Question about the EEPROM lifetime

[fatehi]

Hi,
I have a question about using EEPROMs:

I am writing/reading some data in the Atmel 24c256 EEPROM more than 100times everyday.
Refer to 24c256 EEPROM Datasheet, the EEPROM Write Cycle is 100,000 times.
What it means? Can't I write more than 100,000 times?

I write in the EEPROM, more than 100 times per day, and each time I write 10 bytes in the EEPROM. So after 1000days (about 3 years) the EEPROM will be unusable???

If it's true, is there any EEPROM (or RAM) or any other type of memory IC could be used instead? (even memories that lost data when the power is off)

Thanks a lot
A.B.Fatehi

 

[rberek]

eeprom life time

EEPROMs have a limited number of times that they can be erased and re-written to. The average for the memory you are using is 100,000 erase/write cycles. It may fail after 10,000 cycles, it may last longer than 100,000. You just don't know for sure.

There are some EEPROMs (from Holtek for example) that can perform 1 million erase/write cycles, on average.

If you are not concerned with volatility, you could just use conventional SRAM or SDRAM, SRAM being easier to design with.

 

[Cortex]

eprom lifetime

Use RAM instead! they are faster and have longer lifetime! you can use a eeprom in parallel to store data that sould not be lost on poweroff!

 

[XNOX_Rambo]

lifetime of eeprom

The question is how often you erase the EEPROM.
If you use it as a logger and only erase it when it is full after about 30 days
it will last 8000 years...

 

[PaulHolland]

pic eeprom lifetime

Why you write 10 bytes 100 time a day, what kind of information and why you need to write it so often ?. You should ask yourself if EEPROM is the correct technology or did you make the correct judgements ?. Seems to me your using the wrong component for the wrong job. If you do ONE erase it's not so bad but if your write 10 bytes and do an erase for every byte before your write it your not going to last 3 years ...

 

[xorcise]

eprom lifetime cycles

RAMTRON has FRAM (EEPROM) that have fast and almost unlimited Read/Write cycles:

http://www.ramtron.com/

 

[avt]

eprom number of lifetime

yes - use fram - pin-compatible - you can choose i2c or spi - fast write and reads - no waits needed and have to be implemented in code - infinite writes (or if you want to be precise around 10^14 in most devices) - and if you mind it - probably lower power consumptions ...