1.8 Volt Intel® Wireless Flash Memory (W18)
20 Preliminary
4.9 Program Suspend, Program Resume
Erase Suspend, Erase Resume Commands
The Program Suspend and Erase Suspend commands halt an in-progress program or erase
operation. The command can be issued at any device address. The partition corresp ondi ng to the
command’s address remains in its previous state. The Suspend command allows data to be
accessed from memory locations other than the one being programmed or the block being erased.
A program oper ation can be suspend ed to perform read s only. An erase operation can be s uspended
to perform either a program or a read operation within any block, except the block that is erase
suspended. A Program command nested within a suspended erase can subsequently be suspended
to read yet another location. Once a program/erase process starts, the Suspend command requests
that the WSM suspend the program/erase sequence at predetermined points in the algorithm. The
partition that is actually suspended continues to output status register data after the Suspend
command is written. An operat ion is s uspend ed when statu s bits SR.7 and SR.6 and/or SR.2
display ‘1’. tWHRH1/tEHRH1 specifies suspend latency.
To read data from blocks within the partitio n (other than an erase-susp ended block), a Read Array
command can be written. During Erase Suspend, a Program command can be issued to a block
other than the erase-suspended block. Block erase cannot resume until program operations initiated
during erase suspend complete. Read Array, Read Status Register, Read Identifier (ID), Read
Query, and Program Resume are val id comm ands durin g Program or Erase Suspen d. Addi ti onally,
Clear Status Register, Program, Program Suspend, Erase Resume, Lock Block, Unlock Block, and
Lock-Down Block are valid commands during erase suspend.
To read data from a block in a partition that is not programming /erasin g, the oper ation does not
need to be suspended . If the oth er part ition is already in read array, ID, or Query mode, issuing a
valid address will r e turn corresponding data. If the other partition is not in a read mode , one of the
read commands must be issued to the partition before data can be read.
During a suspe nd, CE # = V IH places the dev ice in stan dby st ate, which red uces active curr ent. V PP
must remain at its program level and WP# must remain unchanged while in suspend mode.
A Resume command instructs the WSM to continue programming or erasing and clears status
register bits SR.2 (or SR.6 ) and SR.7. The Resume command can be written to any p artition. When
read at the partition that is progra m ming or erasing, the device outputs data corresponding to the
partition’s last mode. If status register error bits are set, the status register can be cleared before
issuing the next instruction. RST# must r e main at VIH. See Figure 4, “Program Suspend /Resume
Flowchart” on page 21 and Figure 5, “Erase Suspend/Resume Flowchart” on page 22.
If a suspended partition was placed in read array, read status register, read identifier (ID), or read
query mode dur ing the s uspend, the dev ice remains in that mode and output s data co rrespon ding to
that mode after the program or erase operation is resumed. After resuming a suspend operation,
issue the read command appropriate to the read operation. To read status after resuming a
suspended operation, issue a Read Status Register command (70h) to return the suspended partition
to status mode.
A minimum tWHWH time should elapse between an Erase command and a subsequent Erase
Suspend command to ensure that the device achieves sufficient cumulative erase time. Occasional
Erase-to-Suspend interrupts do not cause problems, but Erase-to-Suspend commands issued too
frequently may produce undetermined results.