Welcome to the first edition of the ATP Quarterly Intelligence Round up, your quarterly roundup of insider news, market insights, new product introductions and interesting information on ATP Electronics’ NAND flash and DRAM solutions. Get the latest executive intelligence as well as highlights from ATP’s different units to add to your knowledge arsenal on ATP’s “Industrial Only” memory and storage offerings and propel your business growth.
Executive Message
ATP’s Inventory Strategy Surmounts Challenging Times
ATP Remains at Full Production Capacity through COVID-19 Outbreak and is Well Positioned for 3D TLC Product Launches
We live in challenging times.
The pandemic caused by COVID-19 is impacting the global economy. Amid heartbreaking events brought by this health emergency, we assure everyone that we are putting the health and safety of our employees and their families as our number one priority.
ATP has business continuity planning in place to face the continuing uncertainty and remains vigilant to ensure business operation, but beyond this is also looking to extend this operational readiness to our customer base. ATP has encountered customers which have been unable to complete planned product qualifications due to COVID-19 related office closures and the related inability to access their test/equipment resources. In an effort to keep projects on schedule, ATP has reacted to this challenge by working with our customer base in offering ATP supported qualification/validation services.
With ATP engineering, QA, and testing team resources running at full capacity in Taiwan, we have worked with customers to have their host systems issued to ATP, and then related technical collaboration on validation test flow and criteria aligned. Not only can this help directly with completing qualifications on schedule, but from ATP's long term experience in this area, it also presents the opportunity for a higher level of technical collaborative engagement and experience building. We have customers working with ATP on joint/supplemental validation programs for many years and have seen this to be a true win-win. ATP engineering has better hands on experience and understanding of customer side system environments allowing for faster reactions to issues and improved general product line validation flows. Customers can enjoy having resources offloaded or backed up given event based situations such as COVID-19 and/or their existing validation flow improved long term with ATP storage/memory side expertise. Contact ATP or an ATP authorized distributor for more information on how this service can help minimize development schedule delays and overall help cope with the changing pandemic situation to keep business operations working through a collaborative approach.
Even as we continue to implement the necessary measures to mitigate its extensive effects, we continue to operate normally to meet the needs of our customers. We are launching new 3D TLC-based products with a full supply contingency strategy to deliver them as scheduled.
With the recent events, the market price for 3D TLC-based products rose significantly the last 2 quarters. A streak of light in the looming dark clouds is the fact that due to strategic planning at the NAND wafer level of our supply chain, we are able to minimize any potential impact on our supply chain. ATP’s sufficient inventory and buffer supply will enable us to reflect prevailing market prices slower than competitors, meet the confirmed 6 months’ rolling pricing/supply forecast, and we are able to offer 3D TLC products at competitive pricing along with support for upside demand.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created different areas of impact throughout the industry. Consumer/retail businesses mostly utilizing lower quality type NAND flash are down, while data-center, enterprise generally with higher NAND quality requirements are experiencing tremendous upside demand due to much of the working populations needing to work from home. Given this polarized market situation between different industry segments, it is of great importance to make sure that your your NAND SSD/storage supplier takes quality seriously, as there can be the tendency for suppliers to run to lower quality NAND sources in order to fulfill their current business demand. ATP is uncompromising in the area of quality and this does not change by market supply situation. Contact ATP or an authorized distributor for more information regarding what you should be looking for in terms of NAND quality or to learn more about ATP's industry leading NAND quality screening capability.
Together, let us work to strengthen our lead in this ever-changing market. For nearly 30 years as a True Manufacturer, ATP has weathered many market ups and downs. We are confident that with your continued support, we will once again prove ourselves resilient and will reflect the “Industrial Only” character of our products – designed, built and rigorously tested for reliable performance in the harshest conditions.
We’ve Reduced e.MMC Power Consumption in IoT Wearables by 10X
The Challenge
Wearable devices are becoming popular, especially in fitness and wellness applications that allow monitoring of users’ vital signs. As standalone devices, wearables rely on batteries for power. The major challenge is lowering the e.MMC storage device’s power consumption so it will not drain the wearables’ battery too much.
The Solution
We aimed to lower the power consumption of the e.MMC so the battery of the IoT wearable device can last longer. The customer provided firmware (FW) and software (SW) scenarios of the e.MMC, and our team adjusted the FW to maximize power savings.
