Licence adds embedded Flash to SoC capabilities

1st Silicon is to license 0.25um SuperFlash technology from Silicon Storage Technology (SST) to manufacture embedded Flash products for its foundry customers.

1st Silicon is to license 0.25um SuperFlash technology from Silicon Storage Technology (SST) to manufacture embedded Flash products for its foundry customers.

The embedded Flash is the first of several new technologies 1st Silicon will be adopting in order to differentiate itself from peer foundries and add value to its customers.

The agreement represents an expansion of SST's existing embedded Flash licensing programme and highlights the success of the company's high-reliability, high-performance SuperFlash technology as the technology of choice for embedded applications.

To date, SST has more than a dozen worldwide licensees of its SuperFlash technology, including IBM, Motorola, NEC, Samsung and TSMC among others.

Under terms of the agreement, the two companies expect to have SST's SuperFlash technology in pilot production by next spring.

This technology, in conjunction with its current offering of logic, mixed-mode, embedded SRAM, ROM and variety of IP, will place 1st Silicon in a competitive position and also enable the company to serve its customers' SoC demands.

"We selected SST's SuperFlash technology because of its high reliability, logic compatibility and low-cost structure.

These qualities are essential for our targeted markets which include consumer (smart cards, SIM cards, STB), wireless applications (Bluetooth, cellular and cordless phones), and even some automotive applications", said Dr W John Nelson, CEO of 1st Silicon.

"By accessing this well-proven and highly successful technology, we can serve the manufacturing demands of customers worldwide, as well as local design houses here in Malaysia.

We look forward to a long-term relationship with SST".

"With more than 1 billion devices shipped based on SST's embedded Flash technology by our worldwide licensees, we have seen incredible market acceptance for our SuperFlash technology.

Today's agreement with 1st Silicon demonstrates our strong commitment to continue to provide broad availability of our industry-leading SuperFlash technology for embedded applications through leading foundries worldwide", said Bing Yeh, President and CEO of SST.

Yeh concluded: "1st Silicon is a well-established foundry with a reputation for providing cost-effective manufacturing services and a commitment to quality.

We have high confidence that 1st Silicon and its foundry customers will benefit greatly from the SuperFlash technology".

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