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Micron Technology, a leading producer of flash memory devices, is announcing availability of their new ultra high-speed, ultra reliable and ultra high-temperature parallel NOR Flash memory and low-power DDR4 (LPDDR4) DRAM memory designed for the ever-increasing memory requirements of today’s advance automotive systems. Micron’s latest G18 NOR series represents the industry’s highest-performing parallel NOR, while their new automotive-grade LPDDR4 offerings are an industry first. The LPDDR4 will be offered in an automotive-grade ultra temperature range (AUT), which is now the highest operating temperature range in the industry; and is expected to be available in 2016.
Micron’s G18 Parallel NOR Flash devices are perfect for automotive usage scenarios that require fast and reliable code storage and execution, where milliseconds matter for boot performance and more. Items such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and rear-view cameras need fast boot speeds and nearly instant readiness. The G18 NOR Flash provides read speeds of up to 266 MB/s and very fast load times that meet 200 microsecond boot requirements, and is also 3 X faster than quad SPI NOR. G18 NOR Flash operates at 1.8V core and I/O voltage, providing better power consumption levels in a small package. Micron’s G18 NOR devices are also suitable for equipment automation, networking and enterprise server applications; as well as wearable devices, digital still cameras, medical test equipment and more.
According to Giorgio Scuro, General Manager of the Automotive Division at Micron, “With consumers expecting smartphone connectivity in their car infotainment systems, along with advanced new automotive features like driver assist systems, memory requirements in the connected car are increasing. Micron in focused on delivering leading memory technologies such as parallel NOR and LPDDR4 to enhance the driving experience.”
Micron’s LPDDR4 DRAM further improves on the ultra-efficient LPDDR3 design to attain marked improvement in performance, power, latency, and physical space requirements. Automotive LPDDR4 devices from Micron introduce new energy efficiencies as they provide 2 X the bandwidth of the LPDDR3, which is a critical aspect of enabling next-generation automotive applications. LPDDR4 offers data transfer rates of up to 4.266 GT/s, which provides greater peak bandwidth, while consuming less energy than LPDDR3. Micron’s LPDDR4 also attains I/O data rates of up to 3200 Mb/s, which enables displays of up to 4K x 2K resolution, and 3D graphics for automotive infotainments systems, as well as the more advanced ADAS capabilities needed for collision avoidance and safer driving. The efficiency gains apply to both peak bandwidth and lower bandwidth usage cases.
Luca De Ambroggi, principal analyst for Automotive Semiconductors at IHS, states that “With next-generation cars having self-driving functionality, semiconductors need to be designed for the automotive environment, which have more strict standards. Micron’s new family of products for the automotive market has been specified having this in mind, to enable next-generation cars.”
You can view Micron’s press release announcing the G18 and LPDDR4 memory in its entirety here.