Low-Voltage Boot Block Flash Keeps Data Secure

With low-voltage operation and fraud protection capabilities, the 1.8V Advanced+ Boot Block flash memories are designed to be key components of battery powered, handheld devices such as cellular phones, pagers, PC companions, and GPS systems. The memories are said to consume up to 25% less energy than similar 3V products. As a result, designers of small wireless products can use smaller batteries and extend operating times. Operation is within the 1.8V EIA/JEDEC standard range of 1.65V to 1.95V. The memories are offered in 16-Mbit densities in both a 55-ball, 0.5-mm microBGA chip-scale package and a 48-lead TSOP.Instant (or zero-latency) block locking protects code and data from corruption. The flexible block-locking scheme also allows the system to independently lock and unlock each block in the memory. Protected boot code storage is no longer limited to just the top or bottom 16 kb of memory. The chips also offer a 128-bit OTP fraud-protection register that can be used for system authentication, access rights, equipment registration, or other security schemes involving OTP bits. Sampling starts in the second quarter.