A Tale of Two Pins - Single-Wire EEPROMs

In this edition of the Microchip Insider LinkedIn Newsletter, we’re exploring the world of serial Single-Wire EEPROMs and how they can add the smart functionality that your attachable end products have been missing, including calibration and authentication, identification and counterfeit protection. With as few as two pins – Serial I/O and GND – Single-Wire EEPROMs can provide the necessary data for monitoring the health, lifetime and usage of attachable replacements and consumable goods, from vacuum tubes and small appliance attachments to medical test strips and fiber optic end connectors.

Read on for an introduction to Single-Wire EEPROM and why they’re ideal for designers needing to add enhanced functionality to their designs.

Why Choose a Single-Wire EEPROM?

Microchip’s Single-Wire and UNI/O? bus serial EEPROM family, including the AT21CS01 and AT21CS11 products, offers an efficient, low-cost solution for adding intelligence to attachable and detachable products and consumables. They differ from standard I2C EEPROMs in a number of important ways, as shown in the diagram below.

These differences make Single-Wire EEPROMs increasingly popular with designers. They love how they reduce complexity, improve assembly line efficiency and provide several other important advantages:

● Reduced I/O requirements with a true two-pin solution that lowers overall design costs and complexity

● Low-voltage and low-power operation enabling longer battery life

● Ideal solution to provide device identification to system

With these capabilities, Single-Wire EEPROMs give replaceable attachments and consumable goods the intelligence for a broad range of applications including:

● Authentication and Counterfeit Protection: Medical disposables, cable and fiber optic connectors, batteries, printer cartridges, e-cigarettes, industrial and consumer attachments

● Calibration: Fitness and healthcare wearables, medical strips and pumps, sensors

● End-Product Configurability: End products such as smart refrigerators.

● Data logging and usage records: Alarm systems, home appliances, consumer electronics, medical products

● Identification: Asset tracking and serial numbers

● Additional memory: Pin-limited microcontrollers that require additional memory

Read on as we dive deeper into a sampling of these applications.

Real-World Use Cases of Single-Wire EEPROM

Identifying Consumable Products

Even consumables that are used a few times before disposal are becoming smarter and more capable as forms of electronic identification are added to them. This enables companies to track their product for warranty or revenue purposes.?

Watch our YouTube video for an introductory look at how Single-Wire EEPROMs make this possible.

End Product Configurability

Single-Wire EEPROMs also make it easier to configure end-product feature sets during final assembly - an increasingly common requirement. With assembly module plugs that contain a Microchip Single-Wire EEPROM with configuration preprogrammed onto it, these plugs can act as hardware “keys” that enable manufacturers to control which features will be available in the product such as a smart refrigerator. This might be based on price points at the time of a product’s purchase or, later, to enable paid upgrades.

Authentication and Counterfeit Prevention

Counterfeit goods are an increasing concern across many industries. In fact, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development @OECD - OCDE estimates that the volume of international trade in counterfeit and pirated products amounted to as much as USD 464 billion in 2019, or 2.5% of world trade. In previous OECD-EUIPO studies, which relied on the same methodology, trade in counterfeit and pirated goods was estimated at up to 2.5% of world trade in 2013, equivalent to up to USD 461 billion, and 3.3% of world trade in 2016, or USD 509 billion. (Source: Global Trade in Fakes: A Worrying Threat).

Counterfeits not only impact revenue but also pose threats to both brand reputation and consumer safety, among other risks. The answer is to integrate features into today’s products so they can be identified and authenticated through the use of Single-Wire EEPROMs. They feature a 64-bit factory-programmed unique serial number (read only) that can be used as part of the authentication process. The diagram below shows how disposable cryptography is performed using the AT21CSx1, helping to ensure consumer safety while protecting brands from the negative impacts of counterfeit goods. ?

Development Tools for Faster Design

To accelerate design time, Microchip provides the Memory Xplorer evaluation platform, enabling quick testing of Single-Wire EEPROM devices. The easy-to-navigate GUI allows you to generate, write and load HEX files or read and erase memory, test features like write protect, software addressing, serial numbers and MAC addresses and evaluate variable features like voltage range and operating frequencies.

Additionally, the Serial Memory Single-Wire Evaluation Kit (DM160232), compatible with Saleae’s Logic Analyzer Software, allows for protocol decode, rapid installation and functions with any Saleae compatible analyzer. The kit is compatible with the Saleae Logic Analyzer software with Microchip's SWI (Single-Wire Interface) Low Level Analyzer add in.

Packaging Increases Versatility

To maximize versatility for adding Single-Wire EEPROMs to attachables, Microchip provides multiple package options, including its ultra tiny VSFN package that can be used in a solderless snap-in situation. With this package, the device is pushed into a retaining clip situated in a recess of the product.

This makes it much easier to install nonelectronic detachable devices that use Single-Wire EEPROM for authentication and tracking, which can be mechanically challenging and complex for assembly lines. Our VSFN package has the following advantages:

● No crimping (a disadvantage of TO-92 packages)

●?No soldering (this removes an assembly step)

● No PCB required (less materials on BOM)

Enabling a New Era of Smart Attachable End Products

Microchip’s Single-Wire EEPROM devices offer an elegant and powerful solution to add intelligence, tracking and authentication to your attachable end products. Whether it’s medical disposables, IoT devices or replaceable attachments and consumer goods, Single-Wire EEPROMs can be added efficiently and at low cost, with a variety of packaging options that maximize implementation flexibility. With support from development tools like Memory Xplorer and Protocol Analyzers, integrating these devices into your designs has never been easier.

Explore more about our Single-Wire EEPROM products here and see how they can transform your next project.

Thank you for joining us in this edition of our LinkedIn newsletter. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss our next issue as we continue to explore insider updates on how our innovations are driving smarter, safer and more efficient designs.