Flash-memory transformation responds to application and competition evolutions
By Brian Dipert -- EDN, January 8, 2004
Nexcom Technologies' chips and modules once delivered impressive write speeds (see "Data storage in a flash," EDN, July 3, 1997, pg 65). Lately, however, things have been less rosy for the company.
ISSI acquired it and spun it off again a short time later as the renamed NexFlash Technologies (Picture). Its chip densities could not keep pace with the burgeoning capacity needs of dominant data-storage applications, such as digital cameras, MP3 players, and PDAs. Suppliers of alternative flash-memory technologies, such as AND and NAND, were all too happy to gobble up this business.
Pragmatic acknowledgment of its competitive position coupled with an expanding plethora of applications enabled by the store-and-download multitier system-memory model. These developments provided the impetus for a transformation of the company's product line (see "Spec clarifications may expand candidate catalog," EDN, April 17, 2003, pg 16). NexFlash's latest generation SPI flash memories are available now in 74-cent (25,000), 1-Mbit; 86-cent, 2-Mbit; and $1.20, 4-Mbit versions. Their introduction will coincide with the lower density parts' entering full production, the companies hope. Unlike their predecessors, these devices deliver relatively low write speeds; documentation specifies 2-msec typical delays per 1- to 256-byte page, so, if you need high write throughput, you'd best consider EEPROM, battery-backed RAM, or other flash-memory technologies.
Rarely updated code-storage applications usually don't need superfast writes, though. They primarily require low-cost memories with simple interfaces that deliver high read throughput, and low-cost packaging would be nice, too. NexFlash comes through on all these counts; the chips' four-signal SPI interfaces run at 33 MHz, and the NX25P10, NX25P20, and NX25P40 all come in small- and common-footprint, low-height, eight-contact SOIC and QFN packages. Operating on a single 2.7 to 3.6V supply and across –40 to +85°C, NexFlash's spiFlash devices specify typical current draw of 4 mA for reads, 15 mA for erases and programming and, 1 µA in power-down mode.
NexFlash Technologies, 1-408-907-3600, www.nexflash.com.
