I was an engineer at Data I/O from 1981 to 1997 and made numerous visits to
semiconductor companies. The semiconductor companies had a good business
reason for limiting access to the programming algorithms. The customers
expected the programmed PROMs to work over the entire temperature and
voltage range for the life of their products. They also expected a minimal
number of chips that failed programming. To achieve this, the semiconductor
companies would work with leading PROM programmer companies so they could
certify the programmer met there specs. If a customer programmed part with
one of these devices, the parts should meet all the specs and the
semiconductor would stand behind them.
Data I/O would publish a "Wall Chart" listing the thousands of different
parts their programmers would handle and what revision of software and
hardware was needed. Sometimes the programming algorithm would change after
the PROM was released. Some process change would require a longer pulse
width or a voltage change. I remember one time National Semiconductor had
several production lots of bipolar PROMs that had a poor yield with the
current algorithm. National asked the leading programmer companies to rush
an update to customers. National could do this with 4 or 5 programmer
companies, it couldn't happen with an update to a datasheet and expect every
programmer to be updated.
OK...
And did these programmer manufacturers (Data I/O, Stag, etc) then
automatically send out free updates to all owners of their programmers?
If not, then there will be some (if not many) programmers out there that
have not been updated. Perhaps the update cost $100 or soemthing and the
company that owned the programmer said 'We don't need to buy that, we
only ever use iot for 2764s and there update isn't needed for those'. And
then later somebody tries to program another type of device o nit and has
problems, for all it claims ot be a supported programmer.
Gievn that the 'support' I've had from some manufacturers of such devices is
not worth the paper it's written on, the on;y way to then know if the
problem is with the IC or the programmer is to know how the IC should be
programmer so that I can track down the problem with a 'socpe and logic
analyser.
-tony