33.1.8 Flash Retention and Endurance

Flash panels have retention and endurance values native to the process technology in which they are designed.

The following mechanisms exist to increase the endurance while maintaining retention, ECC, and Pre-Program:

ECC masks native error rates by detection and correction. Since ECC can correct one error per Flash Word, it can double the endurance of a panel.
Pre-Program reduces stress when programming bit cells thereby doubling endurance. However, Pre-Program adds about 20 percent to the Flash programming time.

Using both ECC and Pre-Program can yield a significant endurance improvement. For additional information, refer to the Electrical Specifications section.