Cypress Semiconductor’s Serial F-RAM (Ferroelectric RAM) memories combine nonvolatile data storage with the fast speed of RAM. Serial F-RAM offers densities ranging from 4 Kb to 4 Mb, SPI and I²C interfaces, and industry-standard packages. Serial F-RAM has three distinct advantages over traditional nonvolatile memories: fast write speed with no write delay, virtually unlimited endurance, and low energy consumption.

Serial F-RAM provides fast writes at full interface speed. Serial F-RAM does not have any write delays; data is instantly nonvolatile. Traditional nonvolatile memories have >5 ms delays before data becomes nonvolatile. If power is disrupted, pending data is lost unless the system has extra capacitance or batteries to keep the system on until data is stored.

Serial F-RAM offers virtually unlimited endurance of 10¹⁴ read/write cycles. Traditional nonvolatile memories typically have less than 10⁶ cycle endurance, forcing system designers to use complex wear-leveling routines and up to 4x more density to prolong the lifetime of these memories.

Serial F-RAM consumes as low as 300 µA active and 6 µA standby current. Coupled with fast write speeds, Serial F-RAM stays active for short periods of time, yielding very low energy consumption. Traditional nonvolatile memories with write delays must stay active for longer periods of time, resulting in higher energy consumption.

With minor firmware changes, Serial F-RAM offers a pin-to-pin and footprint compatible EEPROM replacement.

White Paper: F-RAM™ Technology Brief