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How Does an Eprom work?
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Simple as A B C D E F

ail Bo!es
The Eprom is a basic de%ice which can be
considered simply as a bloc& of 'mail bo(es', each
holding a message. Each 'bo(' is numbered
consecuti%ely. )t one end of the bloc& of 'bo(es' is
a slot and by posting the )ddress or )**E!! of a
particular 'bo(' into this slot you will ma&e its
message contents appear from the output slot at the
other end of the bloc&.
You can read the contents of )NY 'bo(' in this
manner if you &now its number.
essages in Code
The actual message in each bo( consists of +ust eight numbers, each of which can be ','
or '-'.
!o a typical message might be , , - , - - - ,
The number of each bo( can also be represented as a code.
#or instance:-
the first bo( address may be - - - - - - - - - - - ,
and the second bo( could be - - - - - - - - - - , -
In practice, the bo( )**E!! is applied to the Eprom input pins as high or low %oltages
representing ',' or '-'.
The "ONTENT! of the selected bo( appear on the eight Eprom output pins as high or
low %oltages.
#or instance the bo( with address:-
A11 A10 A9 A8 A7 A6 A5 A4 A3 A2 A1 A0 input pins


0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0
might ha%e the contents:-
D7 D6 D5 D4 D3 D2 D1 D0 output pins
1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1
)s the )**E!! of each bo( is applied to the input pins, so the "ONTENT! of that
bo( appear as %oltages on the . output pins.
Bits in "ine
Eproms wor& /uite happily with binary codes consisting only of ','s and '-'s, called
'bits'. 0e use the designations ',' and '-' simply for con%enience to represent high
%oltage and low %oltage respecti%ely. The actual %oltages are usually not critical - high
will be some positi%e %oltage e/ual to, or slightly less than, the supply %oltage. 1ow
%oltage will usually be less than , %olt. The position of each 'bit' in line represents its
actual %alue:-
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

the code 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 adds up to 178 in decimal.
Horri#le He!
That was a little tedious to wor& out but it is difficult to use decimal with Eproms. To
ma&e the numbers easier to deal with we can use the system called $e(adecimal. 2efore
you shrie& in horror at this word let me ad%ise you that e%erything you e%er read about
how difficult it is, is nonesense. It ma&es life %ery easy indeed.
'$e(adecimal uses the base si(teen'. That means that you count up to ,3, carry one, then
start again. In fact we use letters to represent numbers bigger than 4, as follows:-
- , 5 6 7 8 3 9 . 4 ) 2 " * E #
# represents ordinary decimal ,8 and is as high as we go. To count higher we add another
column and start again so ordinary ,3 is represented by ',-' :that;s 'one-<ero' $E=> and
we count onwards in $E= ....
,- ,, ,5 ,6 ,7 ,8 ,3 ,9 ,. ,4 ,) ,2 ," ,* ,E ,#
..and if you;%e followed so far you will understand that ',#' $E= represents a ,3 in the
first column plus a ,8 in the second ? 6, in decimal.
"an you see that '5-' $E= must be 65 @
Now, we can con%ert binary to $E= %ery easily:-
8 4 2 1

0 0 0 0 = 0

0 0 0 1 = 1

0 0 1 0 = 2

0 0 1 1 = 3

0 1 0 0 = 4

0 1 0 1 = 5

0 1 1 0 = 6

0 1 1 1 = 7

1 0 0 0 = 8

1 0 0 1 = 9

1 0 1 0 = A

1 0 1 1 = B

1 1 0 0 = C

1 1 0 1 = D

1 1 1 0 =

1 1 1 1 = !
You seldom need to consider decimal numbers at all. Asually you can go directly from
binary to he(.
Bet used to splitting the binary number into groups of four, with the 1east !ignificant 2it
:1!2> on the right hand side. If you split it up, then - it doesn;t matter how big it is - you
can always con%ert each group into he( and achie%e the complete answer. "onsider the
following ,, 2it number:-
1024 512 256 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1
can be written as
8 4 2 1 8 4 2 1 8 4 2 1

0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1
? 5 C 5 C, C . C 5 C,
? 5 6 2
? 562 $E=
!ince this was an ,, 2it number it could not be di%ided e(actly into groups of four but,
as you see, it didn;t matter. 0e ignore any bits missing at the left hand side, as if they
were <ero.
If we always split the binary codes into groups of four, the con%ersion remains easy:-
. 7 5 , . 7 5 , . 7 5 ,
, - - , , , , , - - - - ? 4 # -
, , , - , - , - , - - , ? E ) 4
- - - , - , - , - - , ? ) 4
If you can count up to si(teen you can use $e(adecimalD
i$ropro$essors
) microprocessor often uses an Eprom to store information on a permanent basis. This
sort of information is put in by the e/uipment manufacturer and remains unchanged. The
microprocessor can read it but can not change it. The Eprom is truly a ead Only
Eemory.
To gain access to a piece of information, the microprocessor simply pulls the Eprom
input pins high or low to ma&e the appropriate binary address then reads the contents of
that address location on the Eprom eight output pins. The microprocessor then changes
the address code to read information from another location. It can do this e(tremely
rapidly. The Eprom may contain the actual program code which the microprocessor is
using to tell it what to do. )lternati%ely, the Eprom may simply be acting as a loo&-up
table for a set of %alues. ) good e(ample of this latter use is in an automobile engine
management system where the engine parameters are monitored by sensors and used to
generate an address code which contains the information about the /uantity of air, fuel
and ignition timing to use. The parameters :temperature, FE etc.> are changing
continually so the address code is also changing.
!end this page address - C"%C& HE'E - to a friend D


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