512Kb and 1Mb Serial F-RAM Announced by Ramtron

Ramtron International Corporation launched two more devices in a family of new parallel and serial F-RAM products that offer higher-speed read/write performance, lower voltage operation, and optional device features. The newest devices in Ramtron’s V-Family of F-RAM products are the 512-Kilobit (Kb) FM24V05, and the 1-Megabit (Mb) FM24V10. The new products are 2.0 to 3.6-volt, serial nonvolatile RAMs in 8-pin SOIC packages that use the two-wire (I2C) protocol. The FM24V05 and FM24V10 feature fast access, no delay writes, virtually unlimited read/write cycles, and low power consumption. The devices are drop-in replacement for 512Kb and 1Mb serial Flash and serial EEPROM memories in industrial controls, metering, medical, military, gaming, and computing applications, among others.

“We now offer 512-Kilobit and 1-Megabit device options in our V-Family lineup with the I2C interface that operate at a lower and wider voltage range for greater power efficiency,” remarks Mike Peters, Ramtron marketing manager. “The FM24V05 and FM24V10 provide a significant upgrade over EEPROM devices due to their lower power consumption, orders of magnitude more endurance, and improved read and write performance.”

The FM24V05 is ideal for nonvolatile memory applications that require frequent or rapid writes, such as data collection, where the number of write cycles may be critical.  Demanding industrial controls can benefit from the FM24V05 where the long write time of EEPROM can cause data loss. All serial F-RAM V-Family products can be equipped with optional device features including unique serial numbering and a customizable system reset.

Other devices within the Ramtron V-Family of F-RAM products include the recently announced FM25V05 (512Kb) and FM25V10 (1Mb) serial SPI products, and the FM28V100 (1Mb) parallel nonvolatile RAM.

About the FM24V05 and FM24V10
The FM24V05 and FM24V10 are serial ferroelectric random access memories organized as 64K x 8-bit and 128K x 8-bit memory arrays, respectively, and are accessed using an industry standard two-wire (I2C) communication interface. Unlike an EEPROM, F-RAM serial memories do not need to be polled for a ready condition since reads and writes occur at the full bus speed of the serial protocol. The FM24V05 and FM24V10 support up to 3.4 MHz bus speed, which represents a threefold increase in clock speed as compared to previous I2C Serial F-RAM devices. The FM24V05 and FM24V10 provide data retention for over 10 years while eliminating the complexities, overhead, and system level reliability problems caused by EEPROM and other nonvolatile memories.

The FM24V05 and FM24V10 have a read-only device ID and can be ordered with a unique serial number and/or system reset option. The device ID provides information about the manufacturer, product density, and product revision of the device. The unique serial number allows the host to have an ID that is different from any other host in the world. The system reset option eliminates the need for an external reset component in the system.

The FM24V05 and FM24V10 operate over the industrial temperature range of -40°C to +85°C in a low voltage, low power operation of 2.0V-3.6V with an active current of less than 150 microamps (typical at 100KHz), 90 microamps in standby, and 5 microamps during sleep mode.

Pricing and Availability
Samples of the FM24V05 and FM24V10 are available now in ‘Green’/RoHS-compliant, 8-pin SOIC packages. Unit pricing for the FM24V05 begins at $4.18, and $5.05 for the FM24V10, in quantities of 10K.