　STMicroelectronics has released upgrades to both NanoEdge AI Studio and STM32Cube.AI to accelerate embedded artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) development projects. These tools facilitate moving AI and ML to the edge of an application. At the edge, AI/ML delivers substantial advantages, which include privacy by design, deterministic and real-time response, greater reliability, and lower power consumption.　　NanoEdge AI Studio is an automated ML tool for applications that do not require the development of neural networks. It is used with STM32 microcontrollers (MCUs) and MEMS sensors that include ST’s unique embedded intelligent sensor processing unit (ISPU). For developers needing to use neural networks, STM32Cube.AI is an AI model optimizer and compiler for STM32. The two new releases deliver features that help design and implement high-performance AI/ML solutions quickly and with minimum investment.　　NanoEdge AI Studio version 3.2 now contains an automatic datalogger generator that increases development productivity. Its inputs include the ST development board and developer-defined sensor parameters, such as data rate, range, sample size, and number of axes. With these, NanoEdge AI Studio produces the binary for the development board without the developer having to write any code.　　Because dataset quality directly impacts machine learning performance, the new data-manipulation features in NanoEdge AI Studio allow the user to clean and optimize the captured data in the NanoEdge AI Studio in a few clicks. A new validation stage has also been added, which helps users assess their algorithms by showing inference time, memory usage, and common performance metrics such as the accuracy, and F1-Score. It also highlights more information about the pre-processing and ML model involved in the selected library. The newest enhancement to the NanoEdge AI Studio adds more pre-processing techniques and ML models for anomaly detection and regression algorithms that boost performance. In addition, the tool supports creation of smart libraries that can predict future system states using multi-order regression models.　　STM32Cube.AI version 7.3 is an essential tool for developing cutting-edge AI/ML solutions. Fully integrated into the STM32 ecosystem, it enables conversion of pretrained neural networks into optimized C code for the industry’s most popular family of 32-bit Arm? Cortex?-core MCUs. The enhanced STM32Cube.AI adds greater flexibility for neural-network (NN) optimizations. The tool can adapt existing neural networks to achieve performance demands, fit within memory limitations, or, in a balanced optimization, get the best of both. The update also brings support for TensorFlow 2.10 models and new kernel performance improvements.

Key word：

STMicroelectronics

Release time：2023-01-09 10:51 reading：3608 Continue reading>>

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SST and SK hynix system ic partner to expand availability of embedded SuperFlash technology

IC designers are increasingly seeking ways to keep production costs down while implementing low power, high endurance embedded flash. Microchip Technology Inc. via its subsidiary Silicon Storage Technology(SST) has announced a strategic partnership with SK hynix system ic to expand the availability of SuperFlash® technology. The partnership will introduce SST’s embedded SuperFlash technology to SK hynix system ic’s 110 nanometer (nm) CMOS platform, providing designers a cost-effective and low-power embedded flash memory solution. SST’s embedded SuperFlash technology offers low power, high reliability, superior data retention and endurance for a range of applications, such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices, smart cards and microcontroller-based applications. The technology’s power efficiency and fast erase time are ideal for low-power applications such as remote IoT edge nodes and contactless payment devices. “The combination of area-efficient, low-power SuperFlash technology and the highly cost-effective 110 nm process node opens up exciting new product opportunities, especially for IoT and microcontroller-based applications,” said Mark Reiten, vice president of SST, a wholly owned subsidiary of Microchip. “This partnership will enable customers who require low power, high endurance embedded flash to keep their production costs down by using the highly optimised 8-inch CMOS platform.”SST’s SuperFlash technology complements SK hynix system ic’s embedded flash memory solutions with low power and high reliability IP. SK hynix system ic is a fully owned subsidiary spun off from SK hynix (000660: Korea SE) in July 2017. It is a pure 200 mm foundry specialised in Display Driver IC (DDI), CMOS Image Sensor (CIS), and Power IC with a process range of 500 nm to 57 nm. “We believe that the adoption of SST’s embedded SuperFlash will enable SK hynix system ic to expand our technology portfolio, and it will help to respond to customer requests for highly reliable and robust embedded non-volatile memory solutions,” said Dr. SB You, marketing vice president of SK hynix system ic. “Moreover, we will provide customers with a cost-effective embedded flash solution to support their competitiveness in the market. As the demand for embedded flash memory solutions increases, there will be many customers coming to us to use our 110nm CMOS technology-based embedded flash memory solution.” The process development commenced earlier this year and is expected to be completed in early 2019. Contact SST for more information on the company’s extensive custom library of off-the-shelf IP blocks optimised for smartcard System-on-Chips (SoCs).

