Testing Flash Memory Question
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From: panfilero on 3 Apr 2008 11:37 I am purchasing a Nand-Flash memory chip.... just stand alone only flash... not a microcontroller or anything. I was wondering if anyone knew of any interfaces or test boards (maybe they are called flash controllers? I'm not sure) that I could use to test the memory... basically I will write a little code to read and write, and then check that the memory is ok. So far I have found this: http://download.micron.com/pdf/technotes/nand/tn2905.pdf which seems about right, except that I would prefer to have an ethernet output instead of rs-232. Does anyone know of any other boards like this? Or if there is a way to convert RS232 to Ethernet? Thanks
From: mike on 3 Apr 2008 14:07 panfilero wrote: > I am purchasing a Nand-Flash memory chip.... just stand alone only > flash... not a microcontroller or anything. I was wondering if anyone > knew of any interfaces or test boards (maybe they are called flash > controllers? I'm not sure) that I could use to test the memory... > basically I will write a little code to read and write, and then check > that the memory is ok. So far I have found this: > http://download.micron.com/pdf/technotes/nand/tn2905.pdf which seems > about right, except that I would prefer to have an ethernet output > instead of rs-232. Does anyone know of any other boards like this? Or > if there is a way to convert RS232 to Ethernet? > > Thanks None of my business, but WHY do you need to test it? It's a rhetorical question... "a" chip? like quantity one? And if you test it according to vendor specs, how do you expect to get anything other than the vendor results? Test it in the (mis)application. Your results are likely to be affected more by your wear leveling algorithms, noise, timing margins, etc. than anything the vendor did. While you can easily come up with many counter-examples, the majority of vendor parts meet vendor specs when used in conforming environments. Ethernet is a horribly complex way to go to test one chip...or any number of chips for that matter. USB to RS232 is a lot easier. You can buy a USB interface with drivers and everything for dirt cheap. Comes with the flash aready installed. Called a thumb drive. And if you're really talking about vendor qualification to buy zillions of 'em, the problem is a LOT more complex than you appear to understand. mike -- Return address is VALID!
From: panfilero on 3 Apr 2008 15:16 On Apr 3, 1:07 pm, mike <spam...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > panfilero wrote: > > I am purchasing a Nand-Flash memory chip.... just stand alone only > > flash... not a microcontroller or anything. I was wondering if anyone > > knew of any interfaces or test boards (maybe they are called flash > > controllers? I'm not sure) that I could use to test the memory... > > basically I will write a little code to read and write, and then check > > that the memory is ok. So far I have found this: > >http://download.micron.com/pdf/technotes/nand/tn2905.pdf which seems > > about right, except that I would prefer to have an ethernet output > > instead of rs-232. Does anyone know of any other boards like this? Or > > if there is a way to convert RS232 to Ethernet? > > > Thanks > > None of my business, but WHY do you need to test it? It's a rhetorical > question... > > "a" chip? like quantity one? > And if you test it according to vendor specs, how do you expect to get > anything other than the vendor results? > > Test it in the (mis)application. Your results are likely to be affected > more by your wear leveling algorithms, noise, timing margins, etc. than > anything the vendor did. > > While you can easily come up with many counter-examples, the majority of > vendor parts meet vendor specs when used in conforming environments. > > Ethernet is a horribly complex way to go to test one chip...or any > number of chips for that matter. USB to RS232 is a lot easier. > > You can buy a USB interface with drivers and everything for dirt cheap. > Comes with the flash aready installed. > Called a thumb drive. > > And if you're really talking about vendor qualification to buy zillions > of 'em, > the problem is a LOT more complex than you appear to understand. > mike > > -- > Return address is VALID! Well... I just want to test a few, it's for research... I might test maybe 10 ICs total. I'm planing on buying several Flash ICs from digikey they come in TSOP packages I'll probally get 48pin packages.... so, what I'm looking for (and having a hard time finding) is something I can plug a Flash IC into and read and write to the IC. And I can probally program a microcontroller or something at this point to carry out my testing algorithm.... (I hear FPGA might be good for this but I'm not familiar with FPGAs).... I'm guessing I need some kind of memory controller (I don't know anything about memory controllers) if I try to build this myself... I just want a way to read and write and perform some error code correction to an individual Flash IC. Thanks
From: Fred Bloggs on 3 Apr 2008 15:16 mike wrote: > > Test it in the (mis)application. ......... ROFLOL!!!!
From: Bob on 3 Apr 2008 15:38
panfilero wrote: > On Apr 3, 1:07 pm, mike <spam...(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> panfilero wrote: >>> I am purchasing a Nand-Flash memory chip.... just stand alone only >>> flash... not a microcontroller or anything. I was wondering if anyone >>> knew of any interfaces or test boards (maybe they are called flash >>> controllers? I'm not sure) that I could use to test the memory... >>> basically I will write a little code to read and write, and then check >>> that the memory is ok. So far I have found this: >>> http://download.micron.com/pdf/technotes/nand/tn2905.pdf which seems >>> about right, except that I would prefer to have an ethernet output >>> instead of rs-232. Does anyone know of any other boards like this? Or >>> if there is a way to convert RS232 to Ethernet? >>> Thanks >> None of my business, but WHY do you need to test it? It's a rhetorical >> question... >> >> "a" chip? like quantity one? >> And if you test it according to vendor specs, how do you expect to get >> anything other than the vendor results? >> >> Test it in the (mis)application. Your results are likely to be affected >> more by your wear leveling algorithms, noise, timing margins, etc. than >> anything the vendor did. >> >> While you can easily come up with many counter-examples, the majority of >> vendor parts meet vendor specs when used in conforming environments. >> >> Ethernet is a horribly complex way to go to test one chip...or any >> number of chips for that matter. USB to RS232 is a lot easier. >> >> You can buy a USB interface with drivers and everything for dirt cheap. >> Comes with the flash aready installed. >> Called a thumb drive. >> >> And if you're really talking about vendor qualification to buy zillions >> of 'em, >> the problem is a LOT more complex than you appear to understand. >> mike >> >> -- >> Return address is VALID! > > Well... I just want to test a few, it's for research... I might test > maybe 10 ICs total. I'm planing on buying several Flash ICs from > digikey they come in TSOP packages I'll probally get 48pin > packages.... so, what I'm looking for (and having a hard time finding) > is something I can plug a Flash IC into and read and write to the IC. > And I can probally program a microcontroller or something at this > point to carry out my testing algorithm.... (I hear FPGA might be good > for this but I'm not familiar with FPGAs).... I'm guessing I need some > kind of memory controller (I don't know anything about memory > controllers) if I try to build this myself... I just want a way to > read and write and perform some error code correction to an individual > Flash IC. > > Thanks how about a flash programmer? We use a Needhams EMP-20. Program it; erase it; program it; erase it. The programmer checks for failed bits. Bob |