"This family offers simple and economical flash memory solutions for high performance embedded systems," said Walid Maghribi, group vice president of AMD's Memory Group. "By offering a family of devices, AMD allows designers to choose a flash memory solution that can be implemented with the most popular microcontrollers with little or no glue logic."

Burst Mode Flash
Three members of the family operate in synchronous burst mode with automatic wrap-around. Each provides a different burst read operation tailored to meet the requirements of specific microprocessors. Initial data access requires 65 nanoseconds. Subsequent data can be accessed as fast as 18 nanoseconds. The three modes of operation are:

• Modulo Burst: Four-word sequential burst.
• Interleaved Burst: Four-word interleaved burst.
• Linear Burst: 32-word sequential burst.

Page Mode Flash
The AMD page mode device consists of eight word pages. After an initial data access of 65 nanoseconds, data can be read asynchronously from any other location within the page as fast as 25 nanoseconds. Using page mode flash memories, designers can eliminate shadow RAM or bank interleaving, resulting in lower system cost.

Applications
Target markets for burst mode flash memory include automotive, telecom, internetworking, and any other high performance systems. Applications for page mode flash include printers, network interface cards and other high performance systems.

Features

High Performance - The burst mode devices provide an initial access time of 65 nanoseconds and sequential burst accesses of 18 nanoseconds. The page mode device provides an initial access of 65 nanoseconds and fast page accesses of 25 nanoseconds.

Operating range of 2.7-3.6-Volt - 5.0-Volt tolerant inputs and outputs - Simplifies operation in 5.0-Volt systems without requiring a separate 5.0- Volt I/O source.

Interfaces directly with most microprocessors with little or no glue logic - Zero-Power Operation - During normal operation, most portable systems have many inactive periods. AMD's advanced power-management system automatically puts the device into sleep mode during these inactive periods, consuming virtually zero power. There is no latency/wake-up time when the system subsequently accesses the device.

Software Compatible - The software command set is compatible with the command sets of the other members of AMD's single power supply 5.0-volt-only and 3.0-volt-only flash families, making its command sequences JEDEC compatible.

Packaging - The page mode device is available in a 44-pin PSOP. The burst mode devices are initially available in a small form factor 56-pin SSOP. They will also be packaged in a 56-pin TSOP.

Availability - Samples of the Am29PL160, the page mode device, are available now. All three burst mode devices will be available for sampling in Q3 and Q4 of this year. The price for either the page or burst mode part is $9.25 in 10,000-piece quantities.