Hyperstone Way
ASSP
F1-8X is available in a 128 pin LQFP for
use in ATA format cards and in a 100 pin
TQFP for CompactFlash. It is supplied in
volume to card manufacturers.
For designers who are beginning a flash
memory project Hyperstone offers a com-
prehensive tool kit for developing and
testing ATA Flash Memory and Com-
pactFlash cards. It includes a hardware/
software test environment, firmware for
the Hyperstone’s advanced wear-level-
ling algorithm and ECC and other soft-
ware development tools.
Hyperstone provide a full range of sup-
port services for flash card designers,
from technical help through to complete
design services.
Among the existing customers is Solid
State System Co, which uses the F1-8X in
its 3SPCF range of CompactFlash memory
cards.
Hyperflash
Cards
Hyperstone has developed its own Hyper-
flash families of ATA Flash Memory cards
and CompactFlash cards, using the F1-8X
to produce outstanding performance.
These are available in sizes up to 348
Mbytes currently. The latest flash memory
devices have made it possible to make
cards with capacities up to 992 Mbytes,
which these will be shipping soon.
Standard Hyperflash cards are intended to meet mid-
to low-level production requirements, while special
Hyperflash cards are also available to meet special
requirements, such as extreme temperature ranges or
other demanding environments. They can also be inte-
grated into other processor environments. The Hyper-
flash cards are also intended as working reference
samples for customer evaluation of the F1-8X flash
memory controller.
Business
Hyperstone provides two business models: Sale of con-
troller devices and licensing of IP Packed flash memory
controllers are available to customers ready for PCB
mounting. In special cases – typically high volume in
excess of 500k per year – Hyperstone also can make
the Intellectual Property in the F1-8X design available
under license. This could be to allow its implementa-
tion in a different process technology, where Hyper-
stone has experienced engineering resource available.
Alternatively, it could be to transfer the technologies
for flash memory control into a different environment.
For example, the F1-8X control functionality with the
wear-levelling and ECC can provide a quick route to
efficient integration of flash memory within an embed-
ded application.
Flexibility and Support
The F1-8X just demonstrates how Hyperstone’s RISC/
DSP processor technology can be adapted to the needs
of flash card control. There are many other applica-
tions where the Hyperstone’s innovative and powerful
RISC/DSP architectures can provide dramatic increases
in performance and drastically cut time to market and
system costs.
TRADEMARKS: Hyperstone, Hyperflash, CompactFlash
Flash Memory
Card Design - the
Overview
Portable devices, such as PDAs, personal communicators, digital cameras,
MP3 players or voice recorders, require a storage solution that combines
non-volatility with low power requirements and high access speeds, all at
an acceptable cost. It is this market that the Flash Memory Card addresses.
As the cards have increased in capacity, so it has become more important to
provide built-in control functionality, including wear-levelling. Hyperstone
offers a complete solution - a flash memory controller development kit that
is “simply the best” - for a wide range of card formats, memory types and
applications.
Flash Memory Cards
Flash cards provide a third way in memory devices. Cheap, high-volume,
non-volatile storage has previously been provided by rotating magnetic
and optical memory such as hard disks and CD and DVD Read-Write sys-
tems. These are prone to mechanical problems, are power hungry and
can be slow, particularly when powering up from sleep or standby mode.
Lower capacity requirements are served by solid-state devices. DRAM and
SRAM are fast, but volatile and expensive. PROM and other devices are non-
volatile, but extremely slow when writing or programming.
Flash memory is a non-volatile solid-state memory that is affordable and
has acceptable read-write speeds. It draws considerably less power during
operations than rotating memory devices, is considerably more robust and
wakes rapidly from standby or sleep modes. Banks of flash memories
can be packaged in a PC Card format to create the solid-
state equivalent of a hard disk.
With the increasing density of
these flash cards, managing
memory can quickly become
an overhead on a host proces-
sor. Instead, processing capability
has become built in, making flash
cards look even more like a stand-
ard hard disk to a host.
The two leading formats for flash
memory cards are the ATA Flash
Memory card in a PC II form-factor,
used in PDAs or personal organizers
and the newer, small form-factor Com-
pactFlash cards used, for example, in MP3
players and digital cameras.
Hyperstone AG, Am Seerhein 8, D-78467 Konstanz, Germany
Phone: +49 (7531) 98030 Fax: +49 (7531) 51725 E-mail: info@hyperstone.de
Website: www.hyperstone-ag.com