In the early days, the writable ICs mainly consisted of EPROMs that could be erased using ultraviolet light, and their usage was not extensive. In recent years, various writable ICs such as EEPROM, Flash, Nand Flash, Nor Flash, PLD, CPLD, etc., with high integration, have been successively introduced. Various information, communication, household appliances, and handheld electronic products have significantly improved in terms of size, functionality, power consumption, and reliability. Part of this improvement can be attributed to the advancements in writable ICs.

Overview of IC Programming

The burning process is accomplished using a burning device or a burning card.

In the early days, the writable ICs mainly consisted of EPROMs that could be erased using ultraviolet light, and their usage was not extensive. In recent years, various writable ICs such as EEPROM, Flash, Nand Flash, Nor Flash, PLD, CPLD, etc., with high integration, have been successively introduced. Various information, communication, household appliances, and handheld electronic products have significantly improved in terms of size, functionality, power consumption, and reliability. Part of this improvement can be attributed to the advancements in writable ICs.

The manufacturer purchases various rewritable ICs from semiconductor suppliers, with their data areas left blank. Before assembly, the latest version of the control program and data are written into these ICs using an IC burner. This is an even more important necessary process than IC testing. It is usually carried out and completed by the final electronic product manufacturer, and it is also a field that is rarely discussed.

Classification of the burners required for IC programming:

Manual type:

The manual type is divided into two types: research and development and mass production. The research and development manual type mainly provides the engineers with the variable burning requirements when developing new products. Therefore, the range of options for the IC's model, type, packaging, and requirements should be as wide as possible.

2. Fully Automatic Type:

The fully automatic type is divided into two major categories: the gravity-drop type for tube-packaged ICs and the pick-and-place type for disc-packaged ICs. As it is a production equipment, the key points for selection lie in: the manufacturer should have sufficient software and hardware technologies and capabilities to solve problems promptly to avoid the situation where the production line stops, and important manufacturers include Helaoh and Chongmao.

The development direction of IC programming

China has become the world's manufacturing hub for electronic products, and is undoubtedly the largest demand area for IC burning. Among them, the massive burning of two major types of ICs, namely MCU and Flash (with a capacity of over 128M), is a strategic focus in the development of chips.

Classification of rewritable ICs

MCU type can be used for IC programming

MCU types can be used for IC programming. Currently, there are many single-chip controllers (SINGLE MCU) on the market that can perform one or multiple data programming operations through a compatible programmer. Those that can only be programmed once are called OTP MCU (in English: ONE TIME PROGRAMABLE MCU), while the opposite is MTP MCU (in English: MULTI TIME PROGRAMABLE MCU), which refers to the MCUs that can be programmed multiple times.

OTP

The MCU is usually programmed with the necessary data by the manufacturer using a dedicated programmer before the product is assembled. Once the chip is programmed, the data burned into it cannot be changed again.

MTP

Unlike OTP MCU, this type of IC can be repeatedly programmed and erased using a dedicated programmer. Some of them even have built-in FLASH MCU and can be programmed no less than 100,000 times.

Storage type rewritable IC

Storage type programmable ICs: There are numerous types, such as EPROM, EEPROM, NOR FLASH, SPROM, NAND FLASH, and so on.

EPROM, NOR FLASH, EEPROM, and SPROM are mainly used to store our data and programs. We are quite familiar with these. Compared to the manufacturers of NAND FLASH, there are almost countless manufacturers of these types of ICs. There are also a considerable number of universal burners available on the market that can write data into these ICs.

NAND FLASH is produced by only a few manufacturers such as Samsung. Currently, it is widely used in USB drives, MP3 players, MP4 players, ELA devices and electronic dictionaries.

Rewritable IC burners and universal burners can meet the requirements for data burning for most EPROM, EEPROM, NOR FLASH, and SPROM. Moreover, some high-end burners even support some well-known brand OTP or MTP chips, such as some of the burners from Hela Luo can burn OTP and MTP chips from manufacturers like MICROCHIP and EMC.

Specialized burners Each manufacturer of OTP and MTP has its own corresponding chip burner. Additionally, some manufacturers and individuals have produced specialized burners for specific or partial EPROM, EEPROM, NOR FLASH, to meet production or other needs.

Online programming

Some systems require automatic or manual corrections or upgrades during operation. In such cases, online programming is necessary. For example, current digital electronic dictionaries on the market usually offer automatic online upgrade services. When consumers need to update the learning content or upgrade the system after using the product for a period of time, they can do so through a computer by either manual operation or automatic product upgrade.