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driver to build a consensus for a
comprehensive data network and its
step-by-step implementation. The need
for consensus-building results from
the multitude of competing processor
platforms and operating systems, in
addition to the various protocols for radio
interfaces and data security measures.
This pertains to the consumer realm as
well as to its industrial-use counterpart
in the guise of ‘Industry 4.0’. All these
developments involve an extraordinary
systems complexity.
Accordingly, Macronix sees several
large, distinctive market segments for
IoT devices and systems: cloud services
and data centers, gateways for mobile
telephony, automotive connectivity,
home media, and a myriad of consumer-
oriented IoT nodes for consumers in
the form of ultra-compact, sensor-
enabled terminal devices for data
acquisition and wireless transmission
over short distances to their personal
base stations, such as smart phones
and tablets.
Most attractive from a current market
perspective are the wearables, since
they will establish large consumer
markets. This is clearly indicated by the
number of the semiconductor vendors
focusing on wearables and smart home
systems and the prioritization they are
giving this segment. Among them are
NXP, Freescale, Qualcomm, TI, Sony,
MTK, Intel, Infineon and others. Of
course, ARM as a licensor is heavily
engaged in this realm as well.
Another market segment offering good
prospects for high sales volumes,
which could gain in importance in the
mid-term, is smart lighting and smart
metering, plus home security and
home control systems equipped with
thermostats and related equipment.
However, this segment may attract a
smaller number of device vendors since
it involves different, somewhat higher
demands on product quality.
Macronix is set to contribute to these
emerging markets through specific
incremental improvements of non-volatile
memory devices, especially in regard to
ultra-low power and standby modes.
In stark contrast to the more broadly
defined Internet of Things, with its
complex infrastructure and fast transfer
of large amounts of data, the wearable
devices segment calls for a pragmatic
system partitioning. Wearables, per
definition, are the smallest possible data
systems to be worn close to the human
body. If they were larger they wouldn’t
be wearables anymore. Wearables, in
contrast to smart phones and multimedia
systems, don’t require high memory
densities and large memory spaces
since they connect wirelessly with their
dedicated base stations.
Fig 1: Available package formats for MX25R serial NOR flash devices.
Fig 2: USON and WLCSP packages
for the Macronix Serial NOR Flash
MC25R Series
Specific NOR Flash
Configurations for
Wearables
Macronix’s new Serial NOR flash
MX25R Series was specifically
designed and laid out for the relevant
performance
requirements
of
wearable devices – that is, eliminating
all non-essential structures and
features. Among other measures,
the internal buffers were tailored to
the envisioned applications, whereas
a typical high-performance memory
cell would comprise large internal
RAMs. In wearable applications, when
focusing on frequencies of just a few
Megahertz, there are further routes
for optimization to reduce die size and
power consumption, while maintaining
all options for system designers to still
utilize special ‘performance modes’ – at
the cost of higher power consumption.
In its deep-power-down (current-
saving) mode the MX25R devices
offer a very favorable power budget,
with savings of more than 90 percent
compared to traditional solutions.
In regard to connecting the memory
device with the system environment,
the MX25R is compatible with the well-
known and widely-used standard Serial
NOR Flash Interface. This eliminates
additional development efforts on the
user’s side and it accelerates time to
market. With regard to active current,
the Macronix MX25R device - drawing
4 mA (8 mA peak) - is situated at the
lower end of the range available in
the market. As a first estimation the
active current of the MX25R device is
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