Short for
static random access memory, and pronounced
ess-ram. SRAM is a type of
memory that is faster and more reliable than the more common
DRAM (
dynamic RAM). The term
static is derived from the fact that it doesn't need to be
refreshed like dynamic RAM.
While DRAM supports access times of about 60 nanoseconds, SRAM can give access times as low as 10 nanoseconds. In addition, its cycle time is much shorter than that of DRAM because it does not need to pause between accesses. Unfortunately, it is also much more expensive to produce than DRAM. Due to its high cost, SRAM is often used only as a memory cache.
