Description

Atmel’s Flash Memory Card provides the highest system

level performance for data and file storage solutions to the

portable PC market segment. Data files and applications

programs can be stored on the AT5FC256. This allows

OEM manufacturers of portable system to eliminate the

weight, power consumption and reliability issues associ-

ated with electro-mechanical disk-based systems. The

AT5FC256 requires a single voltage power supply for total

system operation. No batteries are needed for data reten-

tion due to its Flash-based technology. Since no high volt-

age (12-volt) is required to perform any write operation,

the AT5FC256 is suitable for the emerging "mobile" per-

sonal systems.

Th e A T 5FC 2 5 6 is c o m p a t i b l e wi th t he 68- pin

PCMCIA/JEIDA international standard. Atmel’s Flash

Memory Cards can be read in either a byte-wide or word-

wide mode which allows for flexible integration into various

system platforms. It can be read like any typical PCMCIA

SRAM or ROM card.

The Card Information Structure (CIS) can be written by the

OEM or by Atmel at the attribute memory address space

using a format utility. The CIS appears at the beginning of

the card’s attribute memory space and defines the low-

level organization of data on the PC card. The AT5FC256

contains a separate 2K byte EEPROM memory for the

card’s attribute memory space.

The third party software solutions such as AWARD Soft-

ware’s CardWare system and the SCM’s Flash File Sys-

tem (FFS), enables Atmel’s Flash Memory Card to emu-

late the function of essentially all the major brand personal

computers that are DOS/Windows compatible.

For some unique portable computers, such as the

HP200/100/95LX series, the software Driver and Format-

ter are also available. The Atmel Driver and Formatter util-

izes a self-contained spare sector replacement algorithm,

enabled by Atmel’s small 256-byte sectors, to achieve

long term card reliability and endurance.

Block Diagram

2

AT5FC256