Key word：

SST,SK hynix

Release time：2018-12-17 00:00 reading：3042 Continue reading>>

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Intel, Samsung Describe Embedded MRAM Technologie

The world’s two largest semiconductor companies both presented new technologies for embedded MRAM in logic chip manufacturing processes last week at the 64th International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) here.Intel (Santa Clara, California) described the key features of spin-transfer torque (STT)-MRAM–based non-volatile memory into its 22FFL process, calling it “the first FinFET-based MRAM technology.” Describing the technology as “production-ready,” Intel did not name any foundry customers for the process, but multiple sources said that it is already being used in products now shipping.Samsung (Seoul), meanwhile, described STT — MRAM in a 28-nm FDSOI platform. STT-MRAM is regarded as the best MRAM technology in terms of scalability, shape dependence, and magnetic scalability.MRAM technology has been in development since the 1990s but has yet to achieve widespread commercial success. “I think it’s time we show something manufacturable and something commercial,” said Yoon Jong Song, a principal engineer in Samsung’s R&D center and the lead author of the company’s IEDM paper.In addition to being seen as a promising candidate for standalone devices to replace memory chip stalwarts DRAM and NAND flash — which are facing serious scaling challenges as the industry moves to smaller nodes — MRAM, which is a non-volatile memory, is appealing as an embedded technology replacement for flash and embedded SRAM because of its fast read/write times, high endurance, and strong retention. Embedded MRAM is considered especially promising for applications such as internet-of-things (IoT) devices.An electron microscope image showing the cross-section of the MTJ array, which is embedded between Metal 2 and Metal 4 in Intel’s 22-nm FinFET logic process. (Source: IEDM/Intel)Globalfoundries has, since last year, been offering embedded MRAM on its 22FDX 22-nm FD-SOI process. But Jim Handy, principal analyst with Objective Analysis, said that he is not aware of any commercial products shipping the Globalfoundries’ embedded MRAM technology.“The reason why nobody has picked it up is because of the fact that they would have to add new materials,” he said.But embedded MRAM is gaining greater consideration as manufacturing costs come down and other memory technologies face scalability challenges. “The big deal is that, with new process technologies, the size of the SRAM cell isn’t shrinking with the rest of the process, so MRAM becomes increasingly appealing,” said Handy.In its paper, Intel said that its embedded MRAM technology achieves 10-year retention at 200°Celsius and endurance of more than 106 switching cycles. The technology uses a 216 × 225 mm 1T-1R memory cell.Samsung, meanwhile, described its 8-Mb MRAM with endurance of 106 cycles and retention of 10 years.Song said that the Samsung technology will be initially available for IoT applications, adding that the reliability has to improve before it can be used in automotive and industrial applications. “We have successfully transferred the technology from lab to fab and will be moving it to market in the near future.”

