JEDEC Anounces Publication of Specifications for SPD and Thermal Sensor Devices

JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, the global leader in standards development for the microelectronics industry, today announced the publication of a family of compatible device specifications for Serial Presence Detect (SPD) EEPROMs, Thermal Sensors (TS), and combination devices with both SPD and TS in a single package. The specifications offer advanced power management features for a wide array of applications, and may be downloaded free of charge at JEDEC.org.

"These chips are being applied in a wide range of applications from handheld devices to telecommunications equipment and data servers," said Desi Rhoden, Chairman of JEDEC's JC-42 Committee for Random Access Memory (RAM). He added, "The demand for green technologies has the industry looking for new ways to measure and conserve power. This family of devices gives a way to accurately measure temperatures to less than half a degree so that systems can automatically adjust their energy usage in response to customer's needs."

JEDEC's JC-42.4 Subcommittee for Non-Volatile Memory developed the specifications, and has recommended that all three specifications be published together as a single standard, with the objective of promoting uniformity and ease of device specification. The proposed standard provides for multiple packaging options, including low cost plastic packages, and offers compatibility with industry standard I²C and SMBus low pin count serial buses. These specifications include variations for narrow or wide range voltage options for compatibility with serial buses in common use today. In addition, the specifications for the TS3000 and TSE2002 devices also have a central heat paddle integrated into the package to deliver thermal sensing directly to the die, improving sensing accuracy.

The TS3000 specification defines the parameters for a standalone thermal sensor with high accuracy across a wide temperature range. It supports a sideband interrupt signal to the system that high or low temperature thresholds have been crossed. The EE1002 specification defines the characteristics of an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) incorporated as a Serial Presence Detect on all JEDEC standard memory modules. This SPD device has a content protection feature that prevents modification in end-user applications, but which is reversible in supplier manufacturing processes. The TSE2002 specification covers a combination device that incorporates the functions of both TS3000 thermal sensors and EE1002 SPD EEPROMs in a single chip.