Macronix, the world-leading non-volatile memory (NVM) solution manufacturer, today unveiled its new-generation 12 pin-count bus interface called OctaBus. This breakthrough design delivers the high speed, high efficiency features of Macronix OctaFlash products, while incorporating OctaRAM into the same data I/O bus, reducing the pin count to 12, thus enabling simplicity in system design while optimizing PCB space, resulting in significant cost savings and at the same time dramatically improving performance.Macronix introduced OctaFlash, the world's fastest, high-efficiency 8 I/O Serial NOR Flash with 400MB/s data transfer rate in 2015. The booming development of IoT, the Automotive Electronics markets, the increasing demand for "instant-on" and an "interactive graphical user interface, has driven Macronix to introduce the new low pin-count, high-performance OctaBus memory interface. The new bus interface keeps the low pin count feature of OctaFlash and combines both OctaFlash and the new OctaRAM components on a single bus. The two products can share the same data I/O and some signal control pins and are designed to be compatible with each other with regards to their modified memory protocols. This enables chipset providers to combine PCB layout designs for OctaFlash and OctaRAM or even use a common PCB design.In the new OctaBus memory subsystem, OctaFlash is recognized as an industry leader based on its 200MHz high performance frequency; in tandem OctaRAM will enable designers to optomise their system design, giving significant cost savings through efficient pin sharing. With its design changed from parallel to serial interface, OctaRAM delivers a performance comparable to DDR2 and in addition allows an improved ease of system design, thus the embedded systems adopting OctaRAM will have a cutting edge advantage. Macronix's new interface is expected to lead the industry evolution to high speed and highly efficient system design in the same way as when Macronix was the leader who pioneered the NOR Flash transition from parallel to serial interfaces.OctaBus memory holds more advantages in MCP chip marketWith its strengths in low pin count and sharing of the I/O bus, OctaBus memory is expected to achieve great success also in the MCP (multi chip package) market that MCU and core chip vendors are closely watching. The original design of MCP chips, using separate buses, typically requires a BGA package with 80 pins. A design adopting OctaBus can have the package dimension reduced from 9x9mm to 6x8mm. In particular, an MCP combining OctaBus advantages of OctaFlash and OctaRAM in KGD form (known good die), provides even further simplicity of design and reduced complexity to satisfy system manufacturers' critical demands of cost reduction and design flexibility. Macronix strongly believes that this interface offers such a significant system improvement to designers that the company is promoting OctaBus memory as an open standard.Macronix's OctaBus memory subsystem will include three major product lines: Macronix's own OctaFlash series, an OctaMCP product line and a discrete OctaRAM line provided by other memory ecosystem and supply chain partners.•OctaFlash: 64Mb to 2Gb Package: 24BGA (all), 16SOP (256Mb-512Mb) Availability: 512Mb in production; rest sampling• OctaRAM: 32Mb-128Mb 3V/133MHz, 1.8V/200MHz Package: 24BGA Availability: 64Mb sampling• OctaMCP: 512Mb (OctaFlash) + 64Mb( OctaRAM), 3V Package: 24BGA Availability: ES (Engineering Samples) by Jan/2017Macronix OctaBus Memory SolutionsElain Shih, product marketing manager, MXIC

Over the past several years semiconductor firms worldwide have become increasingly aware of the opportunities in the automotive market, from infotainment, to advanced telematics to Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), and non-volatile memory (NVM) solution provider Macronix has staked a strong position in the booming market.High-performance Serial NOR Flash is gaining popularity in ADAS solutions due to the need for mass data processing, especially for real-time imaging processing. ADAS solutions make extensive use of image sensing data in order to assist drivers navigate potentially hazardous road conditions and ensure road safety. Moreover, consumers and governments around the world are realizing the value of implementing ADAS solutions not only as a luxury but as a necessity. European motor vehicle safety standards have mandated ADAS as standard safety equipment. Since 2015, automakers worldwide have added ADAS into their mid-range automobiles as a result.Within the ADAS vision solutions, systems are required to operate in wide temperature and voltage variances at high data throughput. Macronix has a full line of 1.8V MX25U (16Mb to 2Gb) and 3V MX25L (1Mb to 1Gb) Multi IO Serial NOR Flash devices covering a full spectrum of automotive temperatures – Automotive Grade III (-40 degrees C ~ 85 degrees C), Automotive Grade II (-40 degrees C ~ 105 degrees C) and Automotive Grade I (-40 degrees C ~ 125 degrees C). These devices were crafted to be compliant with the related automotive certification standards (AEC-Q100) while also boasting high densities and high data transmission speeds.Macronix has been developing memory products for automotive electronics since 2009, TS16949 certified, and has close to three decades of experience in the design and manufacturing of high quality Flash memory. Macronix is quickly becoming a leading supplier of comprehensive and full-featured Flash memory products for automotive electronics.As an innovator and leader in the non-volatile memory market, Macronix has a strong history in continually providing solutions to meet the emerging needs of the automotive market. Many automotive applications require higher performance needs beyond the traditional Quad (x4) I/O SPI solutions. Macronix introduced a x8 I/O SPI solution in the form of the Dual Quad MX66L-85G series and in October 2015 the company