Spansion starts producing highest-density single-die 512Mb serial flash memory

Posted on Wednesday, March 28 2012 @ 20:55 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Spansion sends out word that it has initiated mass production of world's highest-density single-die 512Mb serial flash memory:
Spansion Inc. (NYSE: CODE), a leading provider of parallel and serial NOR Flash memory, today announced it has entered volume production of its 512 Mb Spansion® FL-S Serial (SPI) NOR Flash memory featuring the highest-density single-die serial Flash. The Spansion FL-S family spans from 128 Mb to 1 Gb and features an industry-leading programming speed that is three times faster than competing solutions and has 20% faster double data rate (DDR) read performance. The speed improvements are key to enriching the user experience for a growing range of embedded applications, such as automotive instrument clusters and infotainment systems, industrial and medical graphic displays as well as home networking gateways and set-top boxes.

Engineers are choosing Spansion serial Flash memory for its leading performance, automotive grade quality and temperature ranges, support for higher densities, complimentary Flash file system software and long-term product support. Customers are increasingly demanding these attributes for improving the user experience and delivering innovative, graphic-rich, stylish designs.

Specific applications that can benefit from the Spansion FL-S product family include the following:

  • Automotive: Instrument clusters and infotainment systems, which rely on 3D graphic engines for displaying real-time driver information and demand high reliability, real-time fast rendering and lower pin counts. These capabilities are required for giving consumers stylish designs with improved graphics and an instant on experience with their digital dashboards.
  • Consumer: Home gateways, digital TVs, set top boxes and printers, which require smaller packages in a high-density serial interface and advanced security features to protect content, allowing manufacturers to give their end consumers a secure and instant-on experience.
  • Smart meters: High reliability performance in a cost effective platform for the growing amounts of Flash memory code needed to monitor energy usage.
  • WiMax systems: Increasingly require smaller packages such as BGA with high reliability.

    Key Facts/Performance Metrics of the Spansion FL-S family:
  • The 128 Mb, 256 Mb, and 512 Mb Spansion FL-S products are in production. A 1 Gb dual die solution is also available based on market demand.
  • Industrial and Automotive In-Cabin temperature support (-40C to +85C/+105C)
  • Up to 1.5 MB/s write speed that is three times faster than current SPI solutions in the market, increasing manufacturing throughput and lowering overall costs.
  • 20% faster read performance with up to 66 MB/s for faster execute in place (XiP) operation, surpassing competing solutions by over 20%.
  • Up to five times faster chip erase coupled with the three times faster programming speed dramatically improves chip re-programming time during manufacturing.
  • Industry-standard form-factors via Spansion's Universal Footprint
  • 16-pin SO (300 mil)
  • 8-pin SO (208 mil planned for 128 Mb)
  • 8-lead WSON 6x8 (128 Mb and 256 Mb densities only)
  • 24-ball BGA 6x8
  • The low pin count simplifies board layout, lowers cost, and reduces the form factor of many embedded designs, reducing to eight pins for a 128Mb SPI Flash device.
  • Expanded security options protect customer IP through 1kByte one-time programmable (OTP) region, individual sector protection, and hardware and software data protection. Unique 128 bit tracking ID for system authentication and additional security.
  • Vio range of 1.65V - 3.6V, Vcc range of 2.7V-3.6V
  • Common Flash Interface (CFI) data for configuration information
  • JEDEC JESD216 Serial Flash Discoverable Parameters (SFDP) support
  • Industry-standard 3 Byte addressing for 128 Mb and extended 32-bit addressing (4 Bytes) for 256Mb and higher densities.
  • Spansion FFS: Customized software drivers and Flash file system software available at no additional cost.


  • About the Author

    Thomas De Maesschalck

    Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



    Loading Comments