14 DAY TRIAL // While addressing the importance of new product and market deployment, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) CEO Rick Tsai said flash memory production fits the foundry's long-term strategy. The pursuit of new growth and profitability is a key strategy of TSMC, Tsai noted. When asked whether flash memory production fits this strategy, he said TSMC is assessing flash production but he did not reveal whether the company will choose NAND or NOR flash, according to Digitimes.
Industry players would not be surprised if TSMC made more moves within the NOR flash segment as the foundry has long-established ties with Spansion. Sources indicated that NOR flash shipments from TSMC's 8-inch Fab 6 at Tainan Science Park (TSP) already exceed 10,000 wafers per month. Overall current shipment from Fab 6 average about 80,000 wafers a month, added the same source.
Analysts believe now would be a good time for TSMC to tap into the NAND flash market as its sufficient 12-inch capacity should allow for good profit potential, considering that most other major NAND flash production is taking place at 8-inch fabs. NAND flash may also help fill idle 12-inch production capacity during low seasons and help the foundry develop other areas, such as in system-on-chip (SoC) solutions.
TSMC's EmbFlash technology is the foundry industry's leading embedded flash technology. This reliable and cost-effective process is used to manufacture a broad range of products found in MCU, DSP, smart card, cellular communications, automotive, CPLD and many other applications.
Combining TSMC's industry-leading logic process and SST's SuperFlash split-gate flash cell, EmbFlash provides a logic-compatible technology that features high performance logic function and cost-effective flash memory. According to the firm, this can increase the device's functionality by integrating SRAM and analog functions on the same chip.
EmbFlash is currently available in 0.5-Micron, 0.35-Micron, and 0.25-Micron process of generations. New generation 0.18-Micron EmbFlash process is under qualification and will be available to customers soon. EmbFlash features small flash block sizes and low masking steps. The average yields of the matured products in 0.5-Micron, 0.35-Micron and 0.25-Micron are over 90% in high volume production. Most popular flash blocks are provided, with density from as small as 32Kb to several Megabits, and data buses of 8 bits, 16 bits, and 32 bits. High performance and low power consumption are also implemented in the memory design. Designers can choose from an array of flexible sector sizes, with small sector size closed to EEPROM capability.