introduced the Octaflash MX25UM family, with SPI backwards compatibility and designed on high-reliability floating gate flash technology. OctaFlash devices can achieve up to 200MHz data rate, making it the industry's fastest Serial NOR Flash.Supported by independent Flash R&D, advanced production technologies and its own 6-inch, 8-inch and 12-inch wafer foundries, Macronix has not only mastered the design process but has full understanding and confidence about synching designs with the fabrication process. Macronix is constantly strengthening its full line-up of MX25 Serial NOR Flash, and the maker has more than two years' experience of mass production on mainstream 55nm technology.Testing product compliance for the AEC-Q100 standard is a tremendous task in itself. The stress test on semiconductor circuit reliability and durability requires 1,000 hours of testing for each level of the temperature range. Reliability verification usually takes an extended period of time and extra time may be needed if re-tests are required, which could impact time to market. Therefore, during product planning, Macronix set a goal for its new family of ultra-low energy consumption and wide-voltage-range MX25R (1.65V-3.6V) Serial NOR Flash to directly challenge the Automotive Grade I (-40 degrees C ~ 125 degrees C) stress test, showing strong confidence in its own process quality and the maker's great ambition for the market. The series is expected to begin volume production by the end of 2016 and widely adopted in ADAS solutions.Hsin-Yu Wang, Project Manager, Product Marketing, Macronix, pointed out the company is also seeing demand for increased memory capacity for Serial NOR Flash due to the large amount of data ADAS needs to process. Therefore, the Macronix MX25L (3V) line has been expanded to a 1Gb density, capable of supporting random and high-speed memory access.Furthermore, the company's ADAS and Internet of Vehicles (IoV) applications are receiving positive feedback from the market. In particular, low-power consumption and always-connected technologies significantly reduce the time and bandwidth required for telematics data download. Macronix is focused on having its MX25U (1.8V) line pass Automotive Grade I testing in the initial planning so as to get ready for ADAS opportunities and deliver the most comprehensive product offerings and quality guarantee. Driven by ADAS, IoV and IoT applications, Macronix is able to introduce products satisfying almost all needs of ADAS solutions for Serial NOR Flash. Macronix makes every effort to provide the most complete support to our customers, said Wang.Hsin-Yu Wang, Project Manager, Product Marketing, Macronix

The memory market for automobile electronics has a higher entry barrier compared to that for other ICT or consumer electronics, and therefore unless a new entrant is a credible, reliable and trustworthy company, it is not an easy market to enter. When Macronix decided to enter the automobile electronics memory sector, it did so with the determination to keep on perfecting memory products in terms of both design and fabrication.Founded in 1989, Macronix has, after more than two decades of refinement of delivering high quality products and maintaining a reliable manufacturing supply, incorporated 'big data analytics' in the initial factory planning stage and established the sNOVA quality improvement system long before 'big data analytics' became mainstream and ahead of other technology leaders in the world. The accumulated extensive customer service experiences, feedbacks and support are then further utilized to enhance its rapid successful expansion into the automobile electronics memory market.Macronix started its automotive journey by conducting a comprehensive study regarding the regulations relating to the reliability of automobile electronics. It then obtained a series of IC reliability certifications, including the AEC-Q100 quality certification according to standards set by the Automotive Electronics Council (AEC). Since Macronix entered the automobile electronics memory sector, it has achieved very positive results in terms of market penetration, and is seeing strong revenue growth in 2015 and will continue to do so in 2016 and onwards. Many, in fact most of the world-leading automobile electronics vendors are today in mass production of their systems utilizing Macronix flash memory, including Serial NOR Flash, Parallel NOR Flash and SLC NAND flashBased around solid, customer backed strategies, Macronix drives ongoing efforts in product R&D and innovation to meet the current and future requirements for automobile electronics. Elain Shih, Product Marketing Manager at Macronix, provides an analysis on the advancement of memory components for automobile electronics from the developmental perspective of SPI NOR Flash, where Macronix is the global market leaderOctaFlash marks a milestone in high-speed SPI NOR Flash applicationSince the launch of SPI memory featuring double transfer rate (DTR) technology in 2010, Macronix has been working on further boosting SPI data transfer rates. The introduction of the 55nm process in 2013 raised the data transfer rate to 100MHz for SPI products with DTR interface. In 2014, Macronix packaged two quad I/O chips as a dual-quad product achieving a performance simulating eight I/O with a 200MByte/s data transfer rate.In 2015, Macronix unveiled the OctaFlash series, an expansion to eight I/O on a single chip. Fabricated on the in-house, highly reliable 55nm floating gate process flash technology, the data transfer rate reaches 400MByte/s, making OctaFlash the fastest SPI NOR Flash on the market.Macronix's dual-quad memory introduced in 2014 has been able to provide complete solutions supporting in-vehicle infotainment systems. For example, dual-quad flash can satisfy "instant on" requirements to quickly load a large amount of data for temperature or dashboard controls in the in-vehicle system after the