Press Releases (2003)

Impinj Announces Availability of Embedded Nonvolatile Memory

Impinj, Inc., the Self-Adaptive SiliconTM company, today announced the availability of AEON MemoryTM , a product that enables chip designers to embed small but crucial amounts of nonvolatile memory (NVM) in integrated circuits (ICs) manufactured in logic CMOS processes without requiring additional wafer masks or specialized processing steps. AEON Memory, based on Impinj's patented Self-Adaptive Silicon technology, provides an economical alternative to traditional NVM solutions such as flash, EEPROM or fuses which all require specialized manufacturing processes. Additionally, AEON Memory provides industry- leading NVM performance with read power as low as 3 microwatts, die areas as small as 0.3mm2 for a 2k-bit block,100,000 erase-write cycles and 10 year retention.

"We're liberating our customers from having to use exotic, expensive processes whenever they need just a few bits of NVM on a large CMOS chip," said William Colleran, Ph.D., CEO of Impinj. "The response from our customers has been tremendous."

Growth Market Opportunity

Impinj's AEON Memory addresses a growing requirement of many chip designers who are looking for ways to add on-chip NVM in small amounts to CMOS ICs. Typical applications for AEON Memory include the storage of encryption keys, security settings, product identification data, core microcode, and calibration or trim data.

"Impinj has identified a bona fide need in the market that hasn't been well served," said Rich Wawrzyniak, Sr. Analyst, ASIC â€" SoC Services for Semico Research Corporation. "AEON Memory has the potential to replace millions of small serial EEPROMs that are used for storing critical bootstrapping, configuration and calibration data. In addition, AEON's accessibility, through an IP licensing business model, will help make the technology widely available, quickly, to potential users."

AEON Memory: Feature comparison

Unlike alternative solutions, AEON Memory is ideally suited for applications that require small amounts of high performance embedded NVM. Flash memory, though widely available, is targeted for much higher memory densities and must use costly specialized processing. On-chip fuses and antifuses are considered to be suboptimal because they do not offer erase/write capability, are less reliable, and become very expensive as memory size increases. Masked ROM does not allow storing unique information on individual chips. Off-chip storage or SRAM with battery backup do not provide the security, may be slower, and consume more power and board space when compared to solutions based on AEON Memory.

Impinj AEON Memory Availability

Impinj's AEON Memory is based on technology that has been in development since 1992 and is now in full burn-in qualification with a leading foundry. Final production qualification will be completed in Q2 2003. Impinj is currently working with customers to introduce products based on AEON Memory in late 2003. AEON Memory is distributed via an IP licensing model.

About Impinj

Impinj, Inc. was founded in May 2000, in Seattle, Washington, by semiconductor industry veterans Carver Mead and Chris Diorio. Impinj is a fabless semiconductor company developing CMOS integrated-circuit products and intellectual property. In addition to AEON Memory, Impinj also markets high performance data converter products. Impinj holds 15 patents on its innovative Self-Adaptive Silicon technology, which greatly improves the performance of analog and digital CMOS ICs.

More information about Impinj is available at www.impinj.com.