AMD, Intel Go Head-To-Head in Flash Market

By: Robert Keenan, Managing Editor

Contents
Voltages
Fighting fraud
Packaging
Pricing

In the world of wireless design, competition is running high. Manufacturers are competing head-to-head on a daily basis to land new business or to keep current customers.

On the flash device side of the business, Intel (Folsom, CA) and AMD (Sunnyvale, CA) are boxing it out for the number one position in the handset arena. And the competition is heating up.

On Monday, Intel launched a 16-Mb flash memory device, called the Advanced+ Boot Block, for wireless handset applications (see Intel Unleashes Flash Device for Handset Applications). This product, which developed using a 0.25-µm process, is designed to from +1.8 VDC supplies while providing a 90 ns read access time.

On the same day, AMD's unveiled a 16-Mb flash product, dubbed the Am29SL160C, for handset designs. This part is also designed to operate down to +1.8 VDC and features a read access time of 100 ns.

According to Curt Nichols, marketing director of Intel's Flash Products Division, the release of these two products shows the need for lower voltage, faster operation parts.

Kevin Plouse, technical of technical marketing for AMD's Memory Group, agrees. Plouse says there has definitely been a push for lower operation, higher performance parts. The release of parts, like the Am29SL160C, is definitely a step toward meeting the voltage/performance requirements of today's handset designers.

However, Plouse also says that the need for lower power, higher performance parts vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Although this is one trend, Plouse says some manufacturers are also looking for higher performance parts that operate from higher power supplies as well as dual-operation parts.

Voltages
There is no question that over the past two years many handset manufacturers have been pushing toward lower and lower operating voltages in their systems. By moving to lower voltages, such as +1.8 VDC, manufacturers know they can reduce overall power consumption in their system designs

For more than a year, flash manufacturers have worked hard to meeting the dropping power requirements of handset manufacturer. In fact, in December 1997, AMD released a flash memory product that operated down to +1.8 VDC.

Until now, manufacturers could not handle the +1.8 VDC supply. According to Nichols, the chip sets, baseband processors, and surrounding logic did not support +1.8 VDC operation. Now, however, many of these products also operate down to +1.8 VDC, making lower-power flash products more attractive to today's wireless system designers.

The advantages of lower operation are clear for the handset designer. By running at lower voltages, such as +1.8 VDC, the wireless product can consume less power, and in turn, provide longer talk and standby times.

Fighting fraud
Security is also a big concern for the wireless industry. Cellular fraud cost the wireless industry millions of dollars on a yearly basis. As a result, carriers are turning to handset manufacturers to provide higher levels of security in their handset designs.

Through the implementation of dedicated registers and write protection features, Intel and AMD are addressing this concern

Intel has lead the way providing enhanced security to cellular phone designers through its flash products. For example, the company's new Advanced+ Boot Block product provides two features to enhance security in cellular phone designs. The first feature, called instant block locking, protects code and data from corruption. It also allows the flash memory device to lock and unlock each block in the device. Using this lock/unlock mechanism, designers can protect critical data, such as boot codes and parameter tables, within the flash device without fear of losing the information.

The Advanced+ Boot Block memory device is also supplied with a 128-b one-time programmable (OTP) fraud protection register. According to Intel, half of this register (64 bits) is programmed at the factory with a distinct silicon identifier. The remaining 64 bits can be programmed in production. This provides a distinct serial code all wireless handsets employing this flash memory device, thus reducing fraud.

Although Intel darted out of the starting gate first, AMD is following close behind in providing fraud protection capabilities. The Am29SL160C is also equipped with two features that enhance security in wireless designs. The first is a write protection feature. Similar to Intel's instant boot locking capability, Intel's write protection circuitry is designed to protect code critical data, such as boot codes, within the wireless system.

The second feature is an electronic serialization sector. According to Plouse, this feature allows the handset designer to store critical information, such as electronic serial codes, in the flash product for tracking purposes.

The main difference between AMD's electronic serialization sector and Intel's OTP register is size. Currently, Intel devotes a 128-b register for only programming serial numbers. AMD, on the other hand, dedicates a 64-KB sector to serialization. According to Plouse, this allows manufacturers to store electronic serial numbers along with other information that they can use to distinctly identify a handset.

Packaging
In the wireless handset arena, packaging is the key to success. If a product is not packaged properly, it may not meet the size requirements of today's handset designers, and thus won't find acceptance in the wireless market.

To address the packaging concerns AMD and Intel are offering their products in both TSOP and ball-grid-array (BGA) products. On the TSOP side, both companies are offering similar solutions. On the BGA side, however, a battle is starting to brew.

AMD's Am29SL160C is offered in a fine-pitch BGA while Intel's Advanced+ Boot Block is supplied in a 55-ball micro-BGA (µBGA). The main difference between these chip-scale packages (CSPs) lies in ball pitch. AMD's product features a 0.8-mm ball pitch while Intel's product sports a 0.5-mm ball pitch.

Ball pitch is becoming a bigger concern for today's wireless designers. To reduce space, manufacturers are moving to tighter and tighter ball pitches. But this approach can create headaches for designers. In particular, if pitch between the balls becomes to small, engineers may run into problems employing a product in their current manufacturing technology (see Advanced Packaging Technology Solves Size Hurdles in Handset Designs).

According to Alan Niebel, director of non-volatile memory at Semico Research (Phoenix, AZ), says Intel may run into problems with its new flash product because of the 0.5-mm ball pitch BGA package. Many handset manufacturers are not working with these ball pitches. Therefore, Niebel says, some manufacturers will have trouble implementing Intel's product in their design.

Plouse says that 0.5 mm is definitely the future for BGA packages, but it's not in here today. As a result Plouse says will have problems employing a 0.5-mm ball pitch package and will be more likely turn to a 0.8-mm ball pitch package, such as its FBGA.

Intel's Nichols, however, offers a different view. According to Nichols many manufacturers have requested a 0.5-mm ball pitch for a BGA package. In addition, Nichols says that any manufacturer using a 0.75-mm µBGA can easily adapt their manufacturing equipment to handle the new 0.5-mm package.

Pricing
AMD's Am29SL160C is available now for samples in a 48-pin TSOP and a 48-ball FBGA. It is priced at $8.50 in 10,000-piece quantities.

Intel's Advanced+ Boot Block product will be supplied in 48-lead TSOP and a 55-ball µBGA. The TSOP version will be priced at $6.60 in 10,000 quantities while the BGA version will be priced at $7.40. Sample quantities will be available in the third quarter of 1999 with volume production starting in the fourth quarter.