United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) has announced breakthroughs in its development of embedded EEPROM (eEEPROM) process technologies, which deliver an I/O voltage range of 1.8V-5V and endurance at one million program erase cycles.

While standard 2.5V/3.3V or 1.8V/3.3V inputs require dual devices and a regulator to reach beyond these fixed voltages, UMC's eEEPROM solution offers a 1.8V-5V variable voltage range via a single device without the need for additional circuitry, which in conventional designs consumes extra chip real estate. This flexible and efficient SoC process facilitates longer battery life while occupying less space on the platform.

For endurance, UMC now offers one million program erase cycles compared to the standard 100K program erase cycles for alternative eEEPROM solutions. This high-performance technology enables customers to deliver devices with high reliability embedded memory that enable a much longer product life, UMC said.

UMC's eEEPROM technologies are currently in mass production at 0.35- and 0.25-micron nodes and in pilot production at the 0.18-micron node. The 0.11-micron node is in development and is expected to be available in early 2012, according to the foundry.

The new processes target applications including banking cards, smart cards, ID cards, and microcontrollers.

By: DocMemory
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