Industry Expert Blogs
Is 2012 going to be another breakout year for NAND Flash and Low-Power Design?-January 9, 2012 |
It’s just one week into the year, I am increasingly getting the feeling that 2012 is going to be a momentous, tumultuous year for semiconductor technology and low-power system design. Among the many recent events that are giving me this feeling are the changes taking place in the NAND Flash arena. Nearly all low-power system designers depend on NAND Flash in some form because it is currently the technology of choice for storing code and data when a system is in deep low-power/sleep mode or when switched off. We use NAND Flash on chip for microcontrollers. We use NAND Flash chips on board for main storage in mobile phone handsets, tablets, eBook readers, and many other embedded systems. We use NAND Flash cards for removable storage in cameras, camcorders, mobile phone handsets, voice recorders, and media players. Any changes to NAND Flash technology ripple widely through the low-power design landscape like earth tremors.