Ramtron F-RAM Processor Companion with TCXO Targets High-Volume Consumer, Industrial, and Computing Markets

Ramtron’s new Processor Companion integrates a precise Real-Time Clock (RTC) with a temperature compensation crystal oscillator (TCXO), 256-kilobits (Kb) of nonvolatile ferroelectric random access memory (F-RAM), and a suite of peripheral functions. The highly integrated Processor Companion with TCXO offers competitive advantages for leading-edge electronics manufacturers that seek to reduce part inventory, lower bill-of-material cost, reduce manufacturing steps and potential points of failure, as well as decrease board space. First in a series of Processor Companions with TCXO, Ramtron’s FM31T378 is ideal for use in meters, elapsed time monitors, time-of-use recording, and other intensive data-collection applications that require accurate time-stamping.

The Processor Companion with TCXO also features a processor supervisor that supports virtually any microcontroller- or microprocessor-based design. The supervisory function detects power supply faults and will initiate a reset to escape software lockup conditions. Ramtron’s Processor Companion with TCXO also features a wealth of integrated functions that include:

F-RAM nonvolatile memory – built on an advanced, high-reliability ferroelectric process, Ramtron’s F-RAM offers low power operation, NoDelay™ writes, and 100-trillion (1e14) high endurance reads/write cycles.

Temperature Compensated Real-Time Clock Operation – an embedded crystal and on-board temperature sensor internally calibrates the crystal temperature characteristics with accuracy to ±2.6min/yr (±5ppm) over the industrial temperature range (-40°C to +85°C). The precise time-keeping component is shielded from security breaches and environmental effects such as vibration, humidity, and spurious EMI/RFI.

Low-Voltage Reset – a programmable low-VDD reset, a programmable watchdog timer, a backup power source controller, and a manual reset function are standard on Ramtron’s Processor Companion devices.

Additional Peripherals – two battery-backed event counters with a tamper interrupt output, a 32.768 kHz clock output, a lockable 64-bit serial number, and a general-purpose comparator that can be used for an early power-fail (NMI) interrupt.