Key word：

Intel, Samsung

Release time：2018-12-13 00:00 reading：2617 Continue reading>>

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Embedded Flash Scaling Limits

Embedded nonvolatile flash memory has played a key role in chips for years, but the technology is beginning to face some scaling and cost roadblocks and it’s not clear what comes next.Embedded flash is used in several markets, such as automotive, consumer and industrial. But the automotive sector appears to be the most concerned about the future of the technology. Typically, a car incorporates a number of microcontrollers (MCUs) that perform the processing functions in the chip. In many cases, MCUs integrate embedded nonvolatile flash based on NOR technology, which handles the code storage functions. Not all MCUs/processors incorporate embedded flash in the car, however.MCUs with embedded flash based on 40nm processes and above are widely used in today’s cars. Now, the industry is ramping up 28nm MCUs, which are geared for the instrument cluster, power train and other parts of the vehicle. Carmakers are expected to use MCUs based on 28nm and above for the next several years.Still, OEMs are weighing the next-generation options and that’s where they face some potential roadblocks. Simply put, it’s difficult to scale NOR flash devices and the embedded version of the technology beyond 28nm. “You will see the bulk of microcontrollers shipped using 130nm or larger process geometries. Those are perfectly fine with embedded NOR,” said Jim Handy, an analyst with Objective Analysis. “The thing that is driving people to change right now is that they haven’t figured out how to do NOR processes smaller than 28nm.”The industry has known about these issues for some time and is working on several solutions in R&D. But the industry will need to come up with solutions sooner than later amid the shift towards more advanced vehicles with assisted and autonomous driving. The main issues:• Embedded flash will scale to 28nm and perhaps 22nm. Some are working on scaling the technology to 16nm/14nm, although many believe it will hit the wall at 28nm/22nm.• If embedded flash runs out of steam, OEMs likely will move the code-storage functions to an standalone NOR device. So instead of one device, OEMs would require a two-chip solution—an MCU and a NOR device.• Instead of a two-chip solution, OEMs can put the separate MCU and NOR devices in a package.• MRAM, a next-generation memory type, is being touted as a replacement for embedded flash and cache applications. MRAM works in consumer applications, but it’s still unclear if it will ever meet the temperature requirements for automotive. Some say MRAM will never work in automotive.To be sure, automotive is different than most markets. In the commercial sector, there is a certain tolerance for defects in chips with a wide range of temperature requirements. In automotive chips, though, there is no tolerance for defects or failures. Plus, there are rigid temperature specs.More chips in carsNonetheless, the automotive chip market is hot. On average, the electronics content per car is expected to climb from $312 in 2013 to $460 in 2022, according to IHS. In total, the automotive IC market is projected to reach a record high of $32.3 billion in 2018, up 18.5% from 2017, according to IC Insights. In automotive, analog is the biggest market with a 45% share, followed by MCUs with 23%, according to the firm.That’s just part of the story, particularly for MCUs. “As sensors and additional MCUs for the automotive environment are deployed, the need for embedded flash is increasing in both number of devices and also with regard to memory density,” said David Hideo Uriu, product marketing director at UMC. “The need for MCUs with embedded flash, as well as other ASICs, will increase as sensor and sensor arrays are implemented within the automotive space to enhance functions related to safety, assisted driving, load-related sensors and infotainment.”Today’s entry-level cars incorporate some 20 MCUs. Midrange models have 60 MCUs, and luxury vehicles have up to 110, according to Infineon and Strategy Analytics. A 2016 German luxury model has about 25 32-bit MCUs, while the remaining ones are 8- and 16-bit chips, according to the firms.MCUs incorporate embedded flash, based on EEPROM or NOR. Both provide code storage, which boots up a device and allows it to run programs. “The difference between EEPROM and NOR is whether it has one transistor per bit cell (NOR) or two (EEPROM),” Objective Analysis’ Handy said.Besides MCUs, carmakers also use standalone NOR devices. Regardless, there are several types of NOR architectures. For example, Silicon Storage Technology (SST), a subsidiary of Microchip, offers embedded flash based on floating-gate technology. In floating gate, the charge is stored in the gate. In addition, Cypress and Renesas offer MCUs based on charge-trap technology, where the charge is stored in the nitride layer of a stack. Meanwhile, NXP and Infineon sell MCUs with different embedded technologies.Cars, of course, also incorporate other memory types, such as DRAM and NAND. “In 2017, the average memory content per car totaled $21. This number represents total automotive memory sales divided by total vehicles sold in 2017. It only accounts for discrete memory not including embedded memory,” said Jim Feldhan, president of Semico Research.