Device-programming systems bring quick-change artistry to the factory floor

For manufacturers of board-level products, the explosion in the use and complexity of programmable ICs is both a blessing and a curse. The ability to quickly configure boards by storing specialized information on them has played a major role in the continued reductions in the cost of electronic equipment. However, as flash-memory ICs grow in capacity, programming each one can take many minutes. The growing capacity and numbers of devices per board reduces the appeal of in-circuit programming, in which manufacturers have to program devices after soldering them in place. Board manufacturers once viewed in-circuit programming as a panacea for the nightmarish logistics of separate programming, which necessitates marking, inventorying, and handling as a separate part each device that contains different information. But when it takes 20 minutes to program a board that manufacturers must produce by the millions, the required volume of capital equipment becomes impractical.

Board manufacturers can obviate the need to separately mark and store each programmed version of a device by doing the programming immediately before loading the devices onto boards. Even this approach is highly capital-intensive, however.

To control the capital requirements, board manufacturers need reasonably priced equipment that not only rapidly programs devices, but also handles quick changeovers in the information to be loaded, the types of blank devices to be programmed, and the types of boards on which the devices are to mount.

Data I/O's PS 200 and 300 automatic-programming systems address these requirements (Picture). Each system is configurable with as many as 12 universal or 48 flash-memory programming sites. Each universal site includes a dedicated PC controller, which can initiate programming as soon as a device is in place in the socket. The systems, which can handle devices on tape, in trays, or in tubes, perform marking and media transfer and include pick-and-place devices that handle 1250 devices per hour and that have positional error of less than 0.005 in. Device-marking options include carbon-dioxide-laser etching and high-resolution thermal marking.

The company demonstrates its commitment to the approaches its products embody by using those approaches in its own manufacturing process. As a result, Data I/O ships PS 200/300 systems approximately two weeks ARO. Prices begin at $150,000.

Data I/O Corp, 1-800-332-8246, 1-425-881-6444, www.dataio.com.