car engine is started and procedure is initiated.OctaFlash, with more powerful features, is designed specifically for in-vehicle systems, especially ADAS for road safety and telematics systems. Addressing safety concerns, the current mainstream automobile designs make use of sensors and image data processing and transmit massive amounts of data to the in-vehicle system so that the automobile can instantly react to or cope with any otherwise unforeseen circumstances on the road, instantly.As automobile electronics demand the capability to perform big data analytics, Macronix believes that the embedded memory, traditionally integrated with the core processor, is no longer sufficient as it is generally 32MB or 64MB in capacity and made with 0.13um process, which is typically unable to support big data operations. This need from the market was the driver for Macronix to develop OctaFlash, which is a specialized new memory product line targeting high capacity and high speed data transfer applications.In comparison to competitors, OctaFlash uses the conventional SPI interface and therefore provides compatibility with existing single I/O interface of SPI Flash. Also to enable application compatibility, OctaFlash retains the original SPI instruction set to free design engineers from having to spend time learning and verifying new instructions and large chunks of code, which allows engineering to re-use, improve reliability and accelerate time to market.OctaFlash aids functional safety design in support of ISO 26262OctaFlash's specifications and reliability will help both Tier 1 suppliers and automakers alike meet the requirements of the ISO 26262 standard, a functional safety standard for automobile control systems. Sampling of OctaFlash is scheduled for September 2015 to meet the urgent demand by top-tier automakers looking to enhance the performance of existing and introduce new ISO 26262-compliant vehicles.Continuing advancement in clock frequency becomes a key future development area for SPI NOR FlashShih comments that future SPI NOR Flash development will trend toward high speed and high frequency to meet market demands. Moreover, with telematics applications growing in complexity, a variety of wireless communication technologies are being introduced to automobiles also. Components with high frequency clocking for automobile electronics are increasingly important for the widely available telematics systems. For many designers using high frequency clocking, BGA package has become the package of choice; OctaFlash is capable of supporting 200MHz in a 24-pin BGA package. Macronix has also designed special data strobe (DQS) pins to enable complete high-speed data processing. Furthermore, OctaFlash follows eMMC pin definition, offering convenience to core processor vendors with respect to hardware design and PCB layout.Macronix OctaFlash offers both 1.8V and 3V power supply solutions, available in 256Mb, 512Mb and 1Gb versions.Macronix OctaFlash targets automotive telematics and high-end cameraElain Shih, Product Marketing Manager, MXIC

Supported by a number of different interfaces and standards, flash memory can be custom-designed for a variety of applications. Earlier designs mostly adopted the parallel bus architecture. However, demand for lighter and thinner mobile devices has been prompting the industry to simplify flash interfaces. Serial designs have enabled smaller-size flash memory with lower pin counts, and there are even mixed NOR-NAND designs. These have helped simplify the PCB layout, reducing costs for applications targeting the embedded market. The NAND flash manufacturing process may be approaching its limits, but Macronix has demonstrated its R&D strengths with new-generation memory technologies, such as PCM and ReRAM.Macronix and the evolution of flash memory technologyMemory for today's mobile devices and embedded systems are primarily flash-based, and there are two major types: NOR and NAND. NOR is primarily used to store firmware codes that are changed less often, and NAND is primarily used to store large volumes of data frequently accessed by users. Flash memory makers have been taking part in the making of new transmission standards that can be incorporated into next-generation SoC designs. This will accelerate the development of embedded products.Gabriel Chou, Project Manager at Macronix International, was invited to this forum to introduce his company's products. Chou indicated that Macronix is a leader in ROM and flash memory: It is number one in worldwide ROM shipments, number two in worldwide serial flash shipments, and number three in worldwide NOR flash shipments.The popularity of mobile devices, with many users owning more than one, is driving flash memory growth to over 17% annually, and storage capacities have been growing exponentially, Chou noted. He illustrated the trend with the development of non-volatile memory (NVM), a sector where Macronix is an expert. From the early EEPROM with capacities measured in KB to the later NOR with capacities measured in MB, these devices were primarily meant for storing codes. But SLC/MLC/TLC NAND/ROM (and the new-generation PCM and RRAM) devices are primarily meant for data storage and their capacities have expanded to the GB level. Future 3D NAND will have capacities approaching the TB level.Flash memory interfaces: Simplicity, high efficiency, and low power consumptionChou went on to explain the evolution of the flash interfaces. Parallel NOR and NAND used to be primary type. But as the parallel design required high pin counts, the serial (or SPI bus) type later became the more favored design in order to achieve lower pin counts. However, the industry has now adopted the designs of dual and four I/O buses, and it is also looking at eight I/O buses for future applications. For storage interfaces, there are SATA and eMMC, plus the future UFS specification.Chou indicated that Macronix has seen diminishing