Any tutorials on how to PROGRAM an IC CHIP?

[zippy]

I am probably on my school's science olympiad team and for one event we want to use a programmable IC chip. Does anyone have any idea where I can read about how I can do this?

Thanks.

 

[Harvey]

I presume you're talking about programmable digital arrys. Go to the websites of the chip makers. You can download application notes on their products. Examples would be Xilinx and Actel.

Analog is a different story. There are supposed to be some programmable analog function block arrays, but the best analog chips are built from the ground up.

 

[Monel Funkawitz]

Ya mean like burning an EEPROM? You gonna know what you want it to do, then lay out the addresses and modifiers. You need a EEPROM, UV erasing light, and a EEPROM burner. Total cost- $Quite a bit for a science fair project



<< PROGRAM an IC CHIP? >>



Or do you mean something like a Basic Stamp IC?

 

[zippy]

Ya know, I'm not sure.

I will find out more on what the idea for this thing is and what kind of programming I would need to do for this IC chip.

Thanks guys.

 

[Windogg]

The application and chip engineers at the office have all this funky testing equipment for programming EEPROM, Flash, and all sorts of chips. I basically plugs into another circuit board or another breadboard and the programs are uploaded. All software testing is done with emulators. The language is ualsually something like C++ or assembly.

Windogg

 

[Killbat]

If you want to be really slick, you can set up an in-system programmable circuit, and just program the thing with a 232 interface.

 

[etech]

An EEPRROM is Electrically Erasable. I'm a few years out of date, but the erase/write voltage for a +5v chip was +12V. You set up the address lines, set the data, and strobe +12v to a certain pin.

An EPROM uses an UV light source to erase the data and the programming is as above for an EEPROM.

There are progammers that tie to PCs. You load/develope the program on the PC and then download it to the burner to program the ROM.

Never worked with flash but I assume the process is similar.

The data will need to be in the machine code for the processor you are using. I would need a better idea of what you are attempting say any more.

 

[ilkhan_v4]

Maybe you're thinking of a PIC (programmable integrated circuit). A CPU, RAM, and ROM all on one chip. Most of these have A/D converters, PWM, timers, and some have multitasking kernels. I'm most happy with the BasicX series, but the Basic Stamps seem to be the most popular. You program them on a PC using a high-level language (some of the others, like the Intel 8051 and the PIC74xx [I think] series can be programmed in assembler or C) and download the program with a serial connection. Beware, though, the BasicX only has 400 BYTES of RAM to work with

 

[SuperTool]

You might want to get an atmel 8-bit microcontroller. You can get that and a programming board for something along the lines of $200. The chip is really cheap, it's the board they charge a lot for. www.dontronics.com
Also, you can get a xilinx or altera chip, but I think this is going to be too expensive with the programming test board.