Our engineering team worked closely with the customer to develop and duplicate the test environment. Through shared knowledge, we successfully configured the power-saving scenario.
The Result
After comprehensive testing and joint efforts, we lowered e.MMC power consumption by 10X compared with the standard solution. Because of this, the customer’s IoT can now work reliably up to 10X longer for better user experience and big cost savings.
System-in-Package (SiP) Die Level Assembly Analysis: Mission Impossible No More
The Challenge
Flash storage products are packaged either using surface mount technology (SMT) or system-in-package (SiP). ATP’s SiP products like memory cards integrate components within a single package, encapsulating all exposed components to provide protection and shielding. Unlike SMT products, the individual ICS in SiP products’ wafer die cannot be removed nor replaced for further analysis. Due to the encapsulation process for chips on board (COB), it is extremely difficult for IC chips on SD/microSD cards to be analyzed individually. To analyze ICs and the die separately, the challenge was to develop an SiP wafer/die analysis method.
The Solution
ATP developed a methodology to individually analyze the IC and die on SiP products. Available by project support, the methodology consists of the following steps:
1. ATP’s Own HW Design - Reserved testing pin is available for future IC/Die analysis.
2.Solder Mask Removal by Laser – This is a much more efficient and precise method than the use of traditional sandpaper.
3. ATP’s Own Customized Debug Tool - This is connected to the HW reserved testing pin and then linked to the SW analysis system for analysis.
The Result
With our own SiP analysis methodology, ATP has proven that difficult is not impossible. We have the capability to analyze SD/microSD cards ICs or die that are encapsulated using the SiP process.
Customizing PLP: Flying High with Unique Solutions for Unique Power Scenarios
The Challenge
The power supply situation in an aircraft can be vastly different during take-off, landing or cruising. Aerospace applications require reliable power supply to ensure uncompromised data integrity in every stage of an aircraft’s flight even during power charging transitions, when aircraft systems will have power interruptions ranging from 25 ms to 500 ms. One major aircraft carrier uses ATP SSDs for its onboard network file server.
The SSDs integrate a hardware and firmware power loss protection (PLP) mechanism, which is triggered as soon as power drops below the threshold voltage (Vth). The SSDs use up reserve power from capacitors to complete storing data and simultaneously stop the controller from sending data to the flash chip to make sure that no data is lost in transit. However, if the power loss lasted less than 100 milliseconds (<100 ms), the firmware kept running and entered an “endless while loop,” which stopped only when the host’s power reaches 0V. This depleted the capacitors’ reserve power. When normal power returned, the host could no longer recognize the SSD unless a system reboot is performed.
The Solution
The new FW addressed the customer’s unstable power scenarios. With several power signal settings to trigger the SSD operating procedure and different control modes, the SSDs can respond better to different power loss scenarios.
The Result
A power interruption triggers a sudden power-off recovery (SPOR) function to protect data integrity, as the ATP SSD will make sure that all data in the cache is completely flushed (saved) into the NAND flash without data errors. The new firmware passed the customer’s cumulative test criteria at room temperature and high/low temperature. The new firmware improves the reliability of ATP SSDs and the customer was very satisfied with the solution provided by ATP.
Industrial-Grade DRAM ICs Too Expensive? Our Special Mini Chamber TDBI Saves the Day
The Challenge
Commercial-grade DRAM modules are commonly required and are thus in greater supply.
When customers need DRAM with native industrial-grade components, they usually have to fork 2.5 to 3X higher price. It is common for the price to even go as high as 5X for automotive-grade components.
The Solution
We have found a way to satisfy the industrial-grade requirements of our customers without raising cost to prohibitive levels. By conducting test during burn-in (TDBI) at module level using ATP-developed mini chambers, we are able to combine temperature, load, speed and time to stress test the memory modules to expose the weak modules. Unlike conventional TDBI where entire motherboards installed with DRAM modules are placed inside a chamber, hence subjecting all components to thermal testing and causing false failures, the ATP mini chamber isolates temperature cycling only to the module being tested to make sure that the motherboard and the rest of the testing systems are not thermally stressed.
The Result
While IC suppliers typically provide testing only at wafer/package level, ATP’s proprietary burn-in tester enables us to offer modules that go beyond Automotive temperature rating (-50°C to 110°C) for a great return on investment price point.