In line with its focus on next-generation NPU technologies, Samsung plans to create over 2,000 related jobs worldwide by 2030, which is about 10 times the current headcount. The company will also expand upon its existing collaboration with globally distinguished research institutes and universities, and support the nurturing of future talent in the field of AI, including deep learning and neural processing.

“For the coming age of AI, Samsung is committed to delivering industry-leading advancements brought to life by our NPU technologies,” said Inyup Kang, president of System LSI Business at Samsung Electronics. “As we leverage our differentiated technology, close partnerships with global institutes and active investment in top talent, we are excited to take future AI processing capabilities to the next level.”

Samsung introduced its first NPU in the company’s premium mobile processor, the Exynos 9820, last year and plans to continue offering advanced on-device AI features for high-performance mobile chips. Applications for Samsung’s NPUs will expand into areas such as automotive processors that power in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), as well as next-generation datacenters optimized for big data processing.

The System LSI Business and Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology — Samsung’s R&D arm — together plan to extend and evolve the company’s current NPU research into novel AI hardware technologies such as neuromorphic processors that aim to operate at the level of a human brain.

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced that it has received the ISO 26262 certification for functional safety in automotive components from TÜV Rheinland, a globally renowned third-party testing, inspection and certification company.

The accreditation of Samsung’s new functional safety management system ensures that the company’s advanced automotive semiconductors, such as processors, image sensors, memory and light emitting diode (LED) solutions, satisfy the industry’s rigid safety standards throughout the product development process.

“TÜV Rheinland provides independent testing and inspection services that stand by quality and safety,” said Manuel Diaz, Global Field Manager at TÜV Rheinland. “Samsung has successfully built its management system that will provide semiconductor solutions meeting the functional safety requirements for today’s automakers. We are pleased to present Samsung with the ISO 26262 certification for automotive semiconductors that will help enhance functional safety within the industry.”

“Safety is a top priority, especially when it comes to tomorrow’s automotive vehicles, and our ISO 26262 certification is an exciting step that secures functional safety in Samsung’s advanced automotive semiconductor solutions,” said Kenny Han, vice president of Device Solutions Division at Samsung Electronics. “We expect that the new ISO 26262 certification will drive momentum for our comprehensive lineup of innovative semiconductor solutions in the automotive market.”

As the adoption of electronic components in automobiles continue to increase and the development of future applications are accelerated across industries, the importance of automotive safety standards for semiconductor components as well as their level of sophistication have also risen.

The ISO 26262 for automotive functional safety was established as a global standard by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 2011 to minimize risks from electric or electronic system malfunction in vehicles. Recognizing the growing requirements for semiconductors in emerging automotive technologies such as advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving, guidelines specific to such products were added to the revised standard in 2018.

With the ISO 26262 certification, Samsung plans to accumulate development cases and make continuous improvements to further reinforce its functional safety management system. In addition to the certification, Samsung’s automotive semiconductor solutions have been meeting the highest standards of quality management and reliability required by IATF 16949 and AEC-Q100 specifications respectively.

Pioneering Automotive Solutions

Samsung’s automotive solution offering has been one of the highlights of this year’s CES, and at the Encore Hotel showcase, key components and technologies for in-vehicle infotainment, telematics and the advanced driving assistance system (ADAS) were on display to invited customers and partners.

Exynos Auto V9 is Samsung’s first dedicated automotive system-on chip for next-generation IVI (In-Vehicle Infotainment) systems. The Exynos Auto V9 can support up to six high resolution displays through powerful processing from eight core CPUs and a tri-cluster GPU, an advanced GPU arranged in three separated sets of GPU cores able to seamlessly support multiple systems simultaneously. The Exynos Auto V9 is also equipped with a neural processing unit (NPU) that processes visual and audio data to accurately recognize face, speech and gesture patterns for intelligent driving experiences. The showcase demo presented diverse concurrent driving assistant and entertainment experiences – for example, the running of navigation in the central information display (CID) at the same time as a movie plays in rear-seat displays.

Exynos Auto T is a telematics solution that empowers safe driving experiences through the integrated use of telecommunications and informatics technologies. The industry’s first cellular modem to support multi-mode from 2G to 5G NR, the Exynos Modem 5100, was also showcased.

ADAS is leading the way in in-drive visual perception capabilities. The demonstration showcased how the ADAS system can recognize and detecting all manner of objects such as cars, pedestrians and traffic signs. Furthermore, the DRVLINE, an open, modular and scalable platform for building ADAS with a faster time to market, was introduced at the showcase.

ISOCELL Auto image sensor is an advanced new solution capable of bringing about a wholly new driving experience thanks to its high performance in detecting objects in a variety of lighting conditions. The ISOCELL Auto image sensor technology provides unrivalled object recognition in a diverse range of driving environments, as the sensor’s high resolution and fast frame rate enables the accurate detection of any moving objects, while its high light sensitivity assists in object recognition even in dark lighting conditions. Furthermore, a wide dynamic range permits the sensor to respond quickly and effectively to sudden changes in brightness, as one might experience when driving in or out of dimly-lit tunnels.

Innovative Pixel Solution for Smart ADB(Adaptive Driving Beam) is the next-generation one-chip LED solution for headlamps that helps prevent glare affecting preceding and oncoming vehicles or pedestrians by automatically controlling the light distribution of a headlamp. Samsung presented this highly-specialized LED solution by demonstrating different driving situations including when a driver starts the engine, needs high or low beam, and faces preceding or oncoming vehicle.

