STMicro Introduces the World's First 4Mbit SPI EEPROM

EEPROM chips are often used to store configuration information and connected over I2C. But there are also SPI EEPROM, and STMicro has just announced one of the largest ones with M95M04-DR 4-Mbit serial SPI EEPROM.

M95M04-DR key features:

Capacity – 4 Mbit (512 Kbytes) of EEPROM with 512 bytes page size and additional write lockable page (Identification page)
Host Interface – Serial peripheral interface (SPI) bus
Write time – Byte Write within 5 ms, Page Write within 5 ms
Write protect – Quarter array, half array, and whole memory array
More than 4 million Write cycles
More than 40-year data retention
Max clock frequency – 10 MHz
Single supply voltage: 1.8 V to 5.5 V
Temperature range – -40°C to +85°C
Enhanced ESD protection (up to 4 kV in human body model)
Packages – SO8N, TSSOP8, and WLCSP

The company explains their latest high-capacity EEPROM enables equipment such as smart meters to intensify data logging for managing grids more effectively and providing more user-friendly billing. The SPI EEPROM will also be used in portable medical devices, smart wearables, industrial controls, and network switches. Some of the benefits of this type of memory are its low power consumption that helps extend battery life, wider supply voltage range, as well as its relative cost-effectiveness.

M95M04-DR samples now are available via NXP sales, and the price is $2.5 for orders of 1,000 pieces. For reference, 4MBit SPI NOR Flash chips sell for less than $1. sometimes around 30 cents. More details may be found on the product page.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.