F-RAM

[selkathguy]

http://www.digikey.com/product-highlights/us/en/cypress-serial-f-ram-nonvolatile-memory/3661

Seems like this stuff would be great for storing program state data say from a BOD interrupt, as it just writes it so fast and it's persistent immediately.

Is there any real downside to using this stuff over EEPROM other than price?
What pitfalls await a 'young player' when using devices like this?

[Neilm]

I looked at putting this into a commercial product I was designing a few years ago. Price is obviously a big factor, but also there were not very many manufacturers. This was a concern as we want to manufacture the product for quite a few years and we don't want to have to redesign the PCB or firmware if we are forced to change manufacturer. Even now, most of the chips are manufactured in only a couple of places then re-badged.

Neil

[marshallh]

Price, availability, lead times, dependence on a nonstandard part that cant be exchanged easily.

If you're buying low quantities through a distributor then you won't have to worry as much about that.

Usually if you can approach your design differently you can remove the dependence on this uncommon technology.