By Dr Mike Cooke

Saifun is claiming the the first flash technology that can store four bits per cell at this week's International Electron Devices Meeting in Washington, DC, December 5-7 2005.

The company's "Quad NROM" doubles the storage capacity of conventional 2-level memory cells and is said to provide a simpler architecture that requires fewer manufacturing steps and reduces manufacturing costs. Indeed, the company claims to have eliminated 40% of the most difficult fab processes, thereby increasing yield, quality and manufacturing throughput.

Chip reliability is a key requirement for products such as Flash, where many chips are typically combined in one package. Failure of one chip in the package leads to the waste of the others.

Saifun is a provider of intellectual property (IP) solutions to semiconductor manufacturers in the non-volatile memory (NVM) market. Its first NROM product was introduced in 1998.

The company's presentation at the IEDM is expected be available on the Saifun website.