I thought I would add a little to the integration & flash discussion. Whoever said "never say never" is probably right. There are many companies with tons of bright people who tend to solve problems that have previously not been solved.
But awk's comments, in my opinion, are the most accurate in the practical sense. While it is true that flash memory can and is commonly integrated with logic and other functions on the same die, doing so requires technical and economic sacrifices. You just can't get the most cutting edge logic process and combine it with the most cutting edge flash process without giving up things. Realistically, there is no way AMD, Intel or any other processor manufacturer is going ever integrate flash on the same die as their leading edge logic process (ie that used for their processors). It will cost too many extra mask steps, affect their yields, require different test flows etc. It's just not reasonable. If, however, there are products that can absorb these concessions then it becomes entirely possible. Why can a SuperI/O be done with integrated flash? It doesn't need cutting edge tightly packed RAM and GHz logic frequencies. The silicon lithography is also likely older and more conducive to flash requirement. It also has a transistor set with support for higher voltages that are required by flash memory.
Consider the question another way. Does a pure flash device have logic gates? Of course. They are necessary for command/address decode, bus cycle support etc. Does a pure flash device have the ability to run at GHz and support, sub 1v logic levels, have space optimized logic gates etc.? No. It doesn't need these things and removing this support provides an overall cheaper flash-only solution.
It really all comes down to cost and the market you're trying to serve. If integration provides some advantage like a cost savings, physical space savings, extra security or whatever, then it is often done. Note that "integration" can also be done in the form of multi-die packages. So just because a product indicates "on-board" or even "on-chip" flash, does not definitely mean that the flash is on-die. Anyway, hope this sheds some light on the discussion.
attcav
AI
