STMicroelectronics has introduced serial flash memory chips especially for automotive applications such as high-performance engine management, transmission control modules, safety applications, and in-car systems such as the dashboard, multimedia displays and audio systems.
The 1 Mb M25P10-A, 2 Mb M25P20 and 4 Mb M25P40 memories are automotive grade certified, AEC-Q100 qualified, and tested through ST's proprietary high reliability certified flow (HRCF) procedure to maintain high-speed access at up to 25 MHz over the -40 °C to 125 °C automotive temperature range. ST said the testing flow is combined with statistical bin limit (SBL) and part average testing (PAT) statistical tools to screen out early failures and outliers (on wafer and die).
The memories integrate a standard 4-wire SPI bus with an enhanced data transfer clock speed of 25 MHz. They operate on a 2.7 V to 3.6 V supply voltage, and feature a 1 µA deep power-down to minimize overall power consumption. Minimum data retention is 20 years; write endurance is 10,000 cycles by sector over the full automotive temperature range. The memories can be programmed 1 byte to 256 bytes at a time using the page program instruction, and can be erased using bulk erase or sector erase.
The chips come in S08 narrow (150 mils) packages that use ST's RoHS-compliant ECOPACK lead-free technology. Compatibility between densities is preserved--including pin-to-pin footprint, software configuration protocols and the power consumption performance--to enable easy design upgrades to higher densities and provide excellent flexibility in application board designs.