JEDEC Publishes LPDDR-NVM Memory Standard

Arlington, VA -- November 29, 2007 - JEDEC recently published the Low Power Double Data Rate (LPDDR) Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) Specification for Flash memory chips. For the first time, SDRAM and NVM traffic can be interleaved efficiently on a shared bus without arbitration, to reduce cost and dramatically improve performance in mobile devices.

The LPDDR interface uses 166 MHz clock speeds, pipelined deterministic latencies, and double data-rate bursts with source-synchronous data strobes. This new achievement enables 667 MB/s transfer rates on a typical 16-bit data bus, three times the transfer rate of the prior high- end 16-bit flash memory bus. Address multiplexing supports NVM density growth to 16 Gbit using the same pinout already required for LPDDR-SDRAM.

"LPDDR-SDRAM is gaining popularity in portable consumer electronics where low power consumption is important," explained JEDEC task group chairman Geoffrey Gould. "In those same systems, Non-Volatile Memory chips store software as well as data. With our new standard, a single memory controller can use a single bus efficiently for both types of embedded memory traffic. The host chipset no longer needs arbitration between two different memory controllers."

A shared bus reduces package pincount, reduces die-size for silicon chips that are bondpad constrained, and reduces the size of printed circuit boards - by reducing the number of separate busses, and enabling stacked packages with fewer pins. Alternatively, very high-performance systems can place LPDDR-SDRAM and LPDDR-NVM on two separate busses, using two instantiations of one memory controller with less design and validation effort than implementing two types of controllers.

The standard (N07-NV1B) is available free at www.JEDEC.org.

JEDEC is the leading developer of standards for the solid-state industry. Almost 3100 participants, appointed by some 290 companies work together in 50 JEDEC committees to meet the needs of every segment of the industry, manufacturers and consumers alike. The publications and standards that they generate are accepted throughout the world. All JEDEC standards are available online, at no charge. More information is available at www.JEDEC.org.