ST’s new Serial Flash IC supports the Intel® 82573E PCI Express* Gigabit Ethernet Controller, featuring Active Management Technology, and the Intel 945 Express chipset family with the 82801GB and 82801GR I/O Controller Hub.

The M25PE80 offers a thin granularity for erase and program very suitable for BIOS parameters. The memory space is divided into 16 sectors each containing 256 pages; each page is 256 bytes wide. All sectors (64 kbytes) and pages (256 bytes) can be erased independently. The memory offers enhanced protection features to prevent accidental programming or erasure. The memory can be write protected by either hardware or software, with a protection granularity of sectors (64 kbytes) for the whole memory area and subsectors (4 kbytes) inside the sector 0 and the sector 15.

On top of these features, ST’s M25PE80 encompasses a standard SPI bus with an enhanced clock speed of 50 MHz for data transfer. This device operates on a 2.7 to 3.6V supply voltage, and features a 1-microamp deep power-down mode to reduce power consumption.

The M25PE80 devices come in the S08 Wide (208mils) package and in the very thin 5 x 6mm 8-pin MLP (Micro Leadframe Package). The packages use ST’s ECOPACK Pb-free technology for RoHS-compliance (the EU’s Restriction on Use of Hazardous Substances Directive).

The M25PE80 is specified for the -40 to +85 degrees C operating temperature range. Minimum data retention is 20 years and write endurance is 100,000 cycles.

Samples in 8-Mbit are available now and volume production is ramping-up. Pricing for 100,000 units is $1.35 for the 8-Mbit M25PE80. The 4-Mbit M25PE40 is also available and a 16-Mbit is planned.