AN302 - F-RAM SPI Read & Write and Data Protection during Power Cycles

Overview

F-RAM (Ferroelectric Random Access Memory) is a non- volatile memory that uses a ferroelectric film for storing data. F-RAM memory offers tremendous write speed. This feature is most evident in high-speed serial SPI and byte- wide parallel memories. Hundreds of bytes can be written in tens of microseconds. EEPROM and Flash memory require tens of milliseconds to do the same. Writing data quickly before losing power is particularly useful in systems that require saving machine state information, parameter settings, or other vital data. With this in mind, care must be taken in controlling signals at power-up and power-down.