Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!kuhub.cc.ukans.edu!whitten From: whitten@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu Newsgroups: sci.electronics Subject: Re: programming EPROMSset seen Message-ID: <1991May27.180552.31088@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> Date: 27 May 91 23:05:52 GMT References: <1991May26.231046.28772@comp.vuw.ac.nz> <1991May27.152421.4122@zoo.toronto.edu> Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services Lines: 29 > You erase EPROMs by exposing them to intense > short-wave ultraviolet because it kicks up enough ionization in the > insulator to let the electrons leak out. Of course, to program the thing, > -- > "We're thinking about upgrading from | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology > SunOS 4.1.1 to SunOS 3.5." | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry Humm, I learned that when you exposed the gate to ultraviolet, you were exciting the electrons trapped in the gate, and in that excited state, they were able to "tunnel" through the insulator, and thus disperse themseleves back into the substrate or whereever they go. Some of that dreaded schrodinger equation stuff involved no doubt. I think the method I learned on how they are programmed also invloved the avalanching effect too, which may account for the higher voltages required? Regards, Chris ============================================================================== WHITTEN@KUHUB.CC.UKANS.EDU Chris Whittenburg, Univ. of Kansas WHITTEN@UKANVAX.bitnet Electrical Engineering ==============================================================================