Xref: utzoo comp.misc:7338 sci.electronics:8567
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!wuarchive!psuvax1!psuvm!psuecl!peg
From: peg@psuecl.bitnet
Newsgroups: comp.misc,sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Non-volatile Memory--EEPROM
Message-ID: <65243@psuecl.bitnet>
Date: 12 Nov 89 17:51:03 GMT
References: <1308@rodan.acs.syr.edu>
Organization: Engineering Computer Lab, Pennsylvania State University
Lines: 37

In article <1308@rodan.acs.syr.edu>, pwasilko@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Wasilko) writes:
>   Query: What is the current state of the art in non-volatile solid
> state memory technology?
>
>       The most recent material in our library is of 1985 vintage with
> references to 512K bubble memory chips, 128K removable bubble memory

Hey!

I certainly can't profess to being an expert on non-volatile memories,
but I did do some looking for a recent project.

It seems that the bubble memory craze sort of faded out.  Apparently
they found other ways of doing the trick that cost a lot less.  I don't
know if you would consider it "state of the art" but the EEPROM seems
to be pretty well-liked right now.  I have databooks from SEEQ and
XICOR in front of me (1988) that list EEPROMS up to 128k bytes.  The
access time is quoted as 200ns.  Write time is usually much, much
longer--these say < 150 us.

There are articles in these databooks comparing EEPROM to bubble memory,
and it seems the EEPROM wins in the areas of read timing, write timing,
power supply simplicity, operating/storage temp range, size, weight, etc.
Probably cost, too!

There are also articles on pushing EEPROM up to 1 Megabit, which may
have been done by now.

By the way, I'm not associated with either of these companies--they just
have nice products!

Contact:     Xicor, Inc                  SEEQ Technology, Inc
             851 Buckeye Ct              1849 Fortune Dr
             Milpitas, CA 95035          San Jose, CA 95131
             408-432-8888                408-432-9550

Paul