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Introduction
It has been around seven years since the current Flash card was designed. At that time it was done in a rush, without much research, as the AMD 1M chip was being withdrawn and the footprint for that device needed to be changed. As the footprint was a lot smaller, there was enough space on the PCB to add a 512K Flash and 1M RAM. The cost of manufacturing a PCB is based on the size of the card, if the 512K/512 Flash/RAM configuration worked or not, the cost would have been the same (although the workload in the design would have been a lot less!).
By a sheer coincidence, OZ 4.x was being developed at the same time and it was found that the INTEL chip could not run OZ 4.x but it could be used for storing files. What was NOT realised at that time was that the AMD 1M Flash chip, although was a lot better, it could also fail, when running OZ. This was not discovered until quite recently.
AMIC announced that the 512K Flash chip used was no longer being manufactured. That triggered this section to be written.
The purpose of this section is to compare the original 5v Flash chips with the 3.3v versions and to ensure that the next version addresses any outstanding issues.
Latest NEWS
| Date | From | |
|---|---|---|
| 24/02/17 | AMIC Technology | We are designing a successor for the A29040C called A29040D. This part will become available in Q2. In case you consider the 3 volt option we advise A29L040B which is also in design and will be released in Q3 this year. All these new designs are necessary to transfer to new wafer processes allowing long term availability. With best regards, Rob |
Design Considerations
First all the signals from/to the Z88 need to be converted
Level Conversion
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | |||
| GTL2003PW,118 TSSOP-20 8bit Bi-Directional | GTL2003PW,118 TSSOP-20 8bit Bi-Directional | NOT | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A16 | A15 | A12 | A7 | A6 | A5 | A4 | A3 | A2 | A1 | A0 | D0 | D1 | D2 | SNSL | GND | GND |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | |||
| NOT REQUIRED | GTL2003PW,118 TSSOP-20 8bit Bi-Directional | GTL2003PW,118 TSSOP-20 8bit Bi-Directional | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A14 | VPP | VCC | VCC | /WE | A13 | A8 | A9 | A11 | /POE | /ROE | A10 | /CE | D7 | D6 | D3 | D4 | D5 | A17 | A18 | A19 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
Comparing Spansion S29AL008J with Am29F080 1M Flash
General Features
| Type / Function | Am29F080 | S29AL008J |
|---|---|---|
| VCC Voltage Range | 2.7V ~ 3.6V | |
| Access Time | 55ns / 70ns | |
| Bus Width | X8 / x16 | |
| Boot Block | Top/Bottom | |
| Sector Architecture | 16KB+ 2*8KB+32KB + 15*64KB sectors | |
| OTP Security Region | 256Byte | |
| CFI Compliant | Yes | |
| Sector Protect/Unprotect | Yes | |
| Yes | ||
| Yes | ||
| Yes | ||
| Yes | ||
| 01h | ||
TSOP pinouts
48 pin TSOP | 40 pin TSOP | 32 pin TSOP | A29040BV 32 pin TSOP | Am29F080B 40 pin TSOP | Am29F800B 48 pin TSOP | 48 pin TSOP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A15 | A16 | |||||
A14 | A19 | NC | BYTE# | |||
A13 | A18 | NC | VSS | |||
A12 | A17 | WE# | DQ15/A-1 | |||
A11 | A16 | OE# | DQ7 | |||
A10 | A15 | A11 | OE# | RY/BY# | DQ14 | |
A9 | A14 | A9 | A10 | DQ7 | DQ6 | |
A8 | A13 | A8 | CE# | DQ6 | DQ13 | |
NC | A12 | A13 | I/O7 | DQ5 | DQ5 | |
NC | CE# | A14 | I/O6 | DQ4 | DQ12 | |
WE# | VCC | A17 | I/O5 | VCC | DQ4 | |
RESET# | NC | WE# | I/O4 | VSS | VCC | |
NC | RESET# | VCC | I/O3 | VSS | DQ11 | |
NC | A11 | A18 | VSS | DQ3 | DQ3 | |
RY/BY# | A10 | A16 | I/O2 | DQ2 | DQ10 | |
A18 | A9 | A15 | I/O1 | DQ1 | DQ2 | |
A17 | A8 | A12 | I/O0 | DQ0 | DQ9 | |
A7 | A7 | A7 | A0 | A0 | DQ1 | |
A6 | A6 | A6 | A1 | A1 | DQ8 | |
A5 | A5 | A5 | A2 | A2 | DQ0 | |
A4 | A4 | A4 | A3 | A3 | OE# | |
A3 | VSS | |||||
A2 | CE# | |||||
A1 | A0 |
there is no standard using this package
DIL & PLCC Pinouts
| LH Side | RH Side | |
|---|---|---|
| A18 | VCC | |
| A16 | WE# | |
| A15 | A17 | |
| A12 | A14 | |
| A7 | A13 | |
| A6 | A8 | |
| A5 | A9 | |
| A4 | A11 | |
| A3 | OE# | |
| A2 | A10 | |
| A1 | CE# | |
| A0 | I/O7 | |
I/O0 | I/O6 | |
| I/O1 | I/O5 | |
| I/O2 | I/O4 | |
| VSS | I/O3 |
All manufactures use this standard.
