Microchip now provides Serial SRAM, which represents another way to introduce off-chip RAM into a design. The connection to the micro is the classic SPI interface, which is well understood and easy to design with, especially since many micros already have an SPI interface port. As shown here, it only requires 4 I/O pins.  It is very easy to add up to 32kB to a design with one small, 8-lead SOIC or TSSOP package. And remember that serial SRAM is very well suited to embedded designs due to its very low standby current. In applications that don’t need a lot of processing power and can use a small- to mid-sized micro, or in applications that require a lot of RAM, serial SRAM can be a good option to keep costs down and to get to market faster. Microchip gives its customers flexible design options. We have micros with many RAM options, and now we offer external serial SRAM as another option.   So, the advantages of serial SRAM include flexibility, time to market, and reduced system cost.