MOSAID Unveils Industry's Fastest Flash Memory Device
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MOSAID Unveils Industry's Fastest Flash Memory Device

OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (MARKET WIRE) -- Nov 02, 2011 --

Editors Note: There is an image associated with this press release.

MOSAID Technologies Inc. (TSX: MSD) today announced that it is now sampling the industry's fastest NAND Flash memory semiconductor device. MOSAID's 256Gb HLNAND™2 (HyperLink NAND) device operates at up to 800MB/s per channel, twice the speed of any other NAND Flash device now on the market. Targeting mass storage applications, including enterprise data centers and high-performance computing applications, MOSAID's HLNAND2 enables product designers to build SSDs (Solid State Drives) with Gigabyte-per-second performance and Terabyte-class storage capacity.

"We are very excited to be the first company to produce a NAND Flash device that delivers DDR800 performance," said Jin-Ki Kim, Vice President of R&D, MOSAID. "The 256Gb HLNAND2 device is optimized for a wide range of Flash storage applications that require high performance and scalability. We believe that HLNAND2 provides the industry's most cost-effective solution for Flash storage applications requiring both high performance and memory capacity."

MOSAID's HLNAND Flash Memory Specification 2 utilizes a high-speed, point-to-point ring topology, facilitating the development of SSDs with data transfer rates into the multiple Gigabyte-per-second range. With a raw data rate of up to 800MB/s per channel, and 1600MB/s per channel with DuplexRW™, HLNAND2 requires only one memory channel to reach a data transfer rate on the host interface exceeding 1 GB/s. In comparison, NAND Flash interfaces based on a parallel bus structure are limited to transfer rates of 200 to 400MB/s, with only a few devices supported on each channel.

"HLNAND's point-to-point interface creates an extremely clean signaling environment with reduced loading, allowing developers to build SSDs with Terabyte-class capacity without data-rate degradation," said Kim. "HLNAND's ring topology also eliminates the need for power hungry on-die terminations that plague variants of parallel-bus Flash."

HLNAND2 has an 8-bit, synchronous, DDR data bus but utilizes a source-synchronous clock and is, therefore, capable of operating at up to 400MHz to deliver up to 800MB/s of throughput. Other features include:


--  Flash interface speed closely matched to high-speed system interconnects
    such as PCI Express generations 2 and 3 
    
    
--  DuplexRW™: simultaneous DDR800 read & write, effectively 1600MB/s
    data throughput, well adapted to the PCIe duplexing feature 
    
    
--  Power saving by automatic packet truncation 
    
    
--  Built-in EDC (Error Detection Code) in 'Command Packets' for the best
    reliability in packet protocol communication
    

The full specification for HLNAND2 is available for download at www.hlnand.com

256Gb HLNAND2 (DDR533/DDR667/DDR800)

The HLNAND2 Flash memory device is an MCP (multi-chip package) comprised of a nine die stack: eight industry-standard NAND Flash dies, and one MOSAID proprietary ASIC interface chip. The MCP is packaged in a 100-ball BGA (ball grid array) measuring 18mm x 14mm.

The design supports either monolithic 32nm/2xnm Toggle Mode or legacy asynchronous NAND Flash chips, evenly distributed over four banks. The interface chip contains the external high-speed HyperLink interface and controls each Flash bank automatically and independently. An EDC feature eliminates bit errors in Command Packets to ensure reliability and error-free communication of commands and register data. The device provides user configurable virtual pages for read operations with page depth choices of 2048B, 4096B, 8192B and a full page including extra bits.

Product Availability

MOSAID also announced today that it has signed a five-year manufacturing license with Winpac Inc. Winpac will package and distribute finished HLNAND devices, including the 256Gb HLNAND2 (DDR533/DDR667/DDR800) and the production-ready 256Gb HLNAND (DDR266) announced in July 2011.

MOSAID at NVRAMOS11

MOSAID is showcasing its HLNAND technology, and presenting a related paper, at Operating System Support for Next Generation Large Scale Non-Volatile Random Access Memory (NVRAMOS11) in Jeju, Korea, November 7-10, 2011.

About HyperLink (HL) NAND Flash

HLNAND Flash is a high-performance solution that combines MOSAID's own HyperLink memory technology with industry standard NAND Flash cell technology to deliver the industry's most advanced feature set, reaching sustained I/O bandwidths more than ten times higher than conventional Flash. For more information, visit www.hlnand.com

About MOSAID

MOSAID Technologies Inc. is one of the world's leading intellectual property companies. MOSAID licenses patented intellectual property in the areas of semiconductors and communications, and develops semiconductor memory technology. MOSAID counts many of the world's largest technology companies among its licensees. Founded in 1975, MOSAID has offices in Ottawa, Ontario, Plano, Texas and Luxembourg. For more information, please visit www.mosaid.com and http://investorchannel.mosaid.com

About Winpac

Winpac focuses on semiconductor packaging and device testing. Founded in 2002, Winpac specializes in Fine pitch Ball Grid Array (FBGA) packaging and the Wafer Level Packaging (WLP) method. Winpac mantains a manufacturing facility in Gyeonggi-do, Korea, and a sales and marketing operation in San Jose, CA. For more information please visit www.winpac.co.kr

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