LPC SPIFI Peripheral
The SPI Flash Interface (SPIFI) allows low pin-count serial flash memories to be connected to an Arm® based LPC Microcontroller with very little performance penalty compared to higher pin-count parallel flash memories. After a few commands configure the interface at startup,the entire flash content is accessible as normal memory using byte, halfword, and word accesses by the processor and/or DMA channels.Erasure and programming are handled by simple sequences of commands.
Many SPI flash devices use serial commands for device setup/initialization, and then move to dual or quad commands for normal operation. Different serial Flash vendors and devices accept or require different commands and command formats. SPIFI includes sufficient flexibility to be compatible with many market-leading devices plus extensions to help insure compatibility with future devices.
The SPIFI implements basic, dual, and quad SPI in half-duplex mode, in which the SPIFI always sends a command to a serial flash memory at the start of each frame. In write commands, the SPIFI sends all of the data in the frame, while in read commands, the SPIFI sends the command, and then the serial flash sends data to the SPIFI. SPI Flash devices respond to commands sent by software, or automatically sent by the SPIFI when software reads the serial flash region of the memory map. Commands are divided into fields called opcode, address, intermediate data, and data. The address,intermediate data, and data fields are optional depending on the opcode. Some devices include a mode in which the opcode can be implied in Read commands for higher performance. Data fields are further divided into input and output data fields depending on the opcode.
Software Details
Diagram
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Features
- Quad SPI Flash Interface (SPIFI) to external flash.
- Transfer rates of up to SPIFI_CLK/2 bytes per second.
- External flash is directly memory mapped for fast access.
- Supports 1-, 2-, and 4-bit bi-directional serial protocols.
- Transfer protocol compatible with various vendors and devices.
- The SPIFI memory is accessible by the DMA.
- Software driver library is available.
- Supports execute-in-place (direct code execution from the SPI Flash memory) and general read/write/erase operations.
- Built-in cache to give high-performance code execution.
- Allows designers to use a small, inexpensive serial flash in place of larger, more expensive parallel flash.
- With SPIFI, the external serial flash appears in the microcontroller’s memory map and can be read like other on-chip memory.
Supported Devices
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Processors and Microcontrollers
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Arm Microcontrollers
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LPC1800 Series: High-Performance Microcontrollers (MCUs) Based on Arm® Cortex®-M3 Cores
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LPC4300 Series: High-Performance Microcontrollers (MCUs) Based on Arm® Cortex®-M4/M0 Cores
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Boot from SPIFI:
LPC1800/4300 devices support boot from flash.The boot code sets the SPIFI clock to 32 MHz at the beginning of the boot process and checks for the type of SPI flash device. If the detected device is unknown, the SPIFI clock is reduced to 18 MHz,otherwise device boot with a SPIFI clock of 32MHz
- Any device that can accept a 03 read serial opcode after receiving an FF opcode is expected to boot successfully.
- A device that switches to quad opcodes and doesn't return after an 0xff reset to serial mode might not boot after a reset.
| Device | Boot Support | Exit from no opcode mode | Comments |
| Chingis | PM25LD040, PM25LD010C, PM25LD020C, PM25LD512C, PM25LD256C, PM25LQ032C | Yes | |
| Giga Device | GD25Q80 | Yes | |
| Macronix | MX25L6435E, MX25L8006E, MX25L1606E, MX25L8035E, MX25L1633E, MX25L3235E, MX25L6435E, MX25L12835E, MX25L25635E, MX1635E | Yes | |
| MX25L12835F, MX25L25635F | Yes | These devices take longer time to be ready after power on. You may need to delay the startup of LPC18xx/LPC43xx.One way to achieve this sequence is to delay RESETN signal of LPC18xx/LPC43xx. | |
| Micron | M25PX80, M25PX16, M25PX32, M25PX64, M25P10, M25P16, M25P32, M25P64, M25P80 | Yes | |
| N25Q032A, N25Q064A, N25Q128A, N25Q256A | No* | LPC18xx/LPC43xx support cold boot with these devices. May not boot when LPC18xx/LPC43xx is reset and serial flash is in no Opcode mode. In case of planned reset, MCU can get serial flash out of No Opcode mode before resetting itself. | |
| Spansion | S25FL032P, S25FL064P, S25FL128S, S25FL256S, S25FL256S, S25FL129P, S25FL004K, S25FL008K
S25FL016K, S25FL032K, S25FL064K, S25FL116K, S25FL132K, S25FL164K,S25FL127S |
Yes | |
| SST(Microchip) | SST25VF064,SST25VF016 | Yes | |
| Winbond | W25Q80BV,W25Q16DV,W25Q32FV,W25Q64FV,W25Q128FV,W25Q256FV, W25Q32JVSIQ, W25Q64JVSIQ | Yes |
Remarks: To boot from serial flashes, it is recommended that customers fully characterize the timing in their applications.
Downloads
Quick reference to our software types.
3 downloads
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Application Example Software
LPCSPIFI Library v1.01 release (Released: 12/11/2014): Library Updates
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BSPs and Device Drivers
Code Examples - LPCOpen 2_12 Keil NGX Xplorer 1830 SPIFI v1.0
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Software Development Resources
Code Examples - LPCOpen 2_12 Keil MCB 1857 SPIFI v1.0
Note: For better experience, software downloads are recommended on desktop.
Documentation
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2 documents
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Application Note
LPC18Sxx/43Sxx Secure Boot from QSPI Device
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Supporting Information
SPIFI Library - Release Notes