Production Serial EEPROM/Flash programmer?

[Forrest W Christian-2]

I'm going to be starting to use some of the small 8 pin Serial SPI
EEPROM memories and would like to come up with a production-quality
programmer for them.  On the PIC side, I'm using Olin's ProProg and it's
working out well, and we like the way it works...  Insert chip, hit
button, wait until LED comes back on steady, remove chip and repeat.  No
need to have the computer on the same desk as the programmer (we have a
table which parallels the desk with the computer on which we use for
things which need the computer in a support role such as the ProProg).  
We just start the software and then it's just us, the chips, and the
programmer.

So far, I haven't found anything both reasonably priced and seemingly
production capable.   I'm about ready to build my own (after all it is
only SPI flash), but would prefer to do something a little less
drastic.  So before I did I figured I'd ask on-list.

Ideas?

-forrest


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[Mike Harrison]

On Mon, 12 May 2008 04:20:25 -0600, you wrote:

>I'm going to be starting to use some of the small 8 pin Serial SPI
>EEPROM memories and would like to come up with a production-quality
>programmer for them.  On the PIC side, I'm using Olin's ProProg and it's
>working out well, and we like the way it works...  Insert chip, hit
>button, wait until LED comes back on steady, remove chip and repeat.  No
>need to have the computer on the same desk as the programmer (we have a
>table which parallels the desk with the computer on which we use for
>things which need the computer in a support role such as the ProProg).  
>We just start the software and then it's just us, the chips, and the
>programmer.
>
>So far, I haven't found anything both reasonably priced and seemingly
>production capable.   I'm about ready to build my own (after all it is
>only SPI flash), but would prefer to do something a little less
>drastic.  So before I did I figured I'd ask on-list.
>
>Ideas?

Are the chips going on a board with a PIC on it? If so, why not let the PIC program it as part of
the factory test procedure?



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[Spehro Pefhany]

At 06:20 AM 5/12/2008, you wrote:

>I'm going to be starting to use some of the small 8 pin Serial SPI
>EEPROM memories and would like to come up with a production-quality
>programmer for them.  On the PIC side, I'm using Olin's ProProg and it's
>working out well, and we like the way it works...  Insert chip, hit
>button, wait until LED comes back on steady, remove chip and repeat.  No
>need to have the computer on the same desk as the programmer (we have a
>table which parallels the desk with the computer on which we use for
>things which need the computer in a support role such as the ProProg).
>We just start the software and then it's just us, the chips, and the
>programmer.
>
>So far, I haven't found anything both reasonably priced and seemingly
>production capable.   I'm about ready to build my own (after all it is
>only SPI flash), but would prefer to do something a little less
>drastic.  So before I did I figured I'd ask on-list.
>
>Ideas?

I think most people use the system to program the EEPROM, so there's
(relatively) little need for such a programmer. It also makes sure there
is a way to recover if the data gets corrupted, which is much more
likely with an EEPROM than with flash or OTP EPROM cells. Aside from that,
I'd not envy the operator who would have to manually put some of the smaller
packages (eg. SOT-23 or 8-DFN) in a socket. If the system does it, you can
solder the part down at assembly, same as with the MCU when you use ISP.

Best regards,

Spehro Pefhany --"it's the network..."            "The Journey is the reward"
speff@...             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com



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[Xiaofan Chen]

On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 6:20 PM, Forrest Christian <forrestc@...> wrote:

> I'm going to be starting to use some of the small 8 pin Serial SPI
> EEPROM memories and would like to come up with a production-quality
> programmer for them.  On the PIC side, I'm using Olin's ProProg and it's
> working out well, and we like the way it works...  Insert chip, hit
> button, wait until LED comes back on steady, remove chip and repeat.  No
> need to have the computer on the same desk as the programmer (we have a
> table which parallels the desk with the computer on which we use for
> things which need the computer in a support role such as the ProProg).
> We just start the software and then it's just us, the chips, and the
> programmer.
>
> So far, I haven't found anything both reasonably priced and seemingly
> production capable.   I'm about ready to build my own (after all it is
> only SPI flash), but would prefer to do something a little less
> drastic.  So before I did I figured I'd ask on-list.
>
> Ideas?
>

First idea, bug Olin to support the EEPROM you are using
for PROPROG. That is certainaly doable.

Second idea, buy the US$35 PICkit 2 to do the job. It is
not really production quality but should be able to be fine
for low quantity.

I think PM3 should do the job and it kind of production quality.

Xiaofan
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[Olin Lathrop]

Forrest Christian wrote:

> I'm going to be starting to use some of the small 8 pin Serial SPI
> EEPROM memories and would like to come up with a production-quality
> programmer for them.  On the PIC side, I'm using Olin's ProProg and
> it's working out well, and we like the way it works...  Insert chip,
> hit button, wait until LED comes back on steady, remove chip and
> repeat.  No need to have the computer on the same desk as the
> programmer (we have a table which parallels the desk with the
> computer on which we use for things which need the computer in a
> support role such as the ProProg). We just start the software and
> then it's just us, the chips, and the programmer.
>
> So far, I haven't found anything both reasonably priced and seemingly
> production capable.   I'm about ready to build my own (after all it is
> only SPI flash), but would prefer to do something a little less
> drastic.  So before I did I figured I'd ask on-list.

Since you are the SPI master, you get to control clock, data, and slave
select (if used at all).  At most, this is only three lines, and they are
all output.  The ProProg hardware is designed to wiggle PGC and PGD much
like the SPI clock and data.  If you need slave select, this could be
derived from the Vpp output via a resistor divider that takes the 13V from
the ProProg to whatever Vdd level you are using to program the EEPROM.
Electrically, a PIC programmer is pretty easy to make work as a SPI master
as long as you are transferring data on the falling edge of clock.  If not,
you will need to invert the PGC to make the SPI clock line.

The tricky part will be the software.  My PIC programmer protocol provides
access to sending a series of bits with a single host command.  It shouldn't
be that hard to write a one-off program to dump a binary image into a
particular SPI EEPROM.  It might get slow if you have to use slave select
regularly because turning off Vpp isn't as fast as toggling PGC or PGD.


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[Alan B. Pearce]

>I'm going to be starting to use some of the small 8 pin Serial SPI
>EEPROM memories and would like to come up with a production-quality
>programmer for them.  On the PIC side, I'm using Olin's ProProg and it's
>working out well, and we like the way it works...  Insert chip, hit
>button, wait until LED comes back on steady, remove chip and repeat.  No
>need to have the computer on the same desk as the programmer (we have a
>table which parallels the desk with the computer on which we use for
>things which need the computer in a support role such as the ProProg).
>We just start the software and then it's just us, the chips, and the
>programmer.
>
>So far, I haven't found anything both reasonably priced and seemingly
>production capable.   I'm about ready to build my own (after all it is
>only SPI flash), but would prefer to do something a little less
>drastic.  So before I did I figured I'd ask on-list.

As you already have Olins programmer, and he has made the code available, is
there any reason not to modify the code to do programming of these chips? _
whoops, you have the Proprog, not the Easyprog.

On the other hand, I assume these will be on a PCB with a micro, so why not
have a 'bootstrap' mode in the micro code that allows loading of the serial
chip?

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