“Memory content per vehicle varied from a very small amount per car to as much as 8GB of DRAM and 8GB of NAND for L1 and L2 type vehicles,” Feldhan said. “Today, the number of cars equipped with autonomous driving capabilities is low. But autonomous driving applications are growing and the memory content required to enable these applications increases the need for all types of memory. By 2021, a vehicle with L3 automation will require 16GB DRAM and 256GB NAND and by 2025, a fully autonomous vehicle (L5) is expected to require 74GB DRAM and 1TB NAND.”Regardless, all suppliers of automotive chips face some challenges. “You can’t have parts fail because it impacts safety,” said Robert Cappel, senior director of marketing at KLA-Tencor. “So you’re seeing a much different level of quality and yield. There also is a focus on latent reliability defects. A part may pass a test but fail over time within a car. The requirements are changing.”New optionsIn vehicles, meanwhile, MCUs are used in embedded computers called electronic control units (ECUs). ECUs control the various domains in a vehicle, which are connected via a network. ECUs also incorporate other types of chips, such as processors and system-on-chips (SoCs), depending on the application.Generally, the industry divides a car into five domains—body, connectivity, fusion/safety, infotainment, and power train. Body involves the control of the doors, lighting and windows. Connectivity consists of the cellular, WiFi and related capabilities.Fusion/safety consists of cameras and radar. Infotainment involves driver information and entertainment. And the powertrain includes engine control and the transmission.Each domain has different requirements. For example, the fusion/safety domain will likely use a high-end processor without embedded flash. Instead, OEMs would use an external NOR chip.Other domains are different. “There are three buckets of automotive applications—body, instrument cluster and powertrain—that use embedded flash with MCUs today. All of these applications use MCUs at 28nm/40nm or bigger nodes with embedded flash,” explained Sam Geha, executive vice president of the Memory Products Division at Cypress.For example, Renesas recently began sampling the industry’s first 28nm MCU with embedded flash. The MCU incorporates up to six 400 MHz CPU cores with up to 16 megabytes of embedded flash. This MCU is targeted for the powertrain as well as motor control functions in electric vehicles and hybrids.Generally, at the leading edge, 40nm and 28nm are expected to be long-running nodes for MCUs in cars. Still, Renesas and others see a need for MCUs beyond 28nm and there are various options on the table.One option is to scale embedded flash. In a paper at IEDM in 2016, Renesas described an embedded flash technology for finFETs at 16nm/14nm. Using its existing charge-trap scheme, the technology demonstrated a data retention rate at 150 degrees C. Here’s the catch: it won’t appear until 2023.At 28nm and above, embedded flash is typically a planar-like structure. In contrast, Renesas’ 16nm/14nm embedded flash is situated in the vertical direction.Fig. 4: Cross section Renesas’ 28nm embedded flash cell. Source: IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. 51, No. 1, January 2016Fig. 5: Cross section Renesas’ 16nm/14nm embedded flash. Source: RenesasThen, in a paper at IEDM in 2017, Renesas presented more details about its technology, dubbed FinFET SG-MONOS array. “FinFET SG-MONOS array has successfully operated with a wide enough program and erase window,” said Shibun Tsuda, a researcher from Renesas, in the paper.It looks viable on paper, but there are some scaling challenges with embedded flash. “They all work fine at 40nm. They can work at 28nm, but it becomes more complicated,” Cypress’ Geha said. “They don’t work below that. You cannot integrate them with finFETs.”Generally, it’s challenging to scale NOR. In simple terms, NOR faces some issues in terms of scaling the drain-voltage, gate length and tunnel-oxide.Today’s leading-edge, standalone NOR devices are 45nm products with 32nm/28nm in R&D. “While our MirrorBit technology (Cypress’ term for NOR cell