What the heck is C90TFS?

[scottm]

The flash provides the C90TFS Flash driver of Kinetis devices with the C90TFS Flash module inside. The
flash provides general APIs to handle specific operations on C90TFS/FTFx Flash module.

I find references like this scattered in the API docs and source files.  Based on context and some Googling my best guess is that TFS is thin film storage and the C90 part means that it's a 90nm process.  Is this so well-known that it doesn't need to be defined?  Google comes up with fewer than 700 hits, most of them in other languages or duplicates.  I've never seen it referenced in any of the device reference manuals.  Constantly coming across things like this makes me wonder if there's some cache of NXP/Freescale documentation I'm supposed to know about but I've somehow never seen.

Scott

[xiangjun_rong]

Hi, Scott,

You are right, the C90TFS means that innovative 90nm thin film storage
(TFS) flash process technology is used, the flash technology is used in Kinetis family, latest DSC family, S32K... . Because the technology is confidential, we have not enough documentation. But the reference manual has a chapter Flash Memory Module (FTFC), which tells you the utilization of  flash, in detail, how to set the flash clock, how to  erase sector or mass, how to program a sector, how to set the EEPROM mode for some chips, how to read a cell, how to set security mode to avoid the flash contents is read via jtag  illegally..., it is enough to manipulate flash.

Pls refer to the chapter Flash Memory Module (FTFC) to understand how to perform flash.

Hope it can help you.

BR

Xiangjun Rong

[scottm]

My complaint is that there's no explanation anywhere of the term.  It's presented like it's a well-known designation, and C90TFS is in fact the title of that section in the API - but nothing in the reference manuals for any of the parts I'm familiar with use that designation.  How is the user expected to know what C90TFS is?

If you google "C90TFS is" you get zero results.  "Freescale's C90TFS" yields three results.  Within NXP's document search you get two results for C90TFS.  One of them just names the flash driver again without explanation, and the other says that C90TFS is an innovative low power process technology but doesn't say anything about flash memory.

I'm not asking how to program flash memory.  I'm asking how we as NXP customers are expected to find documentation so we don't have to keep coming to the forums to ask these questions.

To name another example, can you walk me through how to find AN2295SW, the software package for the developer's serial bootloader in AN2295?  I've used it for at least a dozen years, going back to the MC68HC908KX8  AN2295SW was always a good place to start for simple, compact examples of flash self-programming on various devices.  The app note is there but the search turns up nothing on the software.

Scott

[Alice_Yang]

Hello Scott,

I attached the AN2295SW for you , please have a look at my attachment .

BR

Alice

[scottm]

Thank you.  Where can I find this on the NXP site, so I don't have to ask next time?

[Alice_Yang]

Hi Scott,

Sorry I also can't find it on NXP website, the package I send to you is download some years ago.

BR

Alice