iRoC Announces New Error Protection for Memories; M-RoCKIT Platform Boosts Error Correction Generation for SoC Designs
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 16, 2003--iRoC
Technologies, a leader in the field of Infrastructure IP, announced
today the release of the beta version of M-RoCKIT(TM), a new
technology platform for automated generation, interconnection and
insertion of advanced error correcting code (ECC) for protection
against bit flips in embedded memories.
Today's SoC designers are facing the double challenge of:
|
| -- | Increased sensitivity of memories to bit flips for new
technologies together with an increased amount of Mbits of
memories on SoCs
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| -- | Increased diversity of memories in SoCs (over 100 memory
types).
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iRoC developed with the M-RoCKIT platform a wide set of protection
solutions ranging from bit parity to ECC techniques to advanced
proprietary solutions. This technology also includes a fast and
versatile engine that automates the memory protection process and
searches for low-cost error correction architectures. For an SoC with
more than 100 memories, 50% of which need to be protected, designers
adopting M-RoCKIT will reduce the design time by 4 times. This full
protection is achieved while saving from 15% silicon overhead for
non-maskable memories and up to 8 times for maskable ones. These
proprietary solutions drastically reduce the speed penalty as well.
"This is the first commercially available tool in the field of
memory bit flips protection. We strongly believe that this new type of
Infrastructure IP will free fabless or IDM companies from a new,
critical nanometer design risk in meeting the reliability
specifications of their customers," said Eric Dupont, president and
CEO of iRoC Technologies.
iRoC Memory Protection Design Approach
Bit flip occurrence is now a production concern for 0.13 um
technologies and current FIT (Failure In Time) rates do not apply
anymore to actual customer needs for security, reliability and
availability. As an example, system houses demand a certain soft error
rate (SER) for SoCs and memories within their procurement process that
is impossible to reach without bit flip protection.
Though ECC is a standard technique used by designers to protect
memory or other devices, applying it "as is" in a complex SoC could
add a significant cost burden and strap down performance.
iRoC's Advisor with 25 ECC architectures, included within
M-RoCKIT, identifies and decides the optimized protection architecture
to meet memory specifications and acceptable ECC impact in terms of
area, performance and power consumption. M-RoCKIT's versatile ECC
generation engine operates at the RT level and uses a simple set of
instructions to embed and interconnect the correction block and its
associated memory.
"We are making the fully tested M-RoCKIT available now to give our
customers and prospective alliance partners time to plan for
incorporating this unique technology into their upcoming advanced
designs as soon as possible," added Dupont.
Availability
The M-RoCKIT data sheet is available today on www.iroctech.com.
The beta version will be available for selected customers and alliance
partners within Q1/03 while final product pricing and delivery will be
within the first half of 2003.
About iRoC Technologies
iRoC is a semiconductor intellectual property (IP) company that
licenses design solutions to completely stop unreliability trends and
increasing of FIT rates of nanometer processes. iRoC offers a turnkey
and total solution from technology process characterization, a family
of Infrastructure IP building blocks for Robustness, along with their
tool suite, and radiation test services for dies or systems
qualification. More information on the company's products and services
can be obtained at www.iroctech.com.
Note to Editors: iRoC Technologies and M-RoCKIT, are registered
trademarks of iRoC Technologies Corporation. All other company or
product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which
they are associated.
CONTACT: iRoC Technologies Corp.
Bob Ingols, 408/982-5822
bob.ingols@iroctech.com
or
iRoC Technologies SA.
Audrey Rambaud, +33 438 120 763
audrey.rambaud@iroctech.com
