EEPROM interfacing with microcontroller

1 EEPROM

2 Categories of EEPROM Devices

o

2.1 SERIAL BUS

2.2 PARALLEL BUS

3 EEPROM INTERFACING WITH MICROCONTROLLERS

4 INTERFACING OF AT24C02 EEPROM WITH 8051

5 PIN DESCRIPTION OF 24C02 EEPROM

6 EEPROM INTERFACING WITH CONTROLLER in STEPS

7 A SECURITY DOOR LOCK CIRCUIT using EEPROM

EEPROM

Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM pronounced as double E

prom) is like a ROM but data can be erased from it electrically without removing it from the
computer. Data is created in them by electrical pulses and a grid. We can also change the data in
it according to our requirement, to erase a certain data we dont have to erase the prom
completely like in a regular rom. A basic ROM chip can only be programmed once whereas an
EEPROM can be programmed again and again.

Categories of EEPROM Devices

There are two main categories of EEPROM devices:

SERIAL BUS

This type works in different phases. Address phase, data phase and op-code phase are the three
phases in which this chip functions. Some of the common types of serial interfacing are UNI/O,
1-wire, SPI, microwire and I2C.
PARALLEL BUS

For total handling of memory it has a wide address bus and also a data bus consisting of 8 bits.
Parallel built in eeprom is present in many microcontrollers.

parallel EEPROM

OPERATING PRINCIPLE OF EEPROM:

The characteristics of a cell will be modified by the electrons. These electrons are trapped inside
a gate known as floating gate. So now the storage will be in form of logic 1 or logic 0.
There are two transistors in most of the cells:
1. Storage transistor.
2. Access transistor.

The storage transistor traps the electrons as it consists of the floating gate (floating gate is a
transistor that can hold an electrical charge). And in the operation, access transistor is used. As
soon as the electrons leave the floating gate, a cell is erased in case of EPROM, but in EEPROM
if the electrons are trapped in floating cell then the cell will be erased
EEPROM INTERFACING WITH MICROCONTROLLERS

The interfacing of EEPROM with microcontrollers is mostly done through I2C. I2C is known as
the master-slave protocol. There are two signals of I2C, a clock signal and a data signal. Clock
signal SCL is controlled by the Master. The transfer of data occurs through the manipulation of
clock signal. The same clock controls all the slaves connected with the master. The figure below
shows the interfacing with microcontrollers:

interfacing-i2c-eeprom-to-microcontroller
We can connect a number of slave devices with the master IC. Every slave has a unique address,
the master device also contains an address. The slave device could be an LCD, a keyboard, a
clock, a thermometer or a memory interface. The I2C controller used here will work as a master
device and the EEPROM will act as slave. A set of control signals is sent for read or write
operations. These control signals include address bits and data bits. Proper clock signals
accompany these control signals.

INTERFACING OF AT24C02 EEPROM WITH 8051

AT24C02 is a serial EEPROM by ATMEL. It consists of two wire 2k bits. There are 8 bit
addresses used for the addressing of memory. The memory is so organized that in a single byte
256 words are present, these are arranged in 32 pages and each page contains 8 bytes.Let us take
a circuit which demonstrates the interfacing of 8051 microcontroller with AT24C02. The
microcontroller will perform a write operation and then it will read it also. The results will be
displayed on LCD.
PIN DESCRIPTION OF 24C02 EEPROM

PIN DESCRIPTION OF 24C02 EEPROM

The pin description of 24C02 is given below:
1. A0-A2:

The first three pins are the address pins. As in a system multiple devices can be connected
therefore they need proper addressing. These address pins are either connected with the source
Vcc or with the ground permanently in a circuit. In this specific circuit the address is 000
because all the pins are connected to ground.
2. GND:

This pin must be connected to ground or 0 potential. It is the 4th pin of the IC.
3. SDA:

SDA is the serial data pin. It is a bidirectional pin. The data and the control bits are serially read
or write through this pin. It is the 5th pin of the IC.
4. SCL:

SCL is the clock signal pin. For the transmission of data from the SDA pin a clock signal is
required for each bit transfer. A negative edge transfers data from the EEPROM and a positive
edge carries the data to the EEPROM. It is the 6th pin of the IC.
In the circuit, the bit 0 of port P1 is connected to SDA and pin 1 of port P1 is connected to SCL.
5. WP:

It is the Write Protect pin. If a high signal is given to it, the IC is protected from any write
operation. And if a low signal is given to it, then the read and write operations are allowed
normally. It is the 7th pin of the IC.
For the normal working, the WP pin is connected to ground in the circuit.
6. Vcc:

Vcc is the DC power supply for the 24C02. It is the 8 th pin that must be connected to 5V. Without
this DC supply, the IC will not work.
The device addressing scheme of 24C02 is shown in the figure below. It consists of 8 bits (1
byte). The first 4 bits are fixed sequence bits, then the next 3 bits are the address bits which
indicate the address of the device and finally the last bit indicates whether a read or a write
operation is to be performed.

Device Addressing of 24C02

EEPROM INTERFACING WITH CONTROLLER in STEPS

The following steps describe the interfacing and data transmission:

START CONDITION:
The start condition initiates the read or write operation. The SCL should be high and the SDA
should transit from high to low, when this condition occurs then the EEPROM gets the signal
that controller is ready. At the end of start condition the SCL signal becomes low because the
transmission of data occurs when the SCL signal transits from low to high.

Start condition for 24C02_2

TRANSFER OF BITS TO EEPROM:

One bit at a time is transferred to the EEPROM when the clock signal SCL goes from low to
high. Now the SDA pin becomes the input and receives the bits. The data should not change
when the SCL is high because the device will interpret it as a start or a stop condition. However
the data can be changed when SCL is low.

Transfer of word bits to 24C02_2

Similarly the bits can be transferred from EEPROM when the SCL transits from high to low. In
this case the SDA pin becomes the output pin.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT BIT:
The EEPROM send a 0 to the controller when it receives a word successfully. This
acknowledgement bit is read by the controller when it sends a 1-0 transition at SCL. This bit
should be checked after the transmission of every word.
READ/ WRITE OPERATIONS:
In each read or write operation, a fixed set of words is to be transferred to or from the EEPROM.
When the read or write operation is finally completed, a stop signal is sent which indicates that
the process is now completed.

Read_Write operation in EEPROM

STOP CONDITION:
After the successive transmission of all the data, a stop condition will be generated by the master.
The SCL should transit from low to high and then it should remain high, while the SDA transits
from low to high, to define the stop condition.

EEPROM
The figure below shows how microcontroller is interfaced with EEPROM. An lcd displays the
output results.

Interfacing Serial EEPROM 24C02 with 8051

The circuit diagram shows the complete connections between 24C02 and 89C51. A 12MHz
crystal is also connected between then pin 18 and 19 to provide the clock for the functioning of
microcontroller. The address pins of 24C02 have been grounded to give the address 000. Vcc of
5V is given at the 8th pin and the pins SDA and SCL are connected to the microcontroller for the
transmission of data and clock signals.