Silicon Storage Technology (SST), a subsidiary of Microchip Technology and United Microelectronics Corporation, a leading global semiconductor foundry, announced the full completion of qualification and release to production of SST’s embedded SuperFlash Gen 4 (ESF4) with full automotive grade 1 (AG1) capability on UMC’s 28HPC+ foundry process platform, to cater to the automotive industry’s requirements for increasingly performant vehicle controllers relentlessly drives ahead.
SST developed ESF4 in close partnership with UMC to deliver enhanced embedded non-volatile memory (eNVM) performance and demonstrated reliability for automotive controllers while simultaneously significantly reducing the number of additional masking steps versus other foundries’ 28nm High-k/Metal-Gate Stack (HKMG) eFlash offerings, bringing customers cost advantages and greater manufacturing efficiency.
Customers currently manufacturing automotive controller products using foundry 40nm ESF3 AG1 platforms are encouraged to explore the UMC 28nm ESF4 AG1 platform as they look to scale to the next process node.
“As automotive requirements accelerate, developers need solutions that drive efficiency, speed up time to market and satisfy stringent industry standards. To meet these needs, UMC and SST have delivered a robust 28nm AG1 solution which is now ready for the production of customer designs,” said Mark Reiten, Vice President of Microchip’s licensing business unit. “UMC has been a valuable partner for SST and SuperFlash innovation, and the companies continue to jointly address the rapidly evolving market requirements and deliver technically and economically advanced offerings.”
“As the automotive industry rapidly advances toward more connected, autonomous, and shared vehicles, the demand for highly reliable data storage and high-capacity data updates continues to grow. This has driven customer demand for scaling SuperFlash to the 28nm process,” said Steven Hsu, Vice President of Technology Development at UMC. “Through our close collaboration with SST, we have successfully launched the ESF4 solution, which has been fully integrated into the widely adopted 28HPC+ platform. This enables our customers to leverage the extensive models and IP available in our portfolio to address key markets while simultaneously scaling to a more advanced process node.”
Key SuperFlash performance and reliability metrics for UMC’s 28HPC+ ESF4 AG1 platform include:
- Automotive Electronics Council (AEC) Q-100 Grade 1 qualified for operating temperatures of -40°C to +150°C (Tj)
- Read access time < 12.5ns
- 100K+ endurance cycles
- Data retention of > 10 years @ 125°C
- Only 1-bit ECC required
- Qualification of 32Mb macro at auto grade 1 conditions:
- Zero bit failures (no ECC applied)
- Peak yield reached 100%
Automotive controller shipment volumes continue to rapidly increase year after year, as the transportation industry demands innovative solutions for a widening variety of vehicle applications. Embedding a performant and highly reliable eNVM for code and data storage within the controller is essential to effectively serve this expanding market. SST’s ESF4 solution on UMC’s 28HPC+ AG1 platform is designed to support customers seeking a solution which may include supporting high-capacity controller firmware that requires over-the-air (OTA) update flexibility.
