Microchip Introduces 64-Mbit Serial SuperFlash Memory

     There is a strong need for spacecraft system designers to reduce system development time and reduce system development cost and risk. Microchip Technology Inc. proposes the concept of starting with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) devices and replacing them with aerospace-grade equivalent radiation-tolerant (RT) components. Microchip announced the expansion of its commercial-off-the-shelf technology-based radiation-tolerant SuperFlash product family, bringing Microchip's memory technology's unmatched 50 kilorad (krad) total ionizing dose (TID) tolerance to 64 Mbit serial quad I/O NOR Flash memory devices for harsh aerospace and defense system environments.

     "The SST26LF064RT SuperFlash device brings the best TID performance on the market to a 64-Mbit serial quad I/O memory solution, compatible with any SRAM-based FPGAs work together. This device is suitable for systems used in low-Earth orbit (LEO) space satellites and other harsh radiation environments where companion flash is required to store critical software code or bitstreams that drive a complete system.”

     Compared to conventional stacked gate flash, Microchip SuperFlash NOR flash products offer a proprietary split gate cell architecture for improved performance, data retention and reliability. These products remove the complexity of power management switching, even when the flash memory is still powered and the system is running (such as satellite onboard computers and different types of controllers for motors, sensors, solar panels and power distribution) High TID in the industry. Microchip RT SuperFlash technology has been proven in industrial applications and is now used as a parallel interface solution with the 64Mbit SST38LF6401RT device, which is now space-qualified for use in spacecraft onboard models. With the SST26LF064RT product, designers now also have the option of serial quad I/O 64Mbit memory.

     This application note explains how to use a 64-Mbit Serial SuperFlash device with Microchip's SST26LF064RT RT Flash Reference Evaluation Board and an aerospace-grade SRAM-based FPGA. Like Microchip's parallel SuperFlash memories, serial SuperFlash products can also be used as configuration memory for FPGAs and other Microchip solutions, such as the arm® Cortex®-M7-based SAMRH707 radiation-hardened microcontroller (MCU). This product can also be used with RT PolarFire® FPGAs to support reconfiguration of spacecraft onboard systems