technology) has been demonstrated to work at the 28nm/32nm node, we don’t anticipate the need to move to that node in the near future. Scaling NOR beyond 28nm is difficult and will not provide ROI,” Geha said.Then, in embedded flash, it requires more masks per node, thereby increasing the costs. “Adding embedded flash is very expensive,” Geha said. “At 40nm, you generally need 8 to 12 or 13 extra masks over CMOSto add that embedded flash. At 28nm, it becomes 9 to 18 masks.”So today, embedded flash extends to 28nm, but it’s expensive. Following 28nm, foundries are developing 22nm processes. So, the next step for embedded flash is 22nm, which is a scaled version of 28nm.Beyond 22nm, there are several options. One idea is to replicate NAND scaling. Planar NAND hit the wall at the 1xnm nodes, prompting the industry to develop 3D NAND.In 3D NAND, the memory cells are stacked on top of each other to scale the technology. The industry is exploring a similar idea with NOR, but it’s unclear if so-called 3D NOR will ever happen.To be sure, there are more viable options. The industry is developing MCUs at 16nm/14nm and beyond. Assuming embedded flash won’t scale, OEMs would then use an MCU without embedded flash. So they would use an external NOR device on the board, requiring two chips instead of one.Generally, the two-chip solution provides some flexibility, enabling OEMs to use chips from several vendors. But that approach also takes up board space and consumes more power, and it adds some potential latency and security issues.Another option is to integrate a standalone MCU and NOR device in a system-in-package (SiP). The SiP option requires a different supply chain. For example, the MCU vendor would buy the NOR device and package them in a SiP.“In a package, you also need to be able to survive high temperatures,” Cypress’ Geha said. “The chip is 125 degrees C. The die has to be at 150 degrees C, because you put the die inside a package. The package gets hotter by about 15 degrees C.”Over time, OEMs will use both the two-chip and SiP options. “Performance plays a big role. Usually, with embedded flash, you expect it to be faster than going through an external interface. That needs to be optimized,” said Rainer Hoehler, vice president and general manager of the Flash Business Unit at Cypress. “It’s a function of power. It’s also a function of security. It’s also a cost topic.”MRAM, meanwhile, is another option. The industry is developing a next-generation MRAM technology called spin-transfer torque MRAM (STT-MRAM). STT-MRAM uses the magnetism of electron spin to provide non-volatile properties in chips. It combines the speed of SRAM and the non-volatility of flash with virtually unlimited endurance.In traditional memory, the data is stored as an electric charge. In contrast, MRAM uses a magnetic tunnel junction memory cell for the storage element.Making STT-MRAMs is a challenging process. The same is true for other next-generation memory types like phase-change. “They include materials not typically used in standard CMOS production when embedded with other circuits,” said Alex Yoon, a senior technical director at Lam Research, in a blog. “MRAM materials tend to have non-volatile byproducts that can end up deposited all over the wafer, causing shorts and resulting in a tapered cell stack.”Still, STT-MRAM chips are trickling out in the market for use in solid-state storage drives. In this app, the temperature requirements are less rigid.Automotive is different. “Any emerging nonvolatile memory that will be used in MCUs for automotive have to pass a tough reliability spec. It must meet solder reflow requirements, high reliability and shelf-life greater than 20 years,” UMC’s Uriu said. “Automotive applications require 125° and Grade 0 requires 150°. We feel that 150° is possible (with STT-MRAM), but it will require developmental resources to achieve that.”Today, the temperature specs for STT-MRAM range from 85° to 105° C, which is below the requirements for automotive. The industry is working on higher temperatures specs for STT-MRAM, but it’s still a work in progress.