shipments for parallel (AD-MUX or page mode) NOR and parallel NAND, and gradually rising shipments for SPI-NOR and SPI-NAND. This clearly shows that the industry is shifting to simplified designs with reduced pin counts, as well as more I/O buses and higher efficiency. The standard eMMC/UFS is expected to be the mainstream soon for 3C products with large memory capacities. As for LPDDR, Chou stated that it remains to be seen whether this interface will become popular in the future.What is worth noting is that the evolution of eMMC is actually very similar to that of SPI. That is, after the number of I/O buses has increased to eight, SPIx8 can reach a transmission speed of 1.6Gbps; and after the DDR mechanism has been added to the eMMC v5.0, it can reach HS400x8 (3.2Gbps).The mixed-type flash memory interface designEach type of memory technology (EEPROM, PCM, ROM, NOR, and NAND) has its dedicated transmission interface and controller. Manufacturers have standardized them to simplify designs and accelerate product development.However, as the NAND flash production process moves towards 2Xnm or even 1Xnm nodes, it must be supported by better controllers to provide greater stability and higher-bit error checking and correction (ECC). This enables reliable data storage.Because there are different types of memory, the trend is to provide modules with interfaces standardized through the controller.HybridFlash launched by Macronix in 2012 is based on such a concept. It integrates XtraRom, serial flash, and the controller into a single multi-chip package (MCP), and uses the eMMC or SPI interface for transmission. MCP supports embedded systems' OS, various codes and transmission interfaces. It offers flexibility and reliability, as well as competitive pricing. Currently, it is available in capacities ranging from 2Gb to 8Gb.The direction of future memory developmentMacronix has spared no effort in R&D and innovation. In 2012, 19% of its investments went to R&D. Macronix has obtained more than 5,000 patents, making it the world's number 18 IT firm in terms of patent portfolios. In various memory-related technology forums, Macronix has also outnumbered its peers in terms of papers published on floating gate, charge trapping, and NVM technologies, as well as new-generation memories such as phase change memory (PCM, co-developed with IBM) and resistive random-access memory (ReRAM). This demonstrates Macronix' expertise in the NVM field.Macronix has also developed the world's smallest vertical gate (VG) 3D NAND memory. The present 37.5nm process can stack up to eight layers of memory chips. Within the next three years, Macronix will move towards 36nm and 2Xnm in order to meet the demand for smaller mobile devices with larger capacities.Gabriel Chou, Project Manager at Macronix International

Avnet Memec, an Avnet, Inc. company, a leading global technology distributor, has been selected as a pan-European distributor for Macronix International Co., Ltd., a leading provider of non-volatile memory semiconductor solutions. The new agreement enables Avnet Memec to bring leading NOR, NAND and ROM technology to its customers across Europe at the earliest stage of their design."Adding Macronix' Flash memory products to our portfolio adds depth to our line-card and service offering," said Bill Walker, Vice President of Technical Marketing for Avnet Memec. "Leveraging the Macronix cutting edge manufacturing processes will allow us to offer customers competitive low power, high speed read/write devices across all popular densities to ensure that their design and build cost remains optimized."Chris Bowen, General Manager of Macronix Europe N.V. commented, "Throughout Europe there is a vast range of applications with an increasing number of features requiring advanced Flash memory. The superior technical design support offered by Avnet Memec, backed by Avnet Europe's logistics and warehousing, means we will be able to reach those customers early in their design cycle."Macronix Flash memory devices are available now from Avnet Memec and to help customers select the correct device for their application datasheets and support documentation is available from: http://www.macronix.com/.About Avnet MemecAvnet Memec (http://www.avnet-memec.eu/), a business unit of Avnet Electronics Marketing EMEA, is a highly specialised semiconductor distributor, operating on a pan-European basis and employing a significant number of engineers to support customers' design efforts. Avnet Memec specialises in highly innovative suppliers and technologies, which will help a variety of customers to differentiate their designs. Its area of specialisation extends from Analog and Microcontrollers to RF, Datacom and Networking. The business unit operates out of 31 offices in 19 European countries and represents major semiconductor franchises on a pan-European basis.About Macronix International Co., Ltd.Macronix, a leading integrated device manufacturer in the Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) market, provides a full range of NOR Flash, NAND Flash, and ROM products. With its world-class R&D and manufacturing capability, Macronix continues to deliver high-quality, innovative and performance driven products to its customers in the consumer, communication, computing, automotive, networking and other segment markets. For more information, please visit Macronix website: http://www.macronix.com/

