Fujitsu Debuts FRAM Chip for Automotive Market

Japanese company Fujitsu Ltd. has debuted its first FRAM devices for the automotive market.

FRAM (Ferroelectric Random-Access Memory) is a technology that will be very much needed in the future as vehicles will have many applications which will be characterized by short wake-up and boot times. It is not very relevant in rough automotive environments.
Fujitus’s new FRAM chip goes by the product name MB85RS256TY, and the device can be used in temperatures ranging from 125°C to -40°C. A Fujitsu spokesperson said that the minimum temperature could be lowered to -55°C. The 256 kilobit device has the capacity to retain its data content for more than, even in a worst case scenario where the temperature is constantly at 85°C.
The demand for non-volatile memory technologies is increasing with more and more automotive companies and aftermarket manufacturers using electronic control systems comprising multiple and various sensor types. The data from these sensors can be stored without delay in a safe manner using only memory types like FRAM. FRAM is also useful in instances where fast access and high-speed writing is required as both EEPROMs and NOR Flash have limits when it comes to this aspect.
Applications where FRAM can be used include data monitoring and analysis applications in cars like data event recorders (DER), airbag data storage, battery management systems (BMS), advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) as well as navigation and infotainment systems. Using FRAM in such applications can go a long way towards reducing system complexity, permitting continuous data storage and improving data integrity.
The new FRAM chip has an SPI interface and can operate under voltages ranging from 1.8 to 3.6V. Fujitsu specifies the chip for 10 13 write cycles, far more than components with comparable density in EEPROM and Flash technology.