Infineon introduces secured NOR Flash memory

Based on Semper NOR Flash’s field-proven and robust smart memory architecture, Semper Secure NOR Flash is the first memory solution to combine security and functional safety in a single NOR flash device to deliver the security, safety, and reliability required for the most advanced connected automotive, industrial, and communications systems.

The proliferation of connected systems is driving the need for ever greater system security. Semper Secure NOR Flash provides a trusted solution to meet demanding requirements and protects critical system information. Having a secured flash solution is especially important when the NOR Flash is placed outside of a processor, making it vulnerable to a variety of attacks.

Semper Secure is the only NOR Flash solution that serves as a hardware root-of-trust to provide end-to-end protection. Additionally, the Semper Solution Development Kit enables easy system integration to accelerate time-to-market and reduce total cost-of-ownership.

“Having a secured connected system is a top priority for customers focused on protecting information and maintaining system integrity,” said Sam Geha, Head of Infineon Technologies Memory Solutions. “As systems increasingly rely on external NOR Flash to protect code and data in connected systems, the need for added advanced cryptographic security in memory is growing. Our Semper Secure NOR Flash architecture adds to the already most functionally safe Semper products a secure subsystem to enable end-to-end persistent protection and efficiently protect a system from being compromised.”

“As flash moves outside of the host processor, it has grown increasingly important to find ways to secure embedded systems,” said Jim Handy, President of Objective Analysis. “Infineon's approach to secure the flash memory itself when it can no longer be embedded within the MCU is a compelling architecture that offers design engineers more versatility.”

The Semper Secure NOR Flash family includes AEC-Q100 automotive-qualified devices with an extended temperature range of -40 to +125°C, supports 1.8 and 3.0V operating ranges, and is available in densities of 128 Mb, 256 Mb and 512 Mb. Semper Secure NOR Flash is designed and fully compliant to the ISO 26262 standard and is ASIL-B compliant and ready to be used in systems up to ASIL-D.

The implemented EnduraFlex architecture simplifies system design by enabling optimization for high endurance or long data retention partitions. The devices are offered with Quad Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), Octal SPI and HyperBus interfaces.

The Octal and HyperBus interface devices are compliant with the JEDEC eXpanded SPI (xSPI) standard for high-speed x8 serial NOR Flash and offer a read bandwidth of up to 400 MBps.

Infineon’s 256 Mb Semper Secure NOR Flash devices are sampling to lead customers now, with volume production expected during the second quarter of 2021.