Non-Volatile CMOS Memories in Automotive Systems

The electronic dashboard has already arrived in top of the range cars and will soon be common place in mass production models. This paper describes the application of non-volatile memories in such a system and the development of a custom CMOS chip with non-volatile memory for a particular application. Non-volatile is used to satisfy the legal requirement for the odometer to retain information throughout the life of the vehicle even though the battery may be disconnected for a period of up to 10 years.