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Toshiba Develops eXtremely Low Leakage SRAM (XLL SRAM) which Enables Lower Power MCU to Fast Wake-up from a Deep Sleep Mode
All the stated functions sound wonderful, but I wonder where exactly and in what form these chips could be used? Maybe like a intermediate step between long term storage and RAM? Or...?
SRAM is hugely expensive, and this is likely more expensive than standard SRAM by a fair margin, so no it's not intermediate memory - that's where things like NAND/NOR fit in at the moment, with other technologies in the works. It's also far less dense than DRAM; typical SRAM will use six transistors per bit, whereas DRAM uses one plus a capacitor.
Reading from the article, this is aimed at the microcontroller market where small amounts of SRAM are already used on-board the chip (100kB is the value mentioned in the article), but when they drop to a low power state, the SRAM is powered down to save energy, therefore losing its contents. The claim here being, the idle power draw is so low that it can be kept powered without ballooning power usage, and therefore alleviating the delay of having to access secondary storage (NAND or ROM for example) every time it wakes.
Where that would find usage with the 100kb capacity mentioned?
As it says, in microcontrollers. The extremely low power types can be found in devices where a battery change/charge is impractical, pacemakers for example.
Here's a fairly typical microcontroller to show what sort of specs they offer. http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/l...32g-gecko.aspx
Of course, there are *tons* of different shapes and sizes of micros, controlling anything from a toothbrush, to washing machines, to cars, and so on.
Fair enough. I could understand the power savings in a peacemaker, but the minuscule savings in cars or washing machines? Thanks anyway for the explanation.
I haven't ever thought of toothbrushes to have micro-controllers to be honest :o
I was just giving examples of different applications of microcontrollers; as I said there are a range of different types. Of course one used in a washing machine would be different to one used in a pacemaker, with extremely low power consumption being less of a priority.
I'm talking about electric toothbrushes obviously, that timed pulse telling you to move on to the next tooth or whatever will be to job of a micro.
You would be surprised at how much power the on board systems of things like cars, washing machines, microwaves use when taken over their life times. I read recently that more power is used for the built in clock (and related components) over a microwaves life time than is used to heat food. A couple of minutes a day of intense activity vs. very almost 24 hours a day of drip feeding the display and electronics. All these tiny little bits of power add up, and they are getting more and more important every year the EU tightens its eco standards.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonebreaker777
Relating to cars, there must be a point at which an all electric car will refuse to run because the last remains of power have been used by an alarm system or on board computer while the owner has been away on holiday/business/driving their other car(s). As I said, it all adds up.
Well I am surprised, but once I imagine the picture you are describing, it does makes sense. Still hard to imagine but the tale with the hare and the turtle comes to my mind right now.