Processor Companion family upgraded with trickle charger and RTC that uses standard 12.5pF external crystal

Ramtron’s new Processor Companion is a single-chip solution that replaces discrete components and reduces cost and board space in processor-based designs. It supports commonly-needed system functions in a variety of metering, consumer, communications, industrial, and computing applications.

“We have improved the FM3127x/L27x Processor Companion to deliver features requested by our customers,” explains Craig Taylor, Ramtron Director of Technical Marketing. “These improvements include an RTC that operates with a low-cost 12.5pF crystal, reducing overall system costs. In addition, we have added a superior trickle charger that can typically charge a 1Farad supercapacitor in less than three hours,” adds Taylor. “This allows designers to use a capacitor as a backup supply without any additional components in advanced metering applications, consumer products that require an RTC, and many others systems.”

The F-RAM memory on these new Processor Companions boasts NoDelay™ writes, virtually unlimited endurance, and low power consumption. The FM32127x/L27x features an enhanced trickle charger, a 12.5pF external watch crystal, a programmable low-VDD reset, a programmable watchdog timer, a manual reset function, dual battery-backed event counters, a lockable serial number, and a general-purpose comparator that can be used for early warning power-fail interrupts (NMI). The FM31272, FM31274, FM31276, and FM31278 operate from 4.0V to 5.5V over the entire industrial temperature range (-40ºC to +85 ºC). The FM31L272, FM31L274, FM31L276, and FM31L278 operate from 2.7V to 3.6V over the entire industrial temperature range.