Memory applications are omnipresent in today's digitalized information society, In particular, non-volatile memories (NVM) featuring durability, high intensity and high speed, lightweight, power efficiency, and non-volatile storage, are widely used in USB, notebooks, netbooks, tablets, cell phones, HD video and MP3 players, pen recorders, electronic pets, wearable gadgets, and digital/video cameras.According to a recent Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) report, the global mobile memory market is expected to amount to US$7.7 billion in 2012 and may grow to US$13 billion in 2016 despite the slowdown in America and Europe and the Greek debt crisis. This is because each and every electronic device needs independent NVM operation to make it work.Serious bottleneck of electric leakages associated with micro-memory developmentAccording to Ralf Kilguss, Senior Segment Marketing Manager, Macronix, many technologies help NVM production, including SONOS (charge trapping and XtraROM are the representative architectures), ROM & fuse, as well as RRAM and phase change that have a great potential, but the floating gate technology (including NOR flash and NAND flash) remains the mainstream.According to a DRAMeXchange forecast, the processing speed of NAND flash is lower than NOR flash but the rapid increase of various consumer electronics needs data storage - the primary function of NAND flash - and this would help the 2012 NAND flash revenue increase 12% from the previous year, and the NAND flash output value is expected to exceed that of DRAM this year.As semiconductor manufacturing processes keep evolving and components are increasingly smaller, the floating gate technology now faces a serious bottleneck in micro-memory development. According to Kilguss, because the floating gate technology has electric charges stored in polysilicon, the tunnel oxide at the bottom must be thick enough to avoid direct tunneling and Frenkel-Poole tunneling that easily incur electric leakages and affect memory quality and reliability.According to Kilguss, generally speaking, tunnel oxide should not be thinner than 8nm, and this makes floating-gate non-volatile memory manufacturers unable to freely reduce their product sizes horizontally or vertically.Bad block, write/read disturbance, and durability issues to be tackledOn the other hand, floating-gate non-volatile memory size reduction means decreased electric charges stored in polysilicon. According to Kinam Kim's presentation at VLSI-TSA 2005, floating gate memory size reduction from 120nm to 40nm will rapidly decrease the number of electrons stored from more than 3,000 to about 80 if Vth is set at 4V. Because a NAND flash memory has fewer electrons than a NOR flash memory of the same size, the impact on the NAND flash memory is more serious, and the expected lifespan of charge loss tolerance will decrease from more than 10 years to 5 years.A lower total number of electrons means a more severe impact resulting from losing a same amount of electronic charges. For small-size floating gate NVMs, particularly NAND flash memories, this is a dilemma between data storage and enhanced reliability.Moreover, NAND flash bad blocks are generated along with increasing program/erase (P/E) cycles, and the endurance affected by write/read disturbance incurred by electric current instability or sensitive components needs to be re-strengthened by wearing leveling, while there is certain danger to long-term data storage.Write/read disturbance is caused by the voltage difference between the pages selected and unselected (e.g., read the selected page at 0V and write at 20V, while read the unselected at 5V and write at 8V), and ongoing pressure on the unselected page units easily incurs data losses. According to Kilguss, the issue would further worsen as semiconductor manufacturing process advances are making gateway nodes increasingly smaller.Memory flexibility and reliability factored in by Macronix's new HybridFlashWhen the value of a byte or more bytes changes from 1 to 0 during NAND flash read and write, a read disturb error tends to happen. If many times of reading (tens of thousands sometimes, depending on technology) of a page happen before erasing, the error can be even worse. This means that the raw bit error rate (RBER) increases with the increase of NAND flash reading. When there are too many bit errors to be corrected by Error Checking and Correcting (ECC), NAND flash reliability and data storage ability will drop to an unacceptable level, and the issue cannot be completely resolved only by built-in ECC.In order to resolve the aforementioned issue during micro NAND flash development and provide a high quality solution to embedded storage devices, Macronix has launched its new generation product HybridFlash that factors in both flexibility and reliability. According to Kilguss, HybridFlash consists of XtraROM, flash memory and controller, which can respectively serve OS storage, boot loader/code update, and interface purposes.XtraROM is able to provide ASIC design based on customer DRM schemes, does not need bad block management and extra ECC, is free from write/read disturbance, requires fewer masker layers than other technologies, and enjoys its exclusive wafer foundry capacity. So many strengths of XtraROM help maintain considerable reliability after product size reduction and do not need the extra backup code image required by other NAND flash technologies.XtraROM's superiority over NAND flash in many areasHybridFlash provides a very stable medium to contents and OS, enabling storage as long as 20 years at 85 degrees centigrade and it also works normally from 40 degrees below zero to 85 degrees centigrade. Its security control mechanism effectively guards against hacking, viruses, and unauthorized alterations.According to Kilguss, Macronix has conducted repeated reading of three sets of XtraROM's single page at 25 degrees centigrade with Vcc set at 3.6V and a data rate at 1MByte per second to test whether the data in XtraROM is affected. After more than 109 tests lasting for 168 hours, 80 units of each of the three sets of XtraROM were randomly sampled (a total of 240 units sampled), and no error was found. According to Kilguss, testing of general SLC/MLC NAND flash under the same settings would show errors of disturbance within one hour.Compared to SLC NAND flash or MLC synchronous NAND flash, XtraROM performs better in Random Read, Sequential