On Thursday 29 January 2009 09:22:05 am Mr Ian Primus wrote:
Working with EPROMs, one must have an eraser. I built
my own a while back,
using a germicidal UV lamp tube, a flourescent fixture, a sealed box and a
programmable timer. It works well, and I typically can erase an batch of
eproms in like three minutes.
At least, when I was working primarily with 2732's and 2764's, I could.
Now, I've been needing to use higher capacity chips - and these seem to
take longer to erase. Five minutes isn't enough for some. AMD 27C010's seem
to take closer to ten minutes to erase.
My eraser has a drawer that can accept about a foot of eproms (I used a 12"
tube). I could probably cram more on there, but I try to keep them centered
under the light. So, if I stick a dozen chips on there, of varying sized
and types, and 'nuke' them for five minutes, I'll go and blank-check them,
and some will be blank, others will be nearly blank (lots of FF's, but some
garbage left), and some don't seem affected at all. I've been trying to
come up with a correlation between manufacturer and erase time, but it
seems to vary. Last time, I nuked four AMD 27C010's that I pulled off of an
old LaserJet font cartridge. Three were unaffected and the other was
blanked.
I worry about leaving the chips in there too long, since I know too much UV
can damage them. But at the same time, I wonder about the lifespan of the
UV tube - and how many hours it's good for. (I guess I should have checked
the package when I bought it...).
So, how much UV exposure does it take to damage an EPROM? Is UV exposure
cumulative? For example, if I have a chip that's unaffected by five
minutes, and I put it back in for another three - is that the same as as
running it for 8 minutes total, or do the charges that the UV is supposed
to dissapate simply linger? Are CMOS chips harder to erase, taking a longer
time than the older parts?
-Ian
Interesting questions, too bad I don't have more in the way of answer to
offer... :-)
The eraser I have uses a small bulb, probably intended for use as
a "germicidal" bulb in some appliance application, only it's not in a
socket, it's soldered in. This came from Jameco or JDR or one of those
places. I've been typically leaving chips in there (there are slots for 2 of
them on opposite sides) for 15 minutes, and perhaps longer if erasure seemed
incomplete as you describe.
The only ones I've had trouble with when I try to verify them as blank are
ones that show me one or more of the pins stuck at zero for _all_ locations,
so I'm thinking they have a problem and that the use of the erasion probably
doesn't have too much to do with this.
So far I've got stuff from 1702 on up to 27C512 or maybe a step or two
further, and have not had any issues besides what I describe above.
--
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space, a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed. --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James
M Dakin