
A49LF040A 
PRELIMINARY (March, 2006, Version 0.1) 
8 
AMIC Technology, Corp.
Address out of range: 
The A49LF040A will only response to 
address range as specified in Table 4. Address A22 has the 
special function of directing reads and writes to the flash 
memory (A22=1) or to the register space (A22=0). 
ID mismatch: 
The A49LF040A will compare ID bits in the 
address field with the hardware ID strapping. If there is a 
mismatch, the device will ignore the cycle. Refer to Table 6 
Multiple Device Selection Configuration for detail. 
Device Memory Hardware Write Protection 
The Top Boot Lock (
 TBL
 ) and Write Protect (
 WP
 ) pins are 
provided for hardware write protection of device memory in 
the A49LF040A. The 
TBL
  pin is used to write protect the top 
boot block (64 Kbytes) at the highest flash memory address 
range for the A49LF040A. 
WP
  pin write protects the 
remaining blocks in the flash memory. An active low signal at 
the 
TBL
  pin prevents Program and Erase operations of the 
top boot block. When 
TBL
  pin is held high, write protection 
of the top boot block is then determined by the Boot Block 
Locking register. The 
WP
  pin serves the same function for 
the remaining blocks of the device memory. The 
TBL
  and 
WP
  pins write protection functions operate independently of 
one another. Both 
TBL
  and 
WP
  pins must be set to their 
required protection states prior to starting a Program or Erase 
operation. A logic level change occurring at the 
TBL
 or 
WP
pin during a Program or Erase operation could cause 
unpredictable results. 
TBL
  and 
WP
  pins cannot be left 
unconnected. 
TBL
  is internally ORed with the top Boot Block 
Locking register. When 
TBL
  is low, the top Boot Block is 
hardware write protected regardless of the state of the Write-
Lock bit for the Boot Block Locking register. Clearing the 
Write-Lock bit in the register when 
TBL
  is low will have no 
functional effect, even though the register may indicate that 
the block is no longer locked. 
WP
  is internally ORed with the 
Block Locking register. When 
WP
  is low, the blocks are 
hardware write protected regardless of the state of the Write-
Lock bit for the corresponding Block Locking registers. 
Clearing the Write-Lock bit in any register when 
WP
  is low 
will have no functional effect, even though the register may 
indicate that the block is no longer locked. 
Reset 
A V
IL
 on 
INIT
  or RST  pin initiates a device reset. 
INIT
  and 
RST  pins have the same function internally. It is required to 
drive 
INIT
  or RST  pins low during a system reset to ensure 
proper CPU initialization. During a Read operation, driving 
INIT
  or RST  pins low deselects the device and places the 
output drivers, LAD[3:0], in a high-impedance state. The 
reset signal must be held low for a minimal duration of time 
T
RSTP
. A reset latency will occur if a reset procedure is 
performed during a Program or Erase operation. See Table 
19, Reset Timing Parameters for more information. A device 
reset during an active Program or Erase will abort the 
operation and memory contents may become invalid due to 
data being altered or corrupted from an incomplete Erase or 
Program operation. In this case, the device can take up to 
T
RSTE
 to abort a Program or Erase operation. 
Write Operation Status Detection 
The A49LF040A device provides two software means to 
detect the completion of a Write (Program or Erase) cycle, in 
order to optimize the system Write cycle time. The software 
detection includes two status bits: 
Data
  Polling (I/O
7
) and 
Toggle Bit (I/O
6
). The End-of-Write detection mode is 
incorporated into the LPC Read cycle. The actual completion 
of the nonvolatile write is asynchronous with the system; 
therefore, either a 
Data
  Polling or Toggle Bit read may be 
simultaneous with the completion of the Write cycle. If this 
occurs,  the system may possibly get an erroneous result, i.e., 
valid data may appear to conflict with either I/O
7
 or I/O
6
. In 
order to prevent spurious rejection, if an erroneous result 
occurs, the software routine should include a loop to read the 
accessed location an additional two times. If both reads are 
valid, then the device has completed the Write cycle, 
otherwise the rejection is valid.  
Data
  Polling (I/O
7
) 
When the A49LF040A device is in the internal Program 
operation, any attempt to read I/O
7
 will produce the 
complement of the true data. Once the Program operation is 
completed, I/O
7
 will produce true data. Note that even though 
I/O
7
 may have valid data immediately following the 
completion of an internal Write operation, the remaining data 
outputs may still be invalid: valid data on the entire data bus 
will appear in subsequent successive Read cycles after an 
interval of 1 μs. During internal Erase operation, any attempt 
to read I/O
7
 will produce a ‘0’. Once the internal Erase 
operation is completed, I/O
7
 will produce a ‘1’. Proper status 
will not be given using 
Data
 Polling if the address is in the 
invalid range.  
Toggle Bit (I/O
6
) 
During the internal Program or Erase operation, any 
consecutive attempts to read I/O
6
 will produce alternating  
‘0’s and ‘1’s, i.e., toggling between 0 and 1. When the internal 
Program or Erase operation is completed, the toggling will 
stop. 
Multiple Device Selection 
The four ID pins, ID[3:0], allow multiple devices to be 
attached to the same bus by using different ID strapping in a 
system. When the A49LF040A is used as a boot device, 
ID[3:0] must be strapped as 0000, all subsequent devices 
should use a sequential up-count strapping (i.e. 0001, 0010, 
0011, etc.). The ID bits in the address field are inverse of the 
hardware strapping. The address bits [A23, A21:A19] for 
A49LF004 are used to select the device with proper IDs. See 
Table 6 for IDs. The A49LF040A will compare the strapping 
values, if there is a mismatch, the device will ignore the 
remainder of the cycle and go into standby mode. Since there 
is no ID support in A/A Mux mode, to program multiple 
devices a stand-alone PROM programmer is recommended.