CURRENT FEATURE ARTICLES

A Bid to Simplify Flash Subsystem Design
by Bryon Moyer, IC Design and Verification Journal

45nm From 30,000 ft
by Bryon Moyer, IC Design and Verification Journal

Burning the Secret Sauce
When Paranoia Impedes Progress

Endangered Elite
The Forgotten Foundation of Electronics

Spreading the Span
ChipX Rolls Hybrid ASIC

JOURNAL WEBCASTS

CHALK TALK Accelerate SoC and ASIC Verification Using FPGA Prototypes - Join Amelia Dalton as she explores methods of ASIC verification available today and why FPGA-based prototypes offer the most affordable and most powerful solution. (Synplicity)

CHALK TALK Advancing SoC Verification Methods – Join Amelia Dalton as she talks with experts from Mentor Graphics on processor-driven test and other techniques for solving your system-on-chip verification problems. (Mentor Graphics)

CHALK TALK Real World Solutions for FPGAs in Ultra Low Power Applications - Join Amelia Dalton as she examines the Low Power Reference Platform from Arrow, Altera, and Linear Technology - proving that FPGAs really can run on batteries. (Altera, Arrow, Linear)

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A Bid to Simplify Flash Subsystem Design
by Bryon Moyer, IC Design and Verification Journal

Flash memory, once exotic and expensive, has followed in DRAM’s steps to become a familiar everyday technology. Even more than DRAM perhaps: when was the last time you went to a drug store and picked up a DRAM card while you were there?

As with DRAM, this has been motivated by price decreases: the price per megabyte of Flash is falling by roughly half every year, and volume has responded with a compound annual growth rate of about 170%, according to Denali Software, Inc. Couple this with the fact that Flash is non-volatile, and, well, it’s no surprise that it’s being found not only in camera storage cards and cell phones, but is now becoming a part of the memory subsystem in computing platforms.

One technology advance that has made this reduction in price possible is the development of the Multi-Level Cell (MLC). Traditional Flash used a Single-Level Cell (SLC), which is the standard kind of memory bit we’re used to – one bit per cell, either on or off. [more]