MEDIA RELEASE PR36822
Macronix Introduces World's First 256Mbit Serial Flash
HSINCHU, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-Asia-AsiaNet/ --
Breakthrough in high density Serial Flash Memory
Macronix International Co., Ltd. (TSE: 2337), the number one Serial Flash supplier, today continues it's leadership and
innovation in the Serial Flash market by announcing the world's first 256-megabit(Mbit) Serial Flash product. This new
256Mbit product, MX25L25635E, will allow system designers and manufacturers to offer greater functionality and
performance in their products. Based on an innovative 32-bit addressing scheme, Macronix has created a simple way to
extend the Serial Flash density beyond 128Mbit while supporting the existing 24-bit addressing for backward compatibility.
The new 256Mbit Serial Flash provides a small form factor, low pin count, and reduces the overall system cost in many of
today's applications, like networking, set-top box, and servers.
"Macronix has enhanced its leadership position in Serial Flash by being the first company to offer the highest density
256Mbit product in the market," said Alan Niebel, CEO and founder of Web-Feet Research. "The Serial Flash market is the
fastest growing NOR Flash segment increasing from $645M in 2009 and with the addition of the 256Mbit Serial part it
should reach $2,036M by 2014."
Serial Flash products are currently based on a 24-bit addressing protocol which caps the maximum density at 128Mbit.
However, as manufacturers introduce complex and feature rich products, their memory requirements are changing and
system designers are looking for densities greater than 128Mbit to store their code and/or applications. With the current
architecture there is no viable solution to this issue.
Macronix is the first Serial Flash company to break through the 128Mbit density barrier. The 256Mbit Serial Flash uses
a combination of 24-bit and 32-bit addressing to maintain backward compatibility. The new 256Mbit part powers up like a
128Mbit device in 24-bit mode and a user can switch to
32-bit addressing as needed. Using this method, a system designer will not have to completely rewrite the software.
"Many of the newer markets including VoIP network processors require high density Flash memory" said Shahin
Rohani, Director of Applications & Customer Solutions at TranSwitch Corporation. "Recognizing Macronix as a leader in
Serial Flash and the first company to introduce the highest density 256Mbit Serial Flash, we are looking forward to using
these devices in our upcoming designs."
The Macronix 256Mbit Serial Flash product is targeted for feature rich applications that require higher storage space and
performance, while maintaining the low pin count and overall system cost. Some of these applications are networking
systems, WiMax, set-top box, servers, high-end projectors, Digital TVs and similar products. Another key market is
FPGAs, where a large amount of code needs to be downloaded from Flash.
The new 256Mbit Serial Flash not only enhances the density, but also offers high performance through Macronix Serial
Multi-I/O (MXSMIO(TM)). The MX25L25635E supports single, dual, and quad I/O capability for higher throughput while
maintaining the same package and pin numbers of traditional Serial Flash. This fast performance makes the 256Mbit
device ideal for code and user data storage, and is capable of code XIP
(execute-in-place) directly from Flash.
The MX25L25635E, 256Mbit Multi I/O Serial Flash is sampling in October and mass production is scheduled for
Some of the MX25L25635E features are high-lighted below:
Features
-- 256Mbit with Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) compliance
-- 24-bit mode and 32-bit mode addressing
-- 4 KB sectors, and 32 KB / 64 KB block for flexible software
architecture
-- 256-bytes per page programming, with single-byte programming
capability
-- 2.7 - 3.6 volt operating voltage range
-- Secured 4 Kbit OTP
-- Support common serial flash interface - DMC(Discoverable Memory
Capabilities)
-- Industrial temperature grade
Performance
Single I/O Dual I/O Quad I/O
80 Mbps 140 Mbps 280 Mbps
-- Programming time: 1.4mS (typical) for a 256-byte page
-- Erase time:
- 60mS (typical) for 4K-byte sector
- 0.5S (typical) for 32K-byte sector
- 0.7S (typical) for 64K-byte block.
Packages
-- Industry standard 16-pin SOIC package
-- RoHS (lead-free) compliant
About Macronix International Co., Ltd.
Founded in 1989, Macronix International Co., Ltd. (TSE: 2337.TT) is a leading provider of innovative Non-Volatile
Memory (NVM) solutions. Macronix is the largest worldwide manufacturer of ROM products, and also provides a wide
range of Parallel and Serial NOR Flash products across various densities. These products are used in vast range of
consumer, computing, communications & networking, and industrial applications.
Media Contacts:
Headquarters (Taiwan)
Michelle Chang
Department Manager
Corporate Communication Office
Macronix International Co., LTD.
TEL: +886-3-578-6688 ext. 71233
FAX: +886-3-666-3169
Email: michellechang@mxic.com.tw
Japan
Nobufumi Fujii
Marketing Senior Manager
Japan Branch
Macronix Asia Limited
TEL: +81-44-246-9100
FAX: +81-44-246-9105
Email: fujii@mxic.co.jp
SOURCE Macronix International Co., Ltd.
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