Preventing eeprom corruption, Atmega8515(l) – Rainbow Electronics ATmega8515L User Manual

Page 21

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21

ATmega8515(L)

2512A–AVR–04/02

The next code examples show assembly and C functions for reading the EEPROM. The
examples assume that interrupts are controlled so that no interrupts will occur during
execution of these functions.

Preventing EEPROM
Corruption

During periods of low V

CC

, the EEPROM data can be corrupted because the supply volt-

age is too low for the CPU and the EEPROM to operate properly. These issues are the
same as for board level systems using EEPROM, and the same design solutions should
be applied.

An EEPROM data corruption can be caused by two situations when the voltage is too
low. First, a regular write sequence to the EEPROM requires a minimum voltage to
operate correctly. Secondly, the CPU itself can execute instructions incorrectly, if the
supply voltage is too low.

E E P R O M d a t a c o r r u p t i o n c a n e a si l y b e a vo i d e d b y fo l l o w i n g th i s d e s i g n
recommendation:

Keep the AVR RESET active (low) during periods of insufficient power supply volt-
age. This can be done by enabling the internal Brown-out Detector (BOD). If the
detection level of the internal BOD does not match the needed detection level, an
external low V

CC

Reset Protection circuit can be used. If a Reset occurs while a

write operation is in progress, the write operation will be completed provided that the
power supply voltage is sufficient.

Assembly Code Example

EEPROM_read:

; Wait for completion of previous write

sbic

EECR,EEWE

rjmp

EEPROM_read

; Set up address (r18:r17) in address register

out

EEARH, r18

out

EEARL, r17

; Start eeprom read by writing EERE

sbi

EECR,EERE

; Read data from data register

in

r16,EEDR

ret

C Code Example

unsigned char

EEPROM_read(unsigned int uiAddress)

{

/* Wait for completion of previous write */

while(EECR & (1<<EEWE))

;

/* Set up address register */

EEAR = uiAddress;

/*

Start eeprom read by writing EERE */

EECR |= (1<<EERE);

/* Return data from data register */

return EEDR;

}

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