Renesas puts weight behind CellularRAM format

Renesas Technology Corp has joined the CellularRAM specification codevelopment team, joining Cypress Semiconductor Corp, Infineon Technologies and Micron Technology.

Renesas Technology Corp has joined the CellularRAM specification codevelopment team, joining Cypress Semiconductor Corp, Infineon Technologies and Micron Technology.

Cypress, Infineon and Micron, as individual companies, are all extremely active in the Asia market with facilities in China, India, Japan, Singapore and the Philippines.

Their focus and commitment to this market is solidified with the addition of Renesas to the specification codevelopment.

Renesas is now the first Asia-headquartered manufacturer developing a family of CellularRAM devices for next-generation mobile handsets.

CellularRAM products are a high-performance, low-power memory solution designed to meet the growing memory density and bandwidth demands of future 2.5G and 3G handset designs.

In addition to offering a lower cost/bit ratio than current solutions, this new multi-sourced, multi-generation family of pseudostatic RAM (PSRAM) products features SRAM pin compatibility, external refresh-free operation and a low-power design.

CellularRAM devices are a drop-in replacement, pin-and-function-compatible, for most asynchronous low-power SRAMs used currently in cellular phone designs.

"The handset community voiced a strong need for a cost-effective, high-performance, low power solution tailored specifically to meet their unique system requirements.

Renesas, recognising the benefits CellularRAM technology brings to this marketplace, joined the CellularRAM specification codevelopment", said Masahiro Yamamura, Executive General Manager of the Memory Business Unit at Renesas Technology.

"We are excited to participate in the codevelopment of this specification as our customers tell us CellularRAM products are their choice for mobile handset applications".

Cypress, Infineon and Micron said in a joint statement: "We are pleased to welcome Renesas to the codevelopment of the CellularRAM specification.

We value Renesas as a broad-based semiconductor supplier and believe the addition of this major Asia-region vendor to the group strengthens global adoption of CellularRAM technology.

The CellularRAM specification codevelopment members deliver a new memory standard with superior performance to customers with the collective benefit of the members' wide-range of market experience and innovative technology".

The purpose of this specification codevelopment effort is to provide customers with pin- and function-compatible products from multiple sources, based on a jointly developed specification for the CellularRAM architecture.

Each member company provides system expertise and product direction, and designs and manufactures their own products using their own design and process technology.

Based on a one-transistor (1T) DRAM cell, CellularRAM products provide significant advances over traditional SRAM and a six-transistor (6T) SRAM cell, leveraging the technology and reduced size of a DRAM cell.

These products operate at up to 104MHz clock rates; run at an initial latency of 39ns; and can achieve up to 208Mbyte/s peak bandwidth.

CellularRAM products also feature a burst read and write mode that emulates a popular Flash Burst compatible protocol with various I/O voltage options, making them ideal for multichip package (MCP) products.

MCP solutions are a growing trend for mobile applications.

As CellularRAM products are ideal companion devices, the codevelopment continues to enable the market by designing future generations of CellularRAM products with a common bond format supporting the MCP requirements of the members' respective customers.

Like other specification codevelopment members, Renesas will design its devices using its own technology and will manufacture them in its own fabrication facilities.

Renesas products will be delivered to market according to the company's internal schedules.

Member companies continue to work together to define the specification for the next-generation CellularRAM products.

CellularRAM devices are available now.

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