The circuit technology is said to enable the industry’s first P/E endurance of over 100million cycles under a junction temperature of 175°C, while also delivering rewrite energy of 0.07mJ/8KBytes for low energy consumption.
Until now it has not been possible to add flash memory to the automotive analogue and power devices that control the high-voltage drivers used for compact motors without changing the base process used to manufacture them. The need for memory to store tuning data for optimising the performance of analogue circuits is typically addressed either by incorporating eFUSE technology or by utilising external EEPROM chips.
The newly developed flash memory technology is claimed to keep additional process costs under control, while providing a way to add flash memory to automotive analogue and power devices. This means that analogue circuits for connecting sensors and motors can employ devices that mix microcontroller logic and flash memory based on the new technology. It has the potential to substantially reduce the number of chips used in motor control systems, while helping to make them more compact, lightweight, and power efficient.
The high P/E endurance is claimed to be suitable for applications such as automatic calibration or status recording using high-frequency sampling under actual usage conditions in the field. This has the potential to bring greater precision to automotive control.
Additionally, Renesas says its flash memory technology will help promote ECU integration and the unification of mechanical and electrical elements and will contribute to vehicles with more fuel-efficiency, interior space and comfort.
