MultiMediaCard Association, JEDEC Adopt eMMC Trademark
January 4, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS
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The MMCA and JEDEC entered into a joint standard-setting agreement last year. eMMC is the first product standard from the partnership.
eMMC describes an architecture comprised of an embedded storage solution with MMC interface, flash memory and controller, all in a small ball grid array (BGA) package.
It is based upon the industry-standard MMC system specification version 4.1/4.2 and JEDEC BGA packaging standards.
With interface speeds of up to 52 MB per second, eMMC provides fast scalable performance, said JEDEC. It also allows for an interface voltage of either 1.8 volts or 3.3 volts.
Accordingly, eMMC supports a wide range of applications in consumer electronics, wireless, navigation, industrial uses and other areas.
With the eMMC solution, a host system can gain access to all major classes of mass storage memory sub-systems, including embedded memory (eMMC), memory cards, or even hard disk drives (via advanced technology attachment (ATA)-on-MMC specification) with one common MMC interface protocol bus.
This system architecture is far more flexible than that based upon other memory card-only standards, said JEDEC.
eMMC makes it easy to embed mass-storage flash memory on host systems. The standardized eMMC protocol interface offers designers high performance and keeps technology complexity, such as "not and" (NAND) flash functional differences among suppliers, invisible to the host. This differs from the conventional architecture, where a host system must support NAND products from multiple companies in a generic manner by necessity.
The conventional approach also increases design complexity to support company-specific functions for better performance.
The design complexity is magnified by generational process geometry shrinks and multi-level cell (MLC) technology. The benefit of eMMC to the host manufacturers is a simpler product design and qualification process and an overall shorter time to market, said JEDEC.
"By working together to bring this standard to market, the MMCA and JEDEC believe we have opened up new possibilities and growth opportunities to the industry," said Yves Leonard, chairman of the board for the MMCA. "The addition of eMMC completes a total mass memory storage solution (embedded and removable memory card) for portable handheld electronic products based on the MMC standard."
Because eMMC is an industry standard, multiple sources of components will be available.
"Embedded MMC fulfills the role of a standard on several different levels," said Mian Quddus, chairman of the board of JEDEC. "The standard's physical and electrical specifications are important in fostering its rapid adoption. But even more important may be that this innovative architecture enables system and product designers to use technologies ranging from low-cost legacy chip sets to the most innovative devices on the market."
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Strong industry support exists for eMMC and several key consumer electronic and cell phone original equipment manufacturers are implementing the eMMC architecture in their product lines, said JEDEC.