MCU with built-in FRAM - When will ST follow TI?

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  • Very interesting, this very low power TI MCU with integrated FRAM-Kit...

    To bad thoug hat the kit is so bulky - and not Espruino /Javascript programmable ;-) - but in its defense: LCD display is already on board!

    So far, the FRAM has to be external to the Espruino ST MCU and 'slow' to access - 40MHz clocked SPI, see 256-Kbit (32 K × 8) Serial (SPI) F-RAM - Ferroelecric RAM - SPI challenges. - The advantage of FRAM over EEPROM / FLASH is nicely laid out here.

    When I started considering FRAM, it felt not to be a deal for good; but recently it pops up in various places where EEPROM / FLASH is just to cumbersome to deal with...


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    • MSP430FR6989_TI_DEV_KIT.png
  • Hmm - it'd be interesting, but I guess the register contents aren't FRAM, so if you just cut the power in the middle of something you've probably still got a lot of work before you can 'just resume'.

    ST do make an STM32L0 (I think?) with crazy low power RAM - so the whole thing can go into standby mode (basically totally off) but with the RAM still holding data. A module with that and a supercap/coin cell on board would work pretty well.

    Actually if you wanted a nice easy way to add FRAM, maybe we could come up with a 'shim' for the Pico that'd just solder onto the 0.05" pins. While it's not super-fast, it's probably still a big help for storing anything nonvolatile.

  • Yeah - that looks like they just stuck an FRAM die next to the uC die and connected them up before they put the plastic around it...

    A chip with FRAM for all memory, so you could power cycle it and have it come up in exactly the state it was in when it shut down, that'd be cool.

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MCU with built-in FRAM - When will ST follow TI?

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