Write, Random Write, and Read Cycle. Therefore, XtraROM is now widely used in closed consumer systems (e.g., printers, set-top boxes, and digital TV), network devices (e.g., switches, routers, and base stations), industrial applications (e.g., programmable logic controllers, industrial PCs, rugged PDAs/tablets, and point-of-sale systems), and home appliances (e.g., coffee makers, ovens, and refrigerators).HybridFlash can replace CDs and DVDs traditionally used to install or distribute Windows, Office, Visio, Project, Visual Studio, Visual FoxPro, Adobe Acrobat, Games, etc. According to Kilguss, the data written into HybridFlash can be preserved longer, free from virus attacks, and can do without any wait for downloading. HybridFlash also helps netbooks, tablets, smart phones, and slim notebooks do without the space for CD players to make them even more compact.Ralf Kilguss, Senior Segment Marketing Manager, Macronix

The IEEE Symposia on VLSI Technology & Circuits will be held in Hawaii, USA from June 12-15. Four Macronix papers have been selected for presentation at the Symposium on VLSI Technology, the most among all Taiwan-based companies. And of the 20-strong memory-related papers selected, Macronix also ranked number one among all participants. Especially, Macronix's papers cover the most advanced research topics including 3D NAND Flash, ReRAM, and phase change memory, showing the Company's comprehensive grasp of key technologies for next-generation memories.In addition, on the opening night of June 12, the VLSI Symposia will hold a Joint Rump Session on "Scaling Challenges Beyond 1xnm DRAM and NAND Flash." Macronix President Dr. Chih-Yuan Lu, who recently received the IEEE Frederik Philips Award, was invited to join the session in a discussion with global leading memory companies of Micron, Rambus, Samsung, Hynix and Toshiba on the challenges from and feasible solutions to migrating DRAM and NAND Flash to below 10nm.Since 2006, Macronix has presented its research papers every year at the VLSI Symposia. This year, the four Macronix papers to be presented during the event are: "A Highly Pitch Scalable 3D Vertical Gate (VG) NAND Flash Decoded by a Novel Self-Aligned Independently Controlled Double Gate (IDG) String Select Transistor (SSL)"; "Multi-Layer Sidewall WOx Resistive Memory Suitable for 3D ReRAM"; "A Novel Cross Point One-Resistor (0T1R) Conductive Bridge Random Access Memory (CBRAM) with Ultra Low Set/Reset Operation Current" and "A Simple New Write Scheme for Low Latency Operation of Phase Change Memory."The VLSI Symposia is seen as a window on the latest IC technology processes, and is closely related to the IC industry's future development. More than 600 papers were submitted to the VLSI Symposia this year. Of the 209 papers submitted for VLSI Technology, 79 papers have been selected for presentation, and eight of them come from Taiwan – four from Macronix, two from TSMC, one from National Chiao Tung University and one from National Nano Device Laboratories. As for VLSI Circuits, 97 papers have been selected from more than 400 submitted. Among the 15 papers selected from Taiwan, four are from MediaTek, two from TSMC, four from National Taiwan University, three from National Chiao Tung University, and two from National Tsing Hua University.Macronix has been outstanding in participating in important international academic symposia. For the annual IEDM (IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting) over the past five years, Macronix has presented five papers each year on average. In 2011, Macronix presented the most papers of all Taiwan firms. Macronix's fruitful R&D results on advanced memory products have won wide recognitions internationally. Therefore some members of Macronix's R&D team have been invited to join IEDM committees for screening papers. This year, Macronix's R&D staff was invited to serve as the committee member for the VLSI Symposia.Media Contact: Michelle ChangDeputy DirectorCorporate Communication OfficeTEL: 886-3-578-6688 ext. 71233Email: michellechang@mxic.com.twMobile: 0933-310-870

Electronic components distributor Digi-Key Corporation, recognized by design engineers as having the industry's broadest selection of electronic components available for immediate shipment, and the US subsidiary of Macronix International Co., Ltd. have signed a global distribution agreement."We are pleased to announce this distribution agreement with Macronix," said Mark Zack, Digi-Key's vice president of semiconductors. "With the company's strong product offering in NOR Flash Memory devices and its commitment to R&D, customers worldwide will benefit from the wide range of memory densities Digi-Key now provides.""As the leading supplier of Serial Flash Memory, Macronix is committed to continuously expand its global presence and service," said Winston Chen, associate vice president of Microelectronics & Memory Solution Group at Macronix. "This distribution agreement with Digi-Key will provide customers and design engineers with instant access to Macronix's broad product portfolio. We look forward to serving our diversified global customer base with Digi-Key's online presence and user-friendly order fulfillment. We are very pleased to be Digi-Key's global supplier."Macronix offers a broad range of NOR Flash memories with parallel and serial interface. As the market leader in Serial Flash, Macronix offers one of the widest NOR Flash product portfolios in the industry. Macronix provides 5 V, 3 V and low voltage products in a variety of package options to meet customer requirements. All products are built at Macronix's in-house fabs and meet the highest quality and reliability standards, including TS-16949 for automotive applications.Macronix's product portfolio is available for purchase now on Digi-Key's global websites.As the leading integrated Internet-based distributor, information about and inventory of millions of products is accessible