Data integrity of EEPROMs

Small, serial Electrically Erasable memories (EEPROMs) are widely used in many types of electronic products. They offer non-volatile storage for a small amount of data, take up little space, and are generally easy to use. The author has experience of using these devices in a range of industrial control and telemetry products. Typically these are used for signal conditioning, processing and transmission, control of actuators and so forth. Permanent memory storage is required for calibration parameters, mode and setup parameters. These may be entered either from the product´s own user interface, or via a serial part either from the control system (if there is one), or with a local terminal. The products with which the author has been associated have had some in-house testing with regard to electromagnetic interference and power supply interruptions. This testing has not revealed problems with respect to EEPROMs