Flash Memory/EEPROM
What is Serial Flash?
Serial flash is NOR flash memory incorporating a serial interface, specifically, a serial peripheral interface (SPI) bus.
Serial flash read timing diagram
Serial flash offers advantagesin cost and miniaturization over parallel flash.
Serial Flash Advantages
- Smaller, Thinner Package Development
- Wafer-level CSPs; smaller, thinner molded package USLPs
Advantage: Fewer pins enable a level of ultra-miniaturization difficult to achieve with parallel products. - Fast Data Transfer
- Eight times faster than general-purpose serial flash → Full read of 4 Mbit in only 10.5 ms.
Advantage: Fewer pins enable faster reading than in parallel flash. - Fast Writing
- High-speed rewriting, five times faster than competitive products → High-speed rewriting, five times faster than competitive products → Full write of 16 Mbit in only 4.5 s.
Advantage: Significantly reduces work time during writing. - Erasure on a Smaller Scale
- Compared with competitive 64 KB products, SANYO offers 256 bytes and 4 KB products.
Advantage: EEPROM replacement is possible.
Examples of Serial Flash Applications
| Application | Serial flash is superior: ○ SANYO serial flash is superior: ◎ |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small | Slim | Fast Reading | Fast Writing | Small Sectors | |
| 3.5 in. hard disks | |||||
| 2.5 in. and smaller hard disks | ◎ | ◎ | |||
| DVD drives | ◎ | ◎ | |||
| Printers | ◎ | ◎ | |||
| Portable music players | ○ | ○ | ◎ | ◎ | |
| Cordless telephone answering machines (voice recording) |
◎ | ||||
| Portable game devices | ○ | ○ | ◎ | ||
| Game cartridges | ○ | ○ | ◎ | ||
| LCD modules (compensation data) |
◎ | ◎ | ◎ | ||
| Camera modules (compensation data) |
◎ | ◎ | ○ | ||
Flash products are licensed from Silicon Storage Technology, Inc., (USA), and manufactured and sold by SANYO Semiconductor Co., Ltd.