Memory Terms

B

BRAM Block RAM (BRAM) is dedicated, on-chip synchronous RAM embedded directly in FPGA fabric, implemented as hard memory macros rather than as lo...

C

cache line A cache line is the smallest unit of data transferred between main memory and a cache. Rather than fetching individual bytes or words, the c...
Cache Memory Cache memory is a small, fast memory layer placed between a processor and slower main memory (Flash or DRAM) that transparently stores recen...

D

DDR DDR SDRAM (Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory) is a type of volatile DRAM that transfers data on both the rising and ...
DRAM DRAM (Dynamic Random-Access Memory) is a type of volatile semiconductor memory that stores each bit in a one-transistor, one-capacitor cell,...

E

EEPROM EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) is a non-volatile memory technology that retains stored data without power and ...
embedded flash Embedded flash is non-volatile memory fabricated on the same die as the processor or microcontroller, used to store firmware, constants, and...
EPROM EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) is a non-volatile memory technology that can be programmed by applying high voltage pulses to...

F

FIFO A FIFO (first-in first-out queue) is a data structure or hardware peripheral in which data is read out in exactly the order it was written: ...
Flash Memory Flash memory is a type of non-volatile, electrically erasable, solid-state storage that retains its contents without power. In embedded syst...
frame buffer A frame buffer is a region of memory that holds the pixel data for a complete display frame, with each location in the buffer corresponding ...

H

Heap The heap is a region of memory used for dynamic allocation, where blocks of memory are requested and released explicitly at runtime via func...
Heap Fragmentation Heap fragmentation is the condition in which available free memory on the heap is divided into many small, non-contiguous blocks, so that th...

M

Memory Leak A memory leak occurs when dynamically allocated memory is no longer reachable by the program but has not been freed, causing the allocator t...
Memory-Mapped I/O Memory-mapped I/O (MMIO) is a technique in which peripheral registers and other hardware resources are placed at specific addresses within t...
MMU A Memory Management Unit (MMU) is a hardware block that translates virtual addresses generated by the CPU into physical addresses in memory,...

N

NAND Flash NAND Flash is a type of non-volatile solid-state storage organized in pages and blocks, where cells are erased in large blocks and written i...
NOR Flash NOR Flash is a non-volatile solid-state memory technology where individual words or bytes can be read randomly at full bus speed, and where ...

R

RAM RAM (Random Access Memory) is a form of volatile storage where any location can be read or written in roughly equal time regardless of its a...

S

SDRAM SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic RAM) is a type of volatile DRAM that synchronizes its internal operations to an external clock signal, allowing t...
SRAM SRAM (Static Random-Access Memory) is a type of volatile memory that stores each bit in a flip-flop circuit, retaining its value as long as ...
Stack (Memory) A stack is a region of RAM used for automatic storage of local variables, function return addresses, and processor register states, operatin...

W

Wear Leveling Wear leveling is a set of techniques used in flash memory management to distribute write and erase operations as evenly as possible across a...

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