EEPROMs Invade SPI Market

Claiming to represent one of the industry’s most complete families of high-speed serial EEPROMs with an SPI interface, the company’s SPI family consists of 19 devices with memory densities ranging from 1 Kb to 256 Kb. Each device in the family operates at 10 MHz, except for the 128 Kb and 256 Kb devices that operate at 5 MHz. The offerings include EEPROMs with standard two-bit block protection, enhanced two-bit block protection with software write protection, and three-bit block protection with software write protection. The three-bit block write protection capability is available for 1Kb through 64 Kb devices. A status register with three block protection bits makes single-page write protection possible. All four SPI clock and phase modes, including 00, 01, 10 and 11, are supported through factory programming options. Depending on memory density, the EEPROMs have a starting price of $0.26 each/10K. CATALYST SEMICONDUCTOR INC., Sunnyvale, CA. (408) 542-1080.