Compact Flash Memory Card 101

Compact Flash memory card designs are available in a wide range of formats and capacities, with both SLC and MLC flash memory options. Consumers are generally most familiar with Compact Flash storage in the form of camera memory cards, but it can also be used in industrial applications that require increased ruggedness and greater read and write operating speeds.

Compact Flash Memory Card Designs

Compact Flash memory cards, or CF cards, are used for embedded applications as both boot drives and storage. They are easy to customize, which makes them popular with both commercial and industrial OEMs. CF memory cards are based on the PATA Parallel ATA Interface, and since their inception in 1994, they have remained an in-demand memory format for industrial applications for logging data and acting as a boot drive with an OS image load.

Industrial Compact Flash Memory and SLC NAND

Most industrial CF memory cards use single-level cell, or SLC, NAND technology. SLC NAND writes one bit of data per cell, allowing for faster read and write operations and a higher degree of data protection. Thanks to this design, CF memory has 100% uptime. In the industrial grade design, there is also a controlled bill of materials, so that designers can rely on the fact that they are getting the same memory card every time. This helps to prevent in-the-field compatibility issues that are caused by unexpected parts changes. With a controlled bill of materials, no critical components will be changed without creating an entirely new product number.

Delkin Compact Flash Memory Specs

For industrial storage, Delkin offers three versions of CF memory cards: C400, C500, and C670. C400 and C500 are available with SLC NAND only, while C670 is available with either SLC or MLC. The operating temperatures for all three range from -40 degrees C to 85 degrees C, with greater than 2 million hours MTBF. They all feature integrated SMART features. The C400 series has the lowest capacities, with storage ranging from 128MB to 16GB. The C500 series offers 2GB to 64GB capacities, while the C670 option offers the highest capacities, with storage ranging from 4GB to 128GB.

If you’re considering using a Compact Flash memory card for your industrial application, Delkin’s product team can answer your questions. Contact us for more information or to request product configuration samples.