Programmer (hardware)

In the field of computer hardware, the term programmer, chip programmer or device programmer refers to a electronic equipment that configures programmable non-volatile integrated circuits (called programmable devices) such as EPROMs, EEPROMs, Flashes, eMMC, MRAM, FRAM, NV RAM, PALs, FPGAs or programmable logic circuits...

For programming a device (IC) which is either inserted into a socket (often ZIF) on top of the programmer, or the programmer is directly connected by an adapter to the circuit board (on-board programming: in-circuit programming / in-system programming). Afterwards the data is transferred from the programmer into the device by applying signals through the connecting pins. Some devices have a serial interface for receiving the programming data (JTAG interface). Other devices require the data on parallel pins, followed by a programming pulse with a higher voltage for programming the data into the device.

Usually device programmers are connected to a personal computer through a printer connector, USB port or LAN interface. A software program on the computer then transfers the data to the programmer, selects the device and interface type, and starts the programming process to read/ write/ erase/ blank the data inside the device.

There are four general types of device programmers: Gang programmers (multi-programming sites) for mass production, development programmers (usually single-programming site) for development and small-series production, pocket programmers for development and field service, and specialized programmers for certain circuit types only, e.g. EPROM programmers. Early device programmers had the size of a shoe box and a weight of up to 4 kg; the latest generation device programmers are pocket sized, weigh less than 200 g and require no external power supply. These types of programmers can be used in field service for maintenance or setup of machinery that contains programmable circuits.

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