Next-Generation Semiconductor Technologies

This year, five of Samsung’s latest semiconductor products have received recognition from the coveted CES 2019 Best of Innovation Awards – the Samsung 256GB 3DS DDR4 RDIMM, 512GB Universal Flash Storage, 3.84TB NVMe Z-SSD SZ1733, LM302S and the SSM-U Series.

Samsung 256GB 3DS DDR4 RDIMM is the industry’s fastest DDR4 and highest density memory module for next-generation enterprise server platforms, providing the finest high-density, high-performance consumer infrastructure solutions with extremely low-power consumption (15 watts at 1.2V).

Samsung 512GB Universal Flash Storage is the industry’s first 512-gigabyte embedded Universal Flash Storage (eUFS) for automotive A/V systems and next-gen flagship mobile devices, using Samsung’s new 64-layer 512-gigabit V-NAND chips. The 512GB eUFS package transfers a 5GB-equivalent full HD video clip to an SSD in about six seconds, over 8 times faster than a typical microSD card.

Samsung 3.84TB NVMe Z-SSD SZ1733 offers a new level of storage for supercomputing targeted for AI analysis, big data and IoT applications, using Samsung’s new Z-NAND chips which provide 10 times higher cell read performance than 3-bit V-NAND chips.

Samsung LM302S is the most user-oriented next-generation lighting platform to date, designed to improve work efficiency by helping users achieve a better circadian rhythm and healthier sleep. Its human-centric LED solution can improve a person’s concentration level for greater work efficiency by as much as 10% and improve sleep quality by repressing melatonin during the day.

Samsung SSM-U Series is a new type of smart module made up of tiny radar-based sensors with higher detecting sensitivity than conventional sensors. The SSM-U series features invisible and intelligent motion detection-based transmission for greater flexibility and reactivity in smart residential lighting.

“The 16Gb LPDDR4X DRAM is our most advanced automotive solution yet, offering global automakers outstanding reliability, endurance, speed, capacity and energy efficiency, ,” said Sewon Chun, senior vice president of memory marketing at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung will continue to closely collaborate with manufacturers developing diverse automotive systems, in delivering premium memory solutions anywhere.”

Moving a step beyond its 20nm-class ‘Automotive Grade 2’ DRAM, which can withstand temperatures from -40°C to 105°C, Samsung’s 16Gb LPDDR4X is Automotive Grade 1-compliant, raising the high-end threshold to 125°C. By more than satisfying the rigorous on-system thermal cycling tests of global auto manufacturers, the 16Gb LPDDR4X has enhanced its reliability for a wide variety of automotive applications in many of the world’s most challenging environments.

Adding to the degree of reliability under high temperatures, production at an advanced 10nm-class node is key to enabling the 16Gb LPDDR4X to deliver its leading-edge performance and power efficiency. Even in environments with extremely high temperatures of up to 125°C, its data processing speed comes in at 4,266 megabits per second (Mbps), a 14 percent increase from the 8Gb LPDDR4 DRAM that is based on 20nm process technology, and the new memory also registers a 30 percent increase in power efficiency.

Along with a 256 gigabyte (GB) embedded Universal Flash Storage (eUFS) drive announced in February, Samsung has expanded its advanced memory solution lineup for future automotive applications with the 10nm-class 16Gb LPDDR4X DRAM, commercially available in 12Gb, 16Gb, 24Gb and 32Gb capacities. While extending its 10nm-class DRAM offerings, the company also plans on bolstering technology partnerships for automotive solutions that include vision ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems), autonomous driving, infotainment systems and gateways.

*Editor’s Note:  10nm-class is a process node between 10 and 19 nanometers

Following the memory breakthrough of the automotive industry’s first 128GB eUFS in September, 2017, Samsung’s 256GB eUFS is now being shipped to automotive manufacturers preparing the market for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), next-generation infotainment systems and new-age dashboards in luxury vehicles.

As thermal management is crucial for automotive memory applications, Samsung’s 256GB eUFS extends the temperature range to between -40°C and 105°C for both operational and power-saving modes. Warranties for conventional embedded multimedia card (eMMC) 5.1 solutions generally cover -25°C to 85°C for vehicles in operation and -40°C to 85°C when in idle or power-saving mode,

“With the new temperature threshold for automobile warranties, major automotive manufacturers can now design-in memory that’s even well suited for extreme environments and know they will be getting highly reliable performance,” said Kyoung Hwan Han, vice president of NAND marketing at Samsung Electronics. “Starting with high-end vehicles, we expect to expand our business portfolio across the entire automotive market, while accelerating growth in the premium memory segment.”

Samsung’s 256GB eUFS not only can easily endure the new temperature specification, despite the heat-sensitive nature of memory storage, but also through its temperature notification feature, a sensor will notify the host application processor (AP) when the device temperature exceeds 105°C or any pre-set level. The AP would then regulate its clock speed to lower the temperature to an acceptable level.

Sequential reads for the 256GB eUFS can reach 850 megabytes per second (MB/s), which is at the high end of the current JEDEC UFS 2.1 standard, and random read operations come in at 45,000 IOPS. In addition, a data refresh feature speeds up processing and enables greater system reliability by relocating older data to other less-used cells.

The temperature notification, developed by Samsung, and data refresh features are included in UFS specification, version 3.0, which was announced last month by JEDEC, a global semiconductor standards organization.

Samsung plans to bolster its technology partnerships with global automakers and component providers, and continue expanding its eUFS line-up with an aim to lead the premium memory market.