Wednesday, January 31, 2007

The EPROM Basics, Tips and Facts

image from: www.lightcomputers.com/
image from: www.rakewell.com/

EPROM - EPROM is the short term for erasable programmable read-only memory. EPROM is actually some sort of a memory chip that has the capabilities to retain data that you can input to it even when you put its power supply in switched off mode for a long time. A non-volatile material, it is usually called chips as a characteristic of a miniature of compacted parts put together. It is actually combinations of different and numerous floating gate transistors having each their own unique and individual programs done by an electronic device that supplies a much higher B+ or voltage that is not commonly used by other ordinary electronic circuits you can conventionally find and commonly see in your everyday lives as electronic masters.

Erasing The EPROM Data:

One way by which you can erase such program that you enter or is input in the EPROM is through exposing the chip to a strong ultraviolet light or sometimes called as UV rays. A UV light that commonly consists of a wavelength 235 nm that belongs to the UVC range of UV light is usually used to do the job.

Special Characteristic:

It is so easy to distinguish and differentiate an EPROM chip from an ordinary chip. Usually, it has a visible and easy to notice feature that is easy to recognize by its transparent quartz window on top of its package mostly near the center where you can also view and see clearly the silicon content of the chip.This quartz window where you can see the silicon inside is where UV is passed on to erase the program. So this explains why we can see through a clear quartz glass like window in most EPROM chips. It is clearly then not just some design to amaze electronic masters but to a special purpose it serves in programming and erasing programs at the same time. EPROM unlike the flash drives that exist these days are read only memory chips unlike the first where you can read, erase and reprogram datas.

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