Lpc2000

--- In lpc2000@yahoogroups.com, "shergtu" <shergtu@...> wrote:
> Question: how are you programming the LPC on-chip flash in a 
> manufacturing / production environment?
> 

We program through the serial port on the built board, as part of 
the functional test (for details, see below).

> During development, I'm primarily using the JTAG interface to load 
> the flash.  On rare occasions I'll go the ISP / serial interface 
> route.  But production is a whole different story.
> 

It certainly is!

> For example, are there dedicated device-programming stations for 
the 
> Philips chips before they're placed on the board?
> 

I'm not aware of any: maybe ask your distributor?

> Production quantity in this case is probably around 20k a year.  I 
> mention this because certain economies of scale kick in at 
different 
> quantities (i.e. if this was a garage-shop operation, manually 
> connecting a stuffed board to a serial port or an emulator might 
make 
> sense).

We do 100% in-circuit test and 100% functional tests on boards.  
Programming the flash is the first stage of functional test, and is 
done on a test jig that connects to test points on the board. The 
test system (a PC running some software) connects to the jig through 
a serial port. Programming is controlled from the PC (i.e. it 
applies power and holds the boot-loader pin low to activate the 
programming). Being able to program through the serial port is 
useful for production: it's easy enough to parallel multiple systems 
on the same PC to reduce time. One programming is done, the software 
on the PC runs through various functional tests to ensure the unit 
was built correctly.

If you don't test 100% of boards, this mightn't be the best approach.

Our volumes for this are about the same as you quote.

Hope this helps.

Brendan