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With the plethora of programmable components available today, you can easily store millions of bits of programs and data permanently in a FLASH/EPROM, or cram hundreds of traditional digital components into a CPLD/FPGA the size of a fingernail. An entire microcomputer can also be reduced to a single chip. It is possible for a creative engineer to do something that is now considered commonplace on his desk.

Back in the early days of microprocessors, only a few companies had the ability to open the MASK, order a MASK ROM or an ASIC, which in addition to expensive costs, but also bear a lot of risk and inventory pressure.

With the innovation of semiconductor manufacturers, there have been several components that can be programmed by users, such as non-volatile memory PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, FLASH EPROM... And so on, the capacity went from a few K bits in the early days to perhaps 1 G bits in 2002. The early digital circuits which could only be designed by TTL were gradually replaced by PLD, from simple PAL to the current million GATE COUNT level CPLD/FPGA. With and on the IC burner manufacturers provide tools with each passing day, so that "on the table can customize IC" dream come true.

Classification of burner

According to the needs of use, the burning device can probably be divided into research and development and mass production with two types, different use purposes also create different design concepts and characteristics, respectively described in the following:

First, research and development

According to the types and functions of the components that can be processed, the burner for research and development can be subdivided into single-function type and multipurpose type. The single function type burner, which provides simple function for a single component, usually has the advantage of simple use and low price, but it also has the problem that it cannot be expanded and the quality is uneven. Due to the low technical threshold of such products, the market is flooded with a variety of options, whether professional or playful suppliers, as long as the price is cheap, on the shelf.

If you just for a single development task, only need to use EPROM, MCS-51 or PIC and other simple components, and do not want to instability, poor productivity delay your development time, professional burning device manufacturer or IC factory authorized production of products is probably your better choice.

At present, the mainstream product should be Universal Programmer, from the standpoint of R & D engineers, can be applied to the development of a lot of programmable components, the same design case mixed single chip, FLASH, EPROM, CPLD opportunities abound.

Buy a multipurpose burner that can support thousands of IC's through software upgrades. Although the price is more expensive, it is a good choice in the long run.

For the manufacturer of the burner, the main difficulty and challenge of the universal burner is the innovation of the semiconductor manufacturer. At present, the components on the market are about 4000, and each year at the rate of 300 ~ 500 in metabolism, which does not include the number of old components updating the burning algorithm, Therefore, the manufacturer of universal burning device must have a large R & D team, in the face of endless software updates, not only fast, but also completely correct, otherwise it will soon be eliminated, and the vast majority of the IC factory will not allow the market of good and bad burning device produced a large number of bad, resulting in disputes can not be solved, Therefore, IC samples and Algorithm will only be provided to a few qualified manufacturers. In the end, new entrants would have to support more than 4,000 components at a time, and the manpower and expense involved would be prohibitive.

From this, it can be seen that the entry threshold for this product is high, and it is difficult to maintain it. The sweetness and bitterness of this product are in the minds of manufacturers. It is no wonder that in recent years, major manufacturers in advanced countries such as Europe, the United States, and Japan have all faded out of the market, while there have been no major competitors in mainland China, South Korea, and other countries. Under the continuous cultivation of Taiwanese manufacturers, another world number one has been created (estimated to have a market share of over 50% in terms of shipment quantity).

2、 Mass production type

This type of burner usually falls under the category of production equipment, and the price is not the biggest consideration. Yield, stability, production capacity, and service are important determining factors. There are three factors that affect the yield of component burning: the burner, the process change of IC, and the operator; The burner accounts for the heaviest proportion among them. As long as it is well designed, fully complies with the algorithm of the IC manufacturer's specifications, and cooperates with the IC manufacturer's changes at any time, it allows users to have the best burning method available in the shortest possible time. In addition, the appropriate anti fooling design avoids operator negligence, thus creating an almost perfect burning yield.

This type of burner usually falls under the category of production equipment, and the price is not the biggest consideration. Yield, stability, production capacity, and service are important determining factors. There are three factors that affect the yield of component burning: the burner, the process change of IC, and the operator; The burner accounts for the heaviest proportion among them. As long as it is well designed, fully complies with the algorithm of the IC manufacturer's specifications, and cooperates with the IC manufacturer's changes at any time, it allows users to have the best burning method available in the shortest possible time. In addition, the appropriate anti fooling design avoids operator negligence, thus creating an almost perfect burning yield.

