Stmicroelectronics S.r.l.

Sgs-thomson Microelectronics S.r.l.

Maurizio Peri

Marco Olivo

Saverio Pezzini

Roberto Ganzelmi

Alessandro Brigati

A method and device emulate the features of a EEPROM memory device. The device is included into a memory macrocell which is embedded into an integrated circuit comprising also a microcontroller. The device includes a Flash EEPROM memory structure formed by a predetermined number of sectors wherein at least two sectors of the Flash memory structure are used to emulate EEPROM byte alterability.

Flash EEPROM memory emulator of non-flash EEPROM device and corresponding method

A method whereby the N elements of a memory are read sequentially, and the data items contained therein are compared with reference data items. Simultaneously with the reading of each element of the memory, its address is written in a number of redundancy check registers, each connected to a respective redundancy element. In the event the element of the memory differs from the reference data item, the first of the redundancy check registers is blocked to prevent it from being overwritten and the address of a faulty element of the memory is permanently stored. Upon the entire memory being read, the addresses of any faulty elements in the memory are thus already stored in the redundancy check registers.

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Bergamo, Italy

Maurizio Peri