EPROM erase times and lifespan

[Jules Richardson]

Mr Ian Primus wrote:
> --- On Thu, 1/29/09, Jules Richardson <jules.richardson99 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
>> Presumably more expensive erasers do things in-place - i.e. periodically
>> do a blank-check during the erase cycle?
>...
 >
> If a machine like this exists, however, it would be quite cool! But
> probably very expensive, and a pain in the neck to use, as you'd have to
> tell it what kind of chip you were erasing, and it would need ZIF sockets
> and all kinds of electronics to read the chips.

True. I suppose my primary use is in recycling old EPROMs, so I grab one from 
the junk box, erase it, then immediately program it. In that scenario, I'd 
just be setting up the EPROM prior to the erase step rather than after it, so 
it'd be no more work. In a commercial environment, the usage patterns are 
probably different.

Like Dave I've normally found they need somewhere between 15-30 minutes to 
erase - it just bugs me sometimes that I might be 'overcooking' the chip by 
erasing for too long, so the concept of an intelligent eraser popped into my 
head... :-)

cheers

J.