Flash Memory has RAM

Nov 22, 2007 4 Replies

Hi,



Is there any Flash Memory that acts partly as RAM also ?



Thx in advans, Karthik Balaguru


Depends on what you mean here. Many of the large NAND flash chips have a 1K to 2KByte cache RAM on board. However, their access scheme makes them unsuitable for general data or program storage.

If you want data or program flash that can be read and written very often, like RAM, you should look at the specs for some of the FRAM (ferroelectric RAM) chips. They are non-volatile like Flash, but can be read and written quickly like RAM.

Mark Borgerson

FRAM acts sort of like a combination of Flash and RAM. As does core memeory.

Grant

There are also combinations of SRAM and EERPOM in one chip, which automatically save the SRAM contents to EEPROM on powerdown and restore on powerup. It takes only 10ms or so. Works very nicely. The only problem is the cost.

Vladimir Vassilevsky DSP and Mixed Signal Design Consultant

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Interesting :):) Thx to everyone for the info provided.

What is the difference between FRAM and NOR Flash Memory w.r.t executing a complete application ?

I am thinking of a system where after reset/bootup we need not copy the code from Flash to RAM and execute in RAM. By this method, we will avoid the following

1) Time to copy from Flash to RAM 2) Acheiving Execution speed in Flash Memory just like RAM.

Thx in advans, Karthik Balaguru

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