In my personal opinion, I think that in addition to the above points, a can not connect to the computer can operate independently, simple operation, and can replace many modules of mass production burner is your best choice.

In recent years, due to the efforts and improvement of domestic suppliers, inexpensive and high-quality mass-production burner has met the domestic market demand in large quantities. For Taiwan's PC industry to become the first in the world, it is also a small contribution。

Some hidden cost issues

When you measure the cost of buying a burner, some hidden costs and possible troubles are also included in your calculation:

The direct monetary loss caused by the defect rate

Generally well designed burner, bad rate is about 0.15 % to 0.3%, even can be calculated with ppm, some burner may be out of control to 2%-3%; The difference means that for every 100 ics you process, you will have two or three defective or damaged ics. Regardless of the unit price of each IC is high or low, after a period of time, maybe you had bought the amount of money saved when the burner and back, of course, this is not accounted for the increase in working hours, delivery delay...... And so on.

Data loss（Data Lose）The nightmare that it causes

When you burn and judge to PASS IC, welding on the PCB, lock the shell, and even shipped to the customer's hand, only to find that the machine can not open, function is not normal, after several twists and turns only to find that the original is the BIOS or single chip in the program and data loss! Apologize to customers, recall defective products, deduct payment, but also caused goodwill damage! And production units and engineers are an earth-shattering meeting review, busy and reprocessing.

These are not just things that occur in nightmares, but things that happen all the time. Any problem prevention is the most wise, in order to avoid the future nightmare come true, you can't buy the burner can not be more careful.

The sockets of the burner are all ceremonial

All burners have sockets (or TEXTOOL TM) which are used to place the components to be treated. Contact wear and mechanical fatigue make sockets all life-use materials. Dip-wrapped sockets have a lifespan of 15,000 to 20,000 cycles, while more sophisticated sockets such as PLCC, TSOP, or QFP have a lifespan of 10,000 to 15,000 cycles. More than the use of times, yield may be reduced, or even completely can not burn, so regular or quantitative replacement SOCKET is necessary expenditure.

The number of burner support components and new component support energy assessment

If you are a R & D engineer, the type and number of components supported by the burner is your first condition to compare, while many IC packaging (such as DIP, PLCC, SOP, TSOP, VSOP, QFP, TQFP, μBGA...... Etc.) is also a expenditure in the future expansion, some burner because it is not a real universal type, just with PLCC packaging IC has more than hundreds of modules, with an average unit price of 3,000 ~ 5,000 yuan to calculate, it is really a great burden. So some manufacturers have come up with true universal burners, Each Pin Drive has Vcc,Vpp,GND,CLOCK and logic signals, so that all pin types can be supported in a PLCC module (from 20-84Pin, SOP module is from 8 to 44Pin). Although it is more expensive than the general burner when purchased, it is still cost-effective in the long run.

In addition, low power consumption IC, is the current mainstream products, 3.3V, 3V, 2.5V are not special, 1.8V components are coming, FLASH EPROM, single chip, CPLD have this power supply specification number, after all, the benefits of low voltage is not only power saving, fast, no heat, It is also a necessary choice in the change of semiconductor process.

Therefore, the burner should not only be able to send a 1.8V power supply to the IC under test. If the alignment of the logic signal is not adjusted, it may cause Latch Up problems when processing the IC. (Note: When the current of the IC input pin is lower than GND or higher than VCC, it may produce a transient large current, resulting in a change in the characteristics of the IC or permanent damage)

Pre - check of burning element

In order to avoid human negligence, when the user will put the IC into the SOCKET, the burner should be able to contact each Pin of the IC to check, in order to exclude the element put back, shift, or IC pin number is incorrect; After contact inspection, identify the ID Code of the component to confirm the correct IC brand and model.

Only through rigorous pre-inspection, the burner can send power and signal to start processing IC, which is very important for more and more sophisticated SMD components.

conclusion

Faster speed, larger capacity, more sophisticated packaging, more connectors, lower operating voltage, half guide industry a thousand miles a day, has brought rapid and huge changes, in addition to you at any time to absorb new information, develop better products, produce more valuable goods, your choice of IC burner, whether can also follow your footsteps strides forward, Give you a hand? Or do you delay your work and lose time and money? I believe this is worth the careful consideration of all burner manufacturers and users.