Fabless chip maker SST (Silicon Storage Technology) is aiming for the automotive market with its low cost serial flash technology. The flash transistor uses a split gate architecture and so can be programmed in small blocks and is more reliable than traditional NOR flash technology.

The move into automotive would be flash memory shipped to other chip vendors to include in their packages as a cheaper alternative to embedded flash.

It has launched a new family of SPI serial flash memory devices that it claims has the industry's smallest form factor and lowest power consumption.

The new SST25WFxxx family is ideal for battery-powered, space- and height-constrained portable applications including wireless networks such as ZigBee, Bluetooth, WiFi, camera modules, portable media players, remote controls and portable VoIP products. The SST25WFxxx family continues SST's legacy of innovation in serial flash technology and expands the company's presence in the high-volume portable electronics market.

Based on SST's proprietary SuperFlash technology, the first products available in the SST25WFxxx family are offered in densities of 512Kbit to 2Mbit, with plans to introduce higher densities in 2007.

The company is working on its third generation technology with a vertical transistor that reduces the cell area by half. It is also working on the move from the current 120nm technology to 90nm for next year.

“The introduction of the SST25WF family reinforces SST's commitment to the NOR flash memory market,” said Douglas Lee, vice president, Applications Specific Memory Product Group, SST. “As the market continues its trend toward lower voltage devices, no other serial flash product on the market today achieves the combination of low power with high performance and small size that our SST25WF family delivers. Consumer demand for small, handheld wireless devices shows no signs of slowing, and we believe our new SST25WF family of serial flash devices is well positioned to serve this market.”

For more information, visit www.sst.com