A new 1-Mbit FRAM product with I²C interface has been released by Fujitsu Semiconductor Europe (FSEU). The company advises the new MB85RC1MT is the highest memory capacity of its existing line-up of devices for this interface. This device is offered in an industry-standard SOP-8 package that is pin-compatible with EEPROM and Flash memory. Featuring high endurance and low power consumption, the FRAM product enables frequent logging at low power, which is an ideal fit for factory automation and industrial instrument applications.
Advantages of FRAM
The company advises, FRAM (Ferroelectric Random Access Memory) is a type of memory featuring both non-volatility and random access. While non-volatility permits data to be retained even in the absence of power, random access also allows faster writes without the delay that is usually inevitable with non-volatile memories. FRAM is also extremely durable, capable of offering 10 trillion (10¹³) read/write cycles, which exceeds conventional non-volatile memory technology by a factor of 10 millions. This high endurance enables real-time logging in target applications.
Features of MB85RC1MT
This new product operates at voltages between 1.8V and 3.3V, and at temperatures from -40 °C to 85 °C. The device’s active power supply is claimed to draw a maximum of 1.2 mA (at 3.4 MHz). This is an interesting aspect as, taking the extremely short write cycle of FRAM into consideration, the system is much more energy-efficient than EEPROM.
This technology also supports “high-speed” mode at its operating frequency, which enables read/write operations at 3.4MHz in parallel to 1MHz operation – the same speed as conventional EEPROMs. As a result, many logging applications featuring an I2C interface can now replace their EEPROMs with the new FRAM product. This enables high-precision data capture via high-frequency logging while reducing the power consumed by data write cycles.
Fujitsu Semiconductor Europe