“One of the things with MRAM is that you can modify the technology and make trade-offs between things like temperature profile, how you support high-temperature environments, and the speed of the operation of the device,” said Martin Mason, senior director of embedded memory at GlobalFoundries. “We took (embedded MRAM) technology to 22nm. Then, many customers wanted the device to solve the reflow profile. The solder reflow profile has achieved high temperatures—250°, 260° or ever higher—for extended periods of time. One of the concerns is would the device remain reliable when we do that. That problem has been solved.”What about automotive? “Getting extended periods of time with automotive-like temperatures for MRAM technology is something we will be able to support over time,” Mason said.Some are less optimistic, at least for automotive apps. “I worked on MRAM myself,” Cypress’ Geha said. “MRAM does not work at high temperatures. No matter what people try to claim, it has problems. It’s a magnetic-based cell. And once you go to high temperatures, the magnetic properties get worse. It may work for some consumer stuff. It’s never going to work at high temp. Resistive RAM is even worse. Resistive RAM works for consumer, but they don’t even get to industrial-level grade.”Others have a slightly different view. “STT-MRAM is making good progress, and it has a place in the market for certain applications, such as for L3/L4 cache or for NVSRAM applications,” said Vipin Tiwari, director of marketing at SST. “However, I don’t see MRAM as an embedded flash replacement, because it can’t do what embedded flash can do today, which is a combination of deep understanding of failure-mechanisms, extensive field data, magnetic immunity, endurance, retention and fast read performance.”What about scaling embedded flash? “There is a large cost differential between 28nm (planer) and 14/16nm (finFET) technologies, so there is a certain cost barrier for adoption. In addition, embedded flash integration on 14/16nm finFET technologies is going to be more challenging than the prior nodes, so I expect the embedded flash development process to take longer than the prior nodes. Assuming embedded flash platform on 14/16nm technology can be qualified by 2022, we can expect 14/16nm-based automotive MCUs in 2026. Having said that, it is possible that the 14/16nm automotive MCU use a wafer or packaged-level integration with a production-proven 28nm embedded-flash as a separate die. In that case, a 14/16nm MCU could be seen sooner than 2026,” Tiwari said.A home for MRAM?Meanwhile, as stated above, some domains use MCUs with embedded flash.Other domains don’t use MCUs. Instead, they incorporate higher-end application processors and SoCs. These devices are used in the various domains, such as the advanced driver assist system (ADAS) and high-end infotainment systems.These processors don’t integrate embedded flash. Instead, OEMs would use an external NOR device on the board. The processor and NOR device communicate over a bus.Processors integrate SRAM memory for cache. SRAM stores data and frequently used instructions. SRAM is fast, but it’s large and consumes power.That’s where embedded STT-MRAM fits in for cache. “With MRAM, because of the fact that the bit cell is much smaller than an SRAM bit cell, you can put a whole lot of MRAM onto the chip,” Objective Analysis’ Handy said.This would reduce space and cost. “Some people would see MRAM over time as an embedded flash replacement. But that isn’t where we are focused. Where we see it as an opportunity is as a nonvolatile SRAM,” said Ron Martino, vice president of application processors at NXP.NXP offers an application processor based on a 28nm FD-SOI process from Samsung. Targeted for infotainment systems and instrument clusters, the device incorporates SRAM and other components.In the future, the processor will incorporate embedded MRAM. “When combining MRAM with FD-SOI, we see many applications,” Martino said. “It would not be an SRAM replacement. But it would be complementary, where you bring in MRAM to create nonvolatile RAM blocks that are targeted for higher performance. If you can shut down (the system) and retain information, you have ultimate off-state power. If you can combine it with FD-SOI, you can have active states that are very power efficient and you have memory retention states that draw no power. You can create a very compelling solution as power becomes more of an issue.”But will STT-MRAM ever meet the temperature specs for automotive? “The state of the MRAM technology in the industry is focused first to bring it into manufacturing at lower temperatures. That would be either in the 85 or 105 degrees Celsius temperature ranges. And then, there will be a next phase that brings it up to 125 degrees C,” Martino said. “The first applications that will be benefiting from embedded MRAM are going to be consumer and industrial. And then, you’ll see the use of MRAM over time in automotive.”To be sure, carmakers are conservative. They won’t move to a new memory type unless it meets spec. In the meantime, OEMs will extend today’s embedded flash as far as possible. Then, when it runs out of steam, the playing field is wide open with several options on the table. Clearly, OEMs must make the right bet in the high-stakes car market.

Key word：

Embedded Flash

Release time：2018-07-23 00:00 reading：1193 Continue reading>>

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