Hitachi, Renesas collaborate on memory cell technology

Hitachi Ltd and Renesas Technology Corp. have announced the development of a basic flash memory cell technology that achieves a cell area of 0.016 m2 (on a 1-bit basis) and a programming speed of 10Mbps. This basic memory cell technology is expected to improve the source-drain structure of an AG-AND (Assist Gate-AND) 1 flash memory cell featuring multi-level cell technology 2 and high speed, enabling the memory cell area to be reduced by about 30 percent when using a 90 nm process.

Renesas Technology plans commercial production of 4-Gbit AG-AND flash memory-based on this technology in the third quarter of 2004, and will offer compact recording media for the computing community.

According to Hitachi, this new technology makes possible fast downloading and portability of large-volume content data such as moving pictures and music. As a result, usage scenarios previously restricted to digital cameras and PCs can now be extended to mobile terminals and digital home appliances, expanding the range of system solutions that employ flash memory as a storage medium.