In some cases, ferroelectric random access memory should be considered as a viable alternative to flash memory as a non-volatile storage technology. Priya Thanigai, Technical Engineer at TI, describes some practical examples of such technology in this article. As we all know, ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) is a non-volatile independent memory technology, which has been an integral part of the semiconductor industry for more than 10 years.

In recent years, integrated circuit manufacturers have gradually recognized FRAM as a strong competitor for embedded non-volatile memories and an alternative to flash memory technology. This paper will discuss the main technical properties of FRAM, and discuss the specific use cases that can fully show the advantages of FRAM.

Today, there are multiple memory technologies that have the potential to change the embedded processing landscape. However, no single technology has emerged as a serious contender to replace flash memory in the microcontroller unit (MCU) until the introduction of FRAM.

What is FRAM?

FRAM is a non-volatile memory, its power consumption, writable times, read/write speed are very similar to the commonly used static RAM (SRAM). The information stored in the FRAM unit corresponds to the polarization state of the ferroelectric crystal and can preserve its contents even after the power supply is removed. It is this characteristic that makes FRAM truly non-volatile. Moreover, the power consumption required for crystal polarization is relatively low compared to the programming of flash cells, so the power consumption of FRAM write operations is inherently lower than that of flash memory.