The new Micro-Packages offer a 50 percent space savings over SST's current 6 x 8-mm devices, but will be offered for the same price in an effort to increase adoption. Samples are available now in 4-Mbit x16 and 8-Mbit x16 densities (3.3 volts). Volume production is slated for March.

In the past year, SST has been pushing to shrink the size of flash packaging. Its first result was an ultrathin, small-outline package for low-pin-count devices that hit the market in August. The Micro-Package addresses high-performance flash.

SST is actually including two package options in the Micro line, differentiated only by height. The first is a WFBGA package with a 0.73-mm maximum height; the second is an XFLGA that stands 0.52 mm high. Both are based on a 48-contact pinout and 0.5-mm pitch. The same package size and pinout will accommodate 1- to 32-Mbit densities, the company said, allowing module makers to switch densities without reworking their pc-board designs.

In particular, SST hopes the smaller packages will give more wiggle room to Bluetooth module makers, which usually have only 2 mm of total height to work with. Such small spaces have caused some to consider bare-die flash options instead of standard packaging, and assume the trouble that comes with it, said Ben Cheung, an SST product-marketing manager. "You can easily scratch [bare dice] and then it becomes useless," he said.

Those using bare-die solutions now, Cheung said, must invest in specialized equipment to handle and test the chips, which results in uncertainty over chip reliability. "When they are packaged it is easier to test and guarantee predictable electrical characteristics. Once it is packaged, it is protected," he said.

Cheung also noted that the total package thickness for the XFLGA device isn't that much more than a bare die, and it costs less. For instance, a 4-Mbit chip will run about $1.50 to $1.60 in volume orders below 10,000 units.