Startup aims to replace NOR flash in mobile devices
Amir Ben-Artzi
EE Times Europe
(04/24/2008 9:01 AM EDT)
NETANYA, Israel — Israeli startup KDR Flashware Solutions Ltd. (Or Yehuda) claims that the technology it has developed, based on its software, signal processing and system resources, allows single flash chip solutions with code and data on one die.
The company suggests its chip could replace current NOR devices by a combined NOR-NAND solution that will streamline storage in mobile devices.
Rony Levy, founder and CEO of the venture, told EETimes Europe KDR has already signed an agreement with a large memory device vendor to develop the first chip. Levy declined to name the vendor, but said that KDR, which was established in 2007, will use SMIC as its foundry.
He added that the company, which currently runs on private sed money, has started a fund raising round and is already talking with few strategic partners, which again he would not identify.
According to Levy, prototype sampling of KDR's chip, with the software, will be available by the fourth quarter of 2008. He argued that the chip, that he said is the first to combine NOR and NAND technologies on one die, will replace, pin-to-pin currently installed NOR flash in devices such as cellphones.
"Large cellular companies, with which we are doing feasibility studies, at first did not believe that this can be done, but our solution will combine the strengths of NOR and NAND." Levy noted that today's complicated mobile devices need extensive code space and large embedded storage capacity, while competing for smaller size, lower price and lower power consumption.
"There are currently three main solutions for these challenges. The first is to use a large NOR flash for both code and data, the second is to use an embedded flash NAND storage and the third is to use flash disk only and running the code from a large DRAM", said Levy. "All these solutions are expensive and the third one is also less reliable. KDR's technology offers a single flash chip with standard interface, for both code and data, cost performance of NAND and easy access reliability of NOR."
Levy was formerly vice president for embedded products at Saifun Semiconductors Ltd., which was sold to Spansion. He also worked for M-systems and SanDisk.
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