"As the recent recipient of EDN Magazine's Innovation of the Year award, AMD's simultaneous read/write architecture has been widely accepted as the flash memory of choice in a variety of embedded applications," said Walid Maghribi, group vice president of AMD's Memory Group. "This unique architecture allows designers to displace other memory devices such as EEPROMs and SRAMs. This lowers system level cost, shortens time to market, and increases system reliability. We will continue to expand this family with 16Mbit and 32Mbit densities to offer our customers a roadmap for future products."

Applications
The Am29DLxxx family addresses a wide array of applications that today incorporate individual flash, EEPROM and SRAM devices. Target applications include digital cellular phones, pagers, web browsers and set-top boxes, personal information devices, and global positioning systems.

Am29DL400 Overview

• Simultaneous Read/Write Flash Architecture
• Provides a highly integrated hardware solution that provides simultaneous read-and-write functionality.
• There is no system or device latency between read-and-write operations; ideal for real-time, embedded systems.

• Reduces Manufacturing and Development Costs
• Reduces the system-level cost structure by eliminating the need for additional memory devices.
• Reduced component count reduces board, logistics and carrying costs, increases manufacturing yields, and enables smaller form-factor systems.
• AMD's hardware solution does not require additional SRAM as required by software implementations.

• Lowest Power Consumption
• Advanced power management provides the lowest active power consumption during normal read-and-write operations.

• Zero-Power Operation
• During normal operation, most portable systems have many inactive periods. AMD's unique power management system automatically puts the device into sleep mode during these inactive periods significantly reducing energy consumption and extending battery life.

• Easy Upgrade in Existing Designs
• Hardware and software compatibility with the Am29LV400 allows easy upgrades in existing designs.
• Hardware and software compatibility with the Am29DL800 for future expansion.

• Single Power Supply for Read-and-Write Operations
• The Am29DL400 is a 2.7 volt device.
• Reduces system costs, power consumption and reliability issues associated with DC-to-DC converters required for dual-voltage flash devices.

• High Performance
• Read access as fast as 70 nanoseconds, allowing operation of high-speed microprocessors with zero wait states. Also available in speeds of 90 and 120 nanoseconds.

• Price, Package & Availability
• The Am29DL400 is available now and is packaged in a 48-lead TSOP. The 120ns version is priced at $3.60 in quantities of 10,000.