Serial EEPROM device has only two pins

Microchip's AT21CS11 is a serial EEPROM device in a package with only two pins. There are also versions with more pins in more common packages, but these too only use two of their pins. The device connects to a system through a Single Input/Output (SI/O) wire that serves as both the communication and the power supply to the part.

Microchip announces a single-wire, two-pin Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM) device with a 2.7V to 4.5V operational voltage range. The AT21CS11 is ideal for identifying and authenticating remote items, such as cartridges or cables, where space for electronic components is limited.

At last it looks like we will soon be able to take advantage of memory chips using ReRAM technology. Fujitsu Semiconductor has announced production of a 4 Mb ReRAM chip. Developed together with Panasonic Semiconductor Solutions the MB85AS4MT is the first mass-produced example using this technology and currently has the highest memory density of any ReRAM chip.

You can almost hear them think in Microchip’s New Products kitchen: what if we put SRAM and EEPROM on one chip? What would you get? Interesting texture? Exciting flavour? What the heck, lets just do it. Sometimes experiments like this turn out bad, but not this time. The result is EERAM, the cheapest non-volatile SRAM technology currently on the market. No external power needed to keep the contents alive, combined with unlimited writing.

In this instalment we’ll introduce BASIC Stamp branching and EEPROM access commands used to make your BOE-Bot follow a pre-determined path. A piezospeaker will provide a feedback mechanism to identify the location within your program. We’ll also introduce a mobile temperature logger as an optional project to help you learn synchronous serial communication.

A data logger is a circuit which records, collects and stores measured values over a certain period of time. The MatchBox BASIC computer is a great starting point for such a system, because it only needs a small extern al A/D converter and a suitable program. The MatchBox data logger we present here is capable of storing up to 750 measured values.

Modern equipment frequently uses serial EEPROMS to store data that must not be lost in case of a supply failure. Examples are calibration settings and programming data in rv channels in television receivers and recorders.

The miniature size computer described in this short series of articles heralds a new era in DIY microcontroller development systems. The MatchBox computer (MBC) is cheap, simple to program in a BASIC dialect, and uses an EEPROM for nonvolatile program storage. Programs for the MBC may be written, edited, debugged and downloaded with the aid of an MS-DOS PC, using the serial RS232 port. To support the hardware, a variety of programming examples 'from the ground up' and system utilities are available on a floppy disk.

Xicor's X88C64 SLlCTM (self-Ioading integrated code) IC is an 8Kx8 EEPROM with an internal address decoder and a multiplexed data/address bus. The memory consists of two independent arrays with a size of 4Kx8. Another special feature of the SLlCTMis that it has a non-volatile code downloader which makes program development a lot easier for the popular 80xx and 68xx microprocessors.

XICOR's X2404 or Philips' PCF8582 EPROM with integral I²C interface can be connected to the I²C interface pubIished last year via a 6-way PCB mount mini DlN socket.