Winbond’s HyperRAM and SpiStack can now operate with Renesas’ RZ/A2M MPUs

Winbond Electronics has confirmed that its HyperRAM and SpiStack (NOR+NAND) can now be operated with Renesas’ RZ/A2M Arm-based microprocessors (MPUs).

Renesas’ RZ/A2M is suitable for Human Machine Interface (HMI), especially HMI applications with cameras. It supports Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI), a camera interface that is widely used in mobile devices, and is equipped with a dynamically reconfigurable processor (DRP) for high-speed image processing.

These MPUs also feature two Ethernet channels which can be used to enhance security functions with a cryptographic hardware accelerator. As a result, the RZ/A2M can be used to provide safer and more secure high-speed network connections which can be used for image recognition in broad system applications, from consumer electronics to industrial equipment.

Winbond HyperRAM has been designed for embedded AI and image processing for classification, in which the electronics circuit needs to be made as small as possible, while providing sufficient storage and data bandwidth to support compute-intensive workloads such as image recognition, while SpiStack gives designers the flexibility to store code in the NOR die and data in the NAND die with smallest form-factor.

HyperRAM can operate at a maximum frequency of 200MHz and provide a maximum data-transfer rate of 400MB/s with either 3.3V or 1.8V operation voltage. It also offers ultra-low power consumption in operating and hybrid sleep modes. In addition, HyperRAM has only 13 signal pins, which can greatly simplify the PCB layout design. When designers design the end products, it allows MPUs to have more pins out for other purposes or using MPUs with fewer pins for better cost-effectiveness.

Winbond SpiStack (NOR+NAND) is formed by stacking a NOR die and a NAND die into one package, such as a 64Mb Serial NOR with a 1Gb QspiNAND die, which gives designers the flexibility to store code in the NOR die and data in the NAND die.

SpiStack with NOR+NAND has only 6 signal pins, regardless of the number of stacked dies. The active die is switched by a simple software die selection command (C2h) with a factory-assigned die ID number. The clock rate can up to 104MHz, an equivalent of 416MHz under Quad-SPI. Additionally, SpiStack (NOR+NAND) supports concurrent operation, one of the dies could program/erase while the other die could program/erase/read at the same and vice versa.

“By adopting Winbond’s HyperRAM and SpiStack (NOR+NAND), it is possible to reduce the mounting area of memory on the PCB, the number of wires, and the BOM cost,” said Naoki Mimura, General Manager of Marketing & FAE Division at Winbond Japan.

“Both package sizes are only 8x6mm, there are 13 signals for HyperRAM and 6 signals for SpiStack (NOR+NAND). Compared to conventional SDRAM and parallel NOR/NAND, both of the package size and the number of terminals have been reduced by around 80%. Together with Renesas RZ/A2M, users can enjoy total memory solution provided by Winbond.”