Taiwanese semiconductor company Winbond Electronics has announced 8Mbit 3V flash devices in a small-form-factor for connected IoT edge devices used in industrial and consumer segments.

As IoT devices become widely deployed in industrial factory automation and smart home control applications combining processing, connectivity and sensor technologies in a system that is small and upgradeable, the demand grows for flash memories that come in small-form-factor packaging, consume a negligible amount of energy, and support fast software updates.

The W25Q80RV is manufactured in Winbond’s 12-inch wafer foundry using 58nm technology. The die area is reduced by 40% compared with its predecessor, which was built with 90nm technology. In addition to small-form-factor packaging, this flash is suitable for space-constrained applications where the flash KGD or WLCSP is combined with the SoC in a system-in-package.

Read speed is improved from 104MHz to 133MHz, page programming time halved, and active read current reduced by up to 20%. XIP (execute-in-place) of code is accomplished at a higher frequency, enabling greater system response while consuming less energy.

Faster programming accelerates factory throughput and lowers manufacturing costs. The short time it takes to conduct an OTA firmware update means more system availability and less downtime, which can result in a better end-user experience.

Along with a reduced form factor, this 8Mbit flash supports use cases for a range of IoT devices with higher performance, lower power and faster manufacturing programming and OTA update.

The company has been supporting the requirements of those using the 8Mbit flash with the existing generation of W25QxxDV series for many years in applications including instrumentation, networking, PC, printer, automotive and gaming. Now the time has come to support the latest versions of these IoT devices with more system capabilities. After the introduction of this improved 8Mbit flash, the rest of the low-density RV series will be launched in the coming quarters, enabling migration from W25QxxCV and W25QxxDV series to their W25QxxRV counterparts.

The W25Q80RV supports all common single, dual, quad and QPI commands and read modes for XIP and code shadowing to RAM. This device operates on a single 2.7 to 3.6V power supply with a power-down current down to 1μA. Active read current is optimised from 12mA down to 10mA at 104MHz.

This 8Mbit (1Mbyte) flash is sectioned into 64kbyte or 32kbyte blocks and is further subdivided into 4kbyte sectors, which allow for more flexibility and storage efficiency in applications that require code, data and parameter storage in the same device.

It is also capable of 66MHz double data rate operation so the system can achieve the same 133MHz single data rate read throughput at a lower clock frequency. The read command bypass mode supports faster memory access for true XIP operation by eliminating the command input cycle.

“Winbond is proud and committed to innovate and differentiate by designing our serial flash KGD and WLCSP for use in specialised applications requiring non-volatile storage that is small in form factor, high speed and energy efficient,” said Jackson Huang, vice president at Winbond.

Winbond Electronics is a supplier of semiconductor memory. The company provides customer-driven memory backed by the capabilities of product design, R&D, manufacturing and sales services.

Winbond is headquartered in Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP), and has subsidiaries in the USA, Japan, Israel, China, Hong Kong and Germany. Based on Taichung and Kaohsiung 12-inch fabs in Taiwan, Winbond develops in-house technologies to provide memory IC products.