2012 will mark a further acceleration in the use of Flash Memory as a critical computing component. Beyond the tablets, smartphones and enterprise SSDs, NAND and NOR Flash memory are growing and making an impact throughout all our lives at work, on the road, at home and at play. Here are five trends we expect to accelerate this year:

Widespread Usage of Connected Embedded Devices

2011 provided the tipping point in the use of connected embedded devices. Tablets and smartphones have conditioned the consumer to expect instant-on, ready-access to their valuable data, including the Internet, email, social media and digital entertainment. An embedded device that is not connected to the Internet now feels as awkward as using a portable CD player.

The mobile consumer is driving the connectedness, but in 2012 we will see more of the “Internet of Everything,” where embedded systems interact automatically with other embedded systems. Wireless Sensor Networks gathering and transmitting valuable information, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) creating interactions between electronics and the real world, and near field communication (NFC) enabling convenient short-range communication between electronic devices will increase the value of connected embedded devices and drive their requirements for non-volatile storage.

Increasingly Advanced Embedded Applications

This additional usage of connected devices will drive increasingly advanced embedded applications. Smart meter adoption combined with home automation will create enhanced requirements for flexible communication and stronger security techniques in those smart meter and home automation systems.

In the automotive marketplace, we are seeing even more control electronics for electric/hybrid powertrains (including battery management), powertrain applications (including engine, transmission, and emissions control), active safety systems, and driver assist systems (including blind-spot & lane-departure warning and parking assist).

As everyone struggles with providing better levels of healthcare with fewer resources, innovation in healthcare delivery approaches will continue to grow.  A December 2011 report on the UK Whole System Demonstrator Programme showed “that if used correctly telehealth can deliver a 15% reduction in A&E visits, a 20% reduction in emergency admissions, a 14% reduction in elective admissions, a 14% reduction in bed days and an 8% reduction in tariff costs. More strikingly they also demonstrate a 45% reduction in mortality rates.” With results like this, an increase in funding of telehealth solutions is almost a certainty.

These are just a couple of examples of the growing sophistication of embedded applications.  All of them create more complex software needing advances in current Flash technology.

Greater User Interface Interactivity

Users are also increasingly becoming discontent with interacting with embedded devices through only simple commands and pushing buttons; they want to interact using speech recognition and natural language processing.  The introduction of Siri by Apple in 2011 has highlighted the latency demand for this functionality.

Providing greater user interface interactivity leads to increased complexity for the embedded system and greater memory requirements.

Pressing a button is easy to understand.  When the button is pressed, the program responds. However, speech recognition brings a new level of variability to the inputs into the system, requiring more sophistication to interpret and respond correctly. The opportunity for innovation in this market will be big.

Increased Interest in Underlying Technologies of Non-Volatile Memory

Over the past 10 years, we have seen rapid growth in both NOR and NAND flash memory.  However, we are seeing some difficult technology issues to scale smaller than 32nm nodes.  Floating gate devices that store their charges in a floating gate isolated by insulators are having issues with smaller node sizes.  As the oxide surrounding the charge gets smaller and smaller, it is prone to leakage due to defects in the tunnel oxide.

Also, floating gate devices need a control gate to control the channel for the floating gate.   Accommodating the necessary performance characteristics of the control gate vis a vis the floating gate limits the scaling of floating gate for both NOR and NAND applications.  The techniques used to program the NOR and NAND flash also limit the ability to scale to more advanced nodes.

Since NAND applications have less programming requirements, i.e. page mode versus random operations, they can scale further than NOR devices.  However, both are being capped by the limitations of floating gate technologies.  We will see significant discussion about charge-trapped solutions as well as yet-to-be proven technologies such as MRAM, phase-change memory, and resistive RAM.

Accelerated Rollout of New Cellular Technologies

According to the LTE World Summit 2012, up to 139 long term evolution (LTE) networks will be deployed across 5 continents by operators in 2012.  This superfast mobile broadband will not only provide a large demand for NOR Flash memory for its own infrastructure, but also provide the communications infrastructure for many of the trends discussed above.

Also, according to Richard Webb, directing analyst for microwave and small cells at Infonetics Research, “femtocells will gain mass-scale traction in 2012, at which point the year-over-year unit growth rate will jump to over 100%, and will stay at triple-digit levels in 2013.”  Femtocells are portable/low-power mobile phone base stations that use a standard internet connection to link with the MNO’s network.  The combination of LTE, femtocells and Wi-Fi networks is going to lead to a persistent, superfast network connection for the widespread usage of connected, embedded devices.

Indeed, 2012 will be an exciting year for Flash memory and Spansion.  The importance and criticality of the information stored on our devices has never been higher and we are dedicated to providing the best solutions for our customers and their data.

Come join us for the ride!