New Micron “Ultra” Memory Products Enable Next-Generation Automotive Systems
BOISE, Idaho — Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq:MU), today announced the availability of ultra reliable, ultra high-speed and ultra high-temperature parallel NOR Flash and low-power DDR4 (LPDDR4) DRAM to meet the increasing memory requirements for the automotive market segment. Micron’s G18 NOR family offers the industry’s highest-performance parallel NOR, while Micron’s automotive-grade LPDDR4 solutions are an industry-first.
These new products meet the needs of automotive applications that require ultra high speed. The G18 family’s high performance (266 MB/s)enables faster boot and code execution for higher-density applications, while LPDDR4 enables 33 percent higher peak bandwidth than DDR4. Additionally, Micron’s new solutions deliver long-lasting reliability and meet ISO/TS certification requirements—with the G18 family enabling three times faster throughput over quad SPI NOR, and the LPDDR4 products undergoing additional package-level burn-in testing. Furthermore, Micron’s G18 NOR products have options that meet the industrial temperature (IT) range of -40 to 85°C and the automotive-grade automotive temperature (AAT) range of -40 to 105°C. The LPDDR4 products have options that meet the automotive-grade industrial temperature (AIT) range of -40 to 95°C, as well as some future options that will meet the automotive-grade ultra temperature (AUT) range of -40C to 125°C, which is the highest operating temperature range in the industry, expected to be available in 2016.
“With consumers expecting smartphone connectivity in their car infotainment systems, along with advanced new automotive features like driver assist systems, memory requirements in the connected car are increasing,” said Giorgio Scuro, General Manager of Micron’s Automotive Division. “Micron is focused on delivering leading memory technologies such as parallel NOR and LPDDR4 to enhance the driving experience.”
“With next-generation cars having self-driving functionality, semiconductors need to be designed for the automotive environment, which have more strict standards,” said Luca De Ambroggi, principal analyst for Automotive Semiconductors at IHS. “Micron’s new family of products for the automotive market has been specified having this in mind, to enable next-generation cars.”
Micron G18 Family
Micron’s G18 Parallel NOR Flash solutions are ideal for automotive applications that require fast, reliable code storage and execution when milliseconds matter in boot performance and beyond, like advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) rear-view cameras, which need fast boot speed for instant readiness. G18 NOR Flash delivers read speeds up to 266 MB/s and fast load times that meet 200μs boot requirements; it’s also three times faster than quad SPI NOR. G18 NOR Flash provides low 1.8V core and I/O voltage for better power consumption in a small package. The G18 line also provides A/D MUX and AA/D MUX configurations that reduce I/O ball count by more than 50 percent over traditional parallel NOR products, providing the best bandwidth per pin. In addition to enabling automotive solutions, G18 devices are ideal for equipment automation, enterprise server, and networking applications as well as wearable devices, digital still cameras, medical test equipment, and more.
Micron Automotive LPDDR4 Family
LPDDR4 builds upon the ultra-efficient foundation of LPDDR3 to make significant improvements in performance, power, latency and physical space. Micron’s Automotive LPDDR4 solutions introduce new energy efficiencies while providing twice the bandwidth of LPDDR3, making it an important technology for enabling next-generation automotive applications. LPDDR4 enables data transfer rates up to 4.266 GT/s, which provides greater peak bandwidth using less energy per bit than LPDDR3. The faster I/O data rate delivers speeds up to 3200 Mb/s to enable displays with up to 4K x 2K resolution and 3D graphics on automotive infotainment systems, as well as more advanced ADAS capabilities for collision avoidance and safer driving. These efficiency gains apply not just to peak bandwidth but to lower bandwidth use cases as well.