to customers around the globe, with all products shipped from Digi-Key's single, North American location. The company's integrated business model provides product and support information online to help put engineers and procurement professionals in control as they solve tough product development challenges.About Digi-Key CorporationAs one of the world's leading totally integrated, Internet-based distributors of electronic components, Digi-Key Corporation has earned its reputation as an industry leader through its total commitment to service and performance. Digi-Key is a full-service provider of both prototype/design and production quantities of electronic components, offering more than two million products from over 470 quality name-brand manufacturers at www.digikey.com. A testament to Digi-Key's unparalleled commitment to service, North American design engineers have ranked Digi-Key as the #1 Most Preferred Distributor (UBM/EE|Times Distributor Customer Preference Study/June 2011). With global sales for 2010 surpassing $1.5 billion, Digi-Key's single location in North America is one of its greatest assets. Additional information and access to Digi-Key's broad product offering is available at www.digikey.com.About Macronix International Co., Ltd.Founded in 1989 in the Science Park, Hsinchu, Taiwan, Macronix is a leading integrated device manufacturer in the Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) market and provides a full range of NOR Flash and ROM solutions. With its world-class R&D and manufacturing capability, Macronix continues to deliver high-quality, innovative and performance driven products to its customers in the consumer, communication, computing, automotive, networking and other segments.For more information, please visit the Macronix website: www.macronix.com.Editorial Contact for Digi-Key CorporationDigi-Key Public Relationspublicrelations@digikey.comEditorial Contact for Macronix International Co., Ltd. Salman RashidSr. Director, Marketing408-941-6264salmanrashid@macronix.com

Hsinchu, Taiwan, Aug. 01, 2011- Dr. C.Y. Lu, President of Macronix International Co., Ltd., was selected to receive the 2012 IEEE Frederik Philips Award by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) – an award that has often been described as the equivalent of the Oscar Award for electrical engineering. This award recognizes Dr. Lu for his long-term dedication to fostering technological innovation and his leadership and contributions to research, development, and industrial alliances in semiconductor technology. Dr. Lu is the first recipient from Greater China to have won this special accolade in the award's 42-year history. The IEEE will present this award to Dr. Lu at one of its major international technical conferences in 2012."It is a great honor to win this award. This award recognizes not only my accomplishments but those of the entire Macronix team." said Dr. Lu. "I feel incredibly fortunate that throughout my 30-plus years working in the semiconductor industry, I have been able to combine my passion and curiosity with my professional endeavors and, in doing so, have been able to contribute to the industry. I would like to express my deep gratitude to the partners with whom I have collaborated in each and every stage of my career. In the future, I will continue to devote my passion for technological innovation to advancing Macronix's R&D and manufacturing capabilities for nonvolatile memory to further our contributions to the high-tech industry."The IEEE Frederik Philips Award is a prestigious international award established in 1971 through an agreement with the Netherland-based Philips Electronics NV to honor individuals and institutions for outstanding accomplishments in managing R&D, resulting in effective innovation in the electrical and electronics industry. Since its establishment, it has been awarded to 42 individual or institutional recipients. These recipients include: William O. Baker (1972), a former President of Bell Labs who advised five U.S. presidents on scientific matters; Arun N. Netravali (2001), the ninth President of Bell Labs and Chief Scientist of Lucent Technologies; Gordon E. Moore (1979), Co-Founder of Intel and inventor of Moore's Law; Roger J. Van Overstraeten (1999), founder of Belgium-based IMEC; and John E. Kelly III (2010), Senior Vice President and Director of IBM Research.Dr. Lu has consistently been recognized both at home and abroad for his accomplishments in high-tech R&D. In the mid-1980s, when he was a member of the research technical staff at Bell Labs, he developed 600V BCDMOS IC technology, the highest voltage the industry had achieved at that time. In 1987, he presented a seminal technical paper, "Variable Hold (Retention) Time Phenomenon in DRAM," at IEDM. This was the world's first-ever technical paper on the phenomenon, which helped the industry greatly improve the reliability of DRAM. Dr. Lu then led the R&D efforts on sixth generation twin-tub 0.6 micron CMOS technology, which allowed the semiconductor industry to flourish and in part is still widely applied today.In 1989, at the invitation of then Taiwan's Senior Presidential Advisor K.T. Lee and then Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) Chairman Morris Chang, Dr. Lu returned to Taiwan to assume the position of Deputy Director of ITRI's Electronic Research & Service Organization (ERSO). He was later appointed to head the Ministry of Economic Affairs' National Submicron Project and successfully led this project to achieve Taiwan's development of its independent R&D and mass manufacturing of state of the art DRAM. This accomplishment not only equipped Taiwan with 8-inch wafer process technology but also established Taiwan's firm position in the global semiconductor supply chain. Under Dr. Lu's leadership, Taiwan became a major player in the semiconductor industry by the late 1990's. In recognition of these achievements, the Prime