1M
The following device was available 27/07/2013
| Device | Package | Manufacturer | Sectors | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | AM29F800BB-55EF | 48-Pin TSOP | SPANSION | 64 Kbyte sectors |
Spansion are putting their 1M AMD Flash chips on End of Life EOL.
AMIC may have had some 5v replacements A29800, A29801 these are no longer available.
The package is slightly larger, they do not fully match.
Once stocks of the Am29F080B device are depleted, there is no replacement.
512K Flash 5v
The following device is available 23/02/17
| Device | Package | Manufacturer | Sectors | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SST39SF040-70-4C-NHE | PLCC | MICROCHIP | 4 Kbyte sectors |
NOTE: The Z88 will not be able to program this chip due to the 4 Kbyte sectors. It may be programmed with an external programmer.
The following devices were available
| Device | Package | Manufacturer | Sectors | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | A29040C-55F | DIP 32 | AMIC | 64 Kbyte | |
 | A29040CL-55F | PLCC | AMIC | 64 Kbyte |
The following devices were available 27/07/2013
| Device | Package | Manufacturer | Sectors | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A29040B-70F | DIP 32 | AMIC | 64 Kbyte sectors | |
| A29040BL-70F | PLCC | AMIC | 64 Kbyte sectors | |
 | A29040BV-70F | 32 TSOP | AMIC | 64 Kbyte sectors | |
| AM29F040B-55JF | PLCC | SPANSION | 64 Kbyte sectors | |
| AM29F040B-90JF | PLCC | SPANSION | 64 Kbyte sectors | |
| A29L040L-70F | PLCC | AMIC | 64 Kbyte sectors | |
| SST39SF040-70-4C-NHE | PLCC | MICROCHIP | Uniform 4KByte sectors | |
| SST39SF040-70-4I-NHE | PLCC | Uniform 4KByte sectors | ||
| SST39SF040-70-4I-WHE | 32 TSOP | Uniform 4KByte sectors |
128K Flash 5v
The following devices are available 27/07/2013
| Device | Package | Manufacturer | Sectors | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A29010L-70F | PLCC | AMIC | 64 Kbyte sectors | |
| A29010V-70F | 32 TSOP | AMIC | 64 Kbyte sectors | |
| AM29F010B-70JF | PLCC | SPANSION | 64 Kbyte sectors | |
| SST39SF010A-70-4C-NHE | PLCC | MICROCHIP | Uniform 4KByte sectors | |
| SST39SF010A-70-4C-WHE | 32 TSOP | MICROCHIP | Uniform 4KByte sectors | |
| SST39SF010A-70-4I-NHE | PLCC | MICROCHIP | Uniform 4KByte sectors | |
| SST39SF010A-70-4I-WHE | 32 TSOP | MICROCHIP | Uniform 4KByte sectors | |
| SST39SF010A-70-4C-PHE | DIP 32 | MICROCHIP | Uniform 4KByte sectors |
Conclusion
- There is no life left for the 1M Flash chips.
- The 512K size was the most cost effective and the 64 sector version was manufactured two companies.
- 128K is not a lot cheaper than the 512K and is uneconomic to use.