- This Technology, Set for Presentation at SEMICON JAPAN at Tokyo Big Sight, Is 
to Be Applied to Computing-in-Memory Chips That Can Perform AI Inference 
Operations at Overwhelmingly Low Power -

Floadia Corporation, headquartered in Kodaira-shi, Tokyo, has developed a 
prototype 7-bit-per-cell flash memory chip that can retain analog data for 10 
years at 150 degrees Celsius by devising a memory cell structure and control 
method. With the existing memory cell structure, the problem of characteristic 
change and variation due to charge leakage was significant, and the data 
retention was only about 100 seconds.

Logo: 
https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M104461/202112064501/_prw_PI1fl_5N25P74m.jpg


Floadia will apply the memory technology to a chip that realizes AI (artificial 
intelligence) inference operations with overwhelmingly low power consumption. 
This chip is based on an architecture called Computing in Memory (CiM), which 
stores neural network weights in non-volatile memory and executes a large 
number of multiply-accumulate calculations in parallel by passing current 
through the memory array. CiM is attracting worldwide attention as an AI 
accelerator for edge computing environments because it can read a large amount 
of data from memory and consumes much less power than conventional AI 
accelerators that perform multiply-accumulate calculations on CPUs and GPUs.

This memory technology is based on SONOS-type flash memory chips developed by 
Floadia for integration into microcontrollers and other devices. Floadia made 
numerous innovations such as optimizing the structure of charge-trapping 
layers, i.e. ONO film, to extend the data retention time when storing 7 bits of 
data. The combination of two cells can store up to 8 bits of neural network 
weights, and despite its small chip area, it can achieve a multiply-accumulate 
calculation performance of 300 TOPS/W, far exceeding that of existing AI 
accelerators.

The content of this technology will be exhibited at a booth (booth number 1746) 
of SEMICON JAPAN to be held at Tokyo Big Sight from December 15 to 17, 2021, 
and Floadia's CTO, Yasuhiro Taniguchi will give a lecture at "TechSTAGE" from 
11:15 a.m. (JST) on December 15.

About Floadia Corporation
The company was established in 2011 by a group of experienced engineers who had 
been developing embedded non-volatile memory chips for more than 20 years at 
Hitachi, Ltd. and Renesas Technology (now Renesas Electronics Corporation). 
Floadia is engaged in the business of licensing the processes and circuit 
designs required to manufacture an embedded non-volatile memory (which retains 
its memory content even when the power is turned off) for use in 
microcomputers, power semiconductors, sensors, and other devices to 
semiconductor manufacturers as intellectual property (IP). Compared with 
competing memory technologies, Floadia's non-volatile memory technology 
requires extremely low power consumption of only one-millionth that of its 
competitors when writing and erasing data, while having excellent heat 
resistance and the ability to reduce the additional cost of integrating it into 
a chip to about one-third. These features have already led to its use in 
automotive microcontrollers by a Japanese semiconductor manufacturer, and it 
has also been adopted by a Taiwanese foundry for use as embedded memory chips 
in smartphone components manufactured by the foundry.


Source: Floadia Corporation