Minister of Taiwan awarded him the National Science and Technology Medal. In 1994, the Submicron Project was spun off from ITRI to become a commercially-operated company, Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS). Dr. Lu co-founded VIS, which became a key driver for the development of Taiwan's DRAM industry.In 1999, Dr. Lu founded a very-large-scale-integration (VLSI) testing company, Ardentec, and also joined Macronix to lead the company's R&D for advanced memory technology and to establish long-term strategic partnerships with world-class tech companies, including IBM, Infineon Technologies, Mitsubishi, Renesas, and Qimonda. In recent years, Macronix has invented and filed more than 4,200 international patents for high-quality inventions. Dr. Lu's team has presented their innovative technology at IEDM, ISSCC, VLSI, SSDM, and other prestigious international technical conferences. In fact, Macronix has presented more papers and highlighted features at these conferences than any other industry or academic participant from Taiwan. For example, in 2010, the VLSI Symposia - the world's most important international symposium on IC technology – selected Macronix's research on innovative 3D NAND Flash technology to be a Highlight Paper. It was the only research paper from Taiwan to receive this honor.Dr. Simon M. Sze, an NAE member who invented the floating-gate nonvolatile memory device, said, "Early in his career, Dr. Lu developed advanced CMOS technology. Then, he led the ITRI team to develop submicron technology and to apply it to real commercial volume production. In recent years, he has made great strides in advanced nonvolatile memory technology. All of these accomplishments have established his strong reputation in the academic world on advanced technology and serve as a testament to his outstanding contributions to applied science. He has also contributed much to developing home-grown technologies and increasing momentum for Taiwan's semiconductor technology. He deserves the honor of being recognized as the pioneer of applied science in Taiwan."Dr. C.L. Liu, an Academia Sinica Academician and former President of National Tsing Hua University, commented on the news of Dr. Lu winning the IEEE Frederik Philips Award: "President Lu is both a visionary and a man of strong will. He is a leader, an entrepreneur, and a hard driving practitioner who has vision and is capable of carrying out his vision. He truly deserves this honor."Dr. Lu has published more than 360 technical papers and is an inventor for over 140 international patents. He is a Fellow of IEEE, a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), and a Fellow of the Chinese Society for Management of Technology. In 2000, IEEE presented a Millennium Award to Dr. Lu in recognition of his important contributions to the economy and society. Dr. Lu has also received the National Invention Award and Best Project Award from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Pan WenYuan Outstanding Research Award from the Pan WenYuan Foundation, and the Distinguished Alumni Award from both National Chiao-Tung University and National Taiwan University, as well as many other honors. He served as an editor for IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices for 15 years and was also the President of Science Monthly magazine. He is a strong supporter of popular science education and also promotes various other technological, academic, international alliance, and exchange events for the industry.Macronix president CY LuPhoto: CompanyMedia Contact:Michelle ChangDepartment ManagerCorporate Communication OfficeTEL: +886-3-578-6688 ext. 71233Mobile: +886-933310870Email: michellechang@mxic.com.tw

Leading non-volatile memory supplier Macronix International has announced that it has skipped the 90nm process node and moved directly to a 75nm technology, ahead of schedule. The new NOR flash products are targeted for use in networking, computing, consumer and mobile applications.Macronix' first product based on the new 75nm process is a 256Mbit density parallel NOR flash memory, and is currently sampling to leading WiMax, GPON, and set-top box OEM customers.With over 20 years experience in the semiconductor industry, Macronix is renowned for its high-quality, feature-rich and cost-effective solutions for embedded systems and mobile markets. By shrinking the process technology to 75nm, Macronix will be able to increase production capacity for medium to high density products to satisfy the increasing requirements for bigger boot code of Internet applications."The move to 75nm technology further strengthens our product roadmap. The die shrink will offer backward compatibility and performance enhancement, while achieving the common targets shared with customers on cost control," said Martin Lin, Segment Marketing Director at Macronix. "More than that, our next technology node is moving to 57nm to meet the technical requirements of our broad customer base. Macronix just acquired a 300mm fab to enhance its technology migration to geometries beyond 75nm."In addition to meeting current market requirements, 75nm will also provide the platform for low voltage products. These 1.8V products will be targeted at handheld and portable applications requiring a small form factor and reduced power consumption. Macronix is not only the largest supplier of serial NOR flash, but is taking the lead in developing the 1.8V serial flash specifications.Samples of the 75nm 256Mb parallel NOR flash memory are available today, and mass production is slated for the fourth quarter of 2010. This product will be followed by 64Mb and 128Mb in both parallel and serial flash families.Macronix will showcase its memory solutions at booth #209 during Embedded System Conference (ESC) in Boston, Mass. Please stop by Macronix's booth and check out our products targeted for automotive, networking, industrial, medical, and computing applications.