Types of Memories in Microcontrollers
Types of Memories in Microcontrollers
Microcontrollers/Microprocessors are producted, essentially, with three types of memories:
- Flash memory
- RAM memory
- EEPROM memory
Flash memory
Flash memory is ‘non-volatile’, which means that when the power is shut off, the contents of the memory are NOT lost. Flash memory is used to store the program. Flash memory can be write a lot of times (see Endurance parameter in datasheet), so it is possibile to update the microcontroller program without hardware replacements. However, do not use flash memory to store program variables because lifetime of memory will decrease very very rapidly.
RAM memory
RAM (Random-Access-Memory) is ‘volatile’, which means that when the power is shut off, the contents of the memory are lost. RAM memory is used to store the variables during program execution. RAM memory offers fast read access times. There are several types of RAM memory (SRAM, DRAM, etc.).
EEPROM memory
EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) is ‘non-volatile’. EEPROM memory offers slow response times both in reading and writing operations. It’s used to permanently store data like device parameters, sensors data, etc.
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