David Hsu Describes Kilopass' New Itera MTP NVM

Itera™ is the industry's first CMOS logic embedded multi-time programmable (MTP) non-volatile memory (NVM) in 40nm. It provides up to 1024 cycles of re-programmable storage. Itera is built using Kilopass' patented 2T antifuse bitcell, which has been integrated in over 2 billion integrated circuits (ICs) as a solution for one-time programmable (OTP) NVM. The patented 2T bitcell has proven security critical for secure code storage applications. Using Itera, system-on-chip (SoC) designers can achieve significantly lower costs, higher performance, and improved integration by replacing external serial EEPROM and NOR flash in high-volume mobile and consumer applications. SoC designs that currently require external MTP NVM to store code or configuration data that change over the life of the product can now integrate Itera on chip to boost performance and reduce bill-of-material (BoM) costs and space of the final design. Itera enables a typical design to achieve an 24X increase in performance over Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) flash and realize a cost savings of up to $6.3 million for a chip that achieves in a 10-million unit per year run rate. Itera is available in MTP capacity from 32 bit to 1Mb and is now available at all major pure play foundries including TSMC, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, and UMC in 40nm bulk silicon with 65nm and 55nm in H2'11.

Posted on Thursday Jun. 23, 2011