Spansion Takes NOR Flash Memory to 4 Gb for the First Time

NOR Flash memory might not exactly be widespread, or even well known, but Spansion definitely took it one step further now that it put its 65nm MirrorBit technology to good use.

NOR Flash memory may not be very well known, especially on the consumer market, but it can be quite often found in automotive applications and certain gaming machines.

It so happens that Spansion Inc. developed this very sort of memory chip, one that is the first to feature a capacity of 4 Gb on a single die.

It is constructed on the 65nm MirrorBit charge trapping process technology, withstands temperatures of 0 C to +85 degrees Celsius and will perform best in handheld consumer games, game cartridges, automotive infotainment, information kiosks, industrial entertainment machines (arcade games), etc.

"Consumers have high expectations for speed and quality for their gaming and infotainment applications as manufacturers continue to add more interactivity, multidimensional graphics, multi-touch and animation to these systems," said Avo Kanadjian, vice president of marketing, Spansion.

"To produce the best, interactive experience, these manufacturers require high-density, faster read Flash memory performance. With this 4 Gb product, Spansion extends our high density, NOR Flash memory leadership in the embedded market to enable our customers to deliver innovative electronics with the best the user experience."

The newcomer is part of the GL-S series and has a page-mode read performance of 98.5 MB/s, 45% faster than competing chips (67.4 MB/s).

Sample shipments will be sent out starting this month (August, 2011) and will be followed by mass production in the fourth quarter.

"Spansion has executed well delivering differentiated NOR Flash memory products based on its MirrorBit charge-trapping technology," said Jim Handy, president, Objective Analysis.

"Graphic-rich applications like gaming are requiring higher-density NOR Flash memory and the Spansion GL-S family's new 4 Gb device with fast performance is meeting this growing need."