Arasan Chip Systems Releases ONFI 2.2 NAND Flash Controllers

Support high-performance flash memory using Arasan’s ONFI 2.2 compliant NAND Flash Controller

San Jose,California  – November, 10, 2009 – Arasan Chip Systems, Inc. (“Arasan”), a leading provider of Intellectual Property (IP) Cores, announced the availability of NAND Flash Controllers supporting the newest Open NAND Flash Interface (ONFI) 2.2 specification. The increased bandwidth supported by ONFI 2.2 is critical to realizing the performance advantage of larger page-size NAND memory. Arasan has released two flavors of controllers – one for SLC and another for MLC memory.

The rapid development of new, high capacity NAND memory devices makes it the preferred non-volatile memory solution for a wide range of products from cell phones, consumer electronics to netbooks. However, this increase in capacity and performance of NAND memories is accompanied with the corresponding increase in memory controller complexity. Arasan’s NAND Flash Controller is architected to handle the growing raw error bit rates as NAND memory migrates to finer process geometries by processing information contained in the Extended ECC Information data structure stored in NAND memory. In addition, the controller supports booting directly from NAND memory. The IP core is easily implemented using a generic standard cell based flow combined with delay components that are part of a typical ASIC cell library. By integrating Arasan’s NAND Flash Controller, SoC designers can interface to a variety of NAND memory devices via a standard ONFI interface.

“SoC designers would like to exploit advances in NAND memory technology without having to develop proprietary interfaces, thereby ensuring compatibility,” said Prakash Kamath, Vice-President of Engineering at Arasan. “With Arasan’s NAND Flash Controllers, designers can seamlessly interface to any ONFI 2.2 compliant memory, independent of the underlying NAND memory technology.”

“Consumer and mobile device manufacturers are constantly exploring options to reduce the cost of their system solutions, particularly memory components,” said Somnath Viswanath, Product Marketing Manager at Arasan. “By integrating Arasan’s NAND Flash Controller, they now have the option to integrate the most cost effective ONFI based memory over the life of the host processor.”

Arasan’s NAND Flash Controllers support the fastest transfer modes up to 166MBps (Sync mode 4) and 200MBps (Sync mode 5). The IP incorporate all of the new features of ONFI 2.2 such as enhanced power management, ECC information, interleaved reads, small data movement and other commands that improve performance. The controller can stop the clock during writes to save power.

Arasan provides a “Total IP Solution” for its NAND Flash Controller IP core consisting of RTL source code, synthesis scripts, test environment and documentation, all backed by Arasan’s World-class customer support.

About Arasan

Arasan Chip Systems Inc. (www.arasan.com), based in San Jose, CA, USA, is a world-leading supplier of  SoC Intellectual Property solutions. Arasan delivers technology-leading Bus IP solutions like MIPI, SD/ SDIO, USB, PCI, Ethernet, MMC, CE-ATA, CF+, NAND and more, to the global electronics market.  Arasan’s Total Solution Approach includes RTL IP cores, Verification IP (VIP), Portable Software Drivers / Stacks, Hardware Development Kits, Validation Platforms and Design Services. Arasan’s IP Solutions portfolio enables designers to accelerate their development and minimize the risks associated with production of complex system-on-chip (SoCs).  Arasan provides a competitive advantage through a combination of domain expertise, silicon proven IP, hardware / software tools, and customization services.