NEC Develops Embedded FeRAM for Smart Card Chips
Staff -- Semiconductor International, 8/1/1998
NEC Develops Embedded FeRAM for Smart Card Chips
NEC Corp. (Tokyo, Japan) has developed an embedded ferro-electric random access
memory (FeRAM) for smart card LSIs designed to be 10,000 times faster while
consuming 10,000 times less energy than conventional EEPROMs. A prototype with
integrated FeRAM and central processing unit (CPU) in a smart card controller
that meets these targets has been fabricated and tested successfully.
The technology developments involved include a two-layer aluminum standard logic process that enables integration of the FeRAM, a FeRAM circuit modularization technology that allows it to have direct access to the CPU memory bus and a screening technology using an offset sense amplifier for detection of bad memory cells. These developments enable smart cards to be powered only by energy in electronic waves, improving the performance of contactless smart cards while saving significant energy. Placing the FeRAM directly on the CPU memory bus allows the FeRAM and CPU to be synchronized for fully random, high-speed readout and write operations in the same manner as static RAM (SRAM).
