Beginner
10 min

Develop data storage and transfer solution with EN25Q80B and PIC32MZ2048EFM100

Highly reliable serial flash memory with a capacity of 8Mbits

Flash Click with Curiosity PIC32 MZ EF

Published Jan 24, 2024

Click board™

Flash Click

Dev. board

Curiosity PIC32 MZ EF

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

PIC32MZ2048EFM100

Robust and reliable memory solution with a decent storage capacity, advanced write protection, and excellent endurance

A

A

Hardware Overview

How does it work?

Flash Click is based on the EN25Q80B, a serial flash memory from EON Silicon Solutions. The EN25Q80B features Serial Flash Discoverable Parameters (SFDP) mode, used to retrieve advanced information from the device, such as the operating characteristics, structure and vendor-specified information, memory size, operating voltage, timing information, and more. Page Program instruction allows up to 256 bytes to be written during one write cycle, although it is possible to write less than that. By automatically incrementing the addresses, it is possible to read the entire memory by a single command. The

EN25Q80B allows the erasure of one sector at a time, half a block at a time, block at a time, and the entire memory. The addition of 512 bytes of one-time programmable (OTP) memory can be useful for building secure storage devices and similar secure storage applications. Flash Click uses a standard 4-Wire SPI serial interface to communicate with the host MCU, supporting Dual SPI and Quad SPI modes, which utilize these two additional modes, allowing faster data transfer speeds several times. There are additional WP for the write protect function and HLD pins. If using Quad SPI, the SDI and SDO become DQ0 and

DQ1, while WP and HLD become DQ2 and DQ3, respectively. Due to a small number of MCUs that support Dual and Quad SPI, MIKROE offers library functions that work only with standard SPI communication, ensuring absolute compatibility with all the supported MCUs. This Click board™ can be operated only with a 3.3V logic voltage level. The board must perform appropriate logic voltage level conversion before using MCUs with different logic levels. Also, it comes equipped with a library containing functions and an example code that can be used as a reference for further development.

Flash Click hardware overview image

Features overview

Development board

Curiosity PIC32 MZ EF development board is a fully integrated 32-bit development platform featuring the high-performance PIC32MZ EF Series (PIC32MZ2048EFM) that has a 2MB Flash, 512KB RAM, integrated FPU, Crypto accelerator, and excellent connectivity options. It includes an integrated programmer and debugger, requiring no additional hardware. Users can expand

functionality through MIKROE mikroBUS™ Click™ adapter boards, add Ethernet connectivity with the Microchip PHY daughter board, add WiFi connectivity capability using the Microchip expansions boards, and add audio input and output capability with Microchip audio daughter boards. These boards are fully integrated into PIC32’s powerful software framework, MPLAB Harmony,

which provides a flexible and modular interface to application development a rich set of inter-operable software stacks (TCP-IP, USB), and easy-to-use features. The Curiosity PIC32 MZ EF development board offers expansion capabilities making it an excellent choice for a rapid prototyping board in Connectivity, IOT, and general-purpose applications.

Curiosity PIC32MZ EF double side image

Microcontroller Overview

MCU Card / MCU

default

Architecture

PIC32

MCU Memory (KB)

2048

Silicon Vendor

Microchip

Pin count

100

RAM (Bytes)

524288

Used MCU Pins

mikroBUS™ mapper

NC
NC
AN
Not Used / QSPI D3
RA9
RST
SPI Chip Select
RPD4
CS
SPI Clock
RPD1
SCK
SPI Data OUT / QSPI D1
RPD14
MISO
SPI Data IN / QSPI D0
RPD3
MOSI
Power Supply
3.3V
3.3V
Ground
GND
GND
Write Protect / QSPI D2
RPE8
PWM
NC
NC
INT
NC
NC
TX
NC
NC
RX
NC
NC
SCL
NC
NC
SDA
NC
NC
5V
Ground
GND
GND
1

Take a closer look

Click board™ Schematic

Flash Click Schematic schematic

Step by step

Project assembly

Curiosity PIC32MZ EF front image hardware assembly

Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the Curiosity PIC32 MZ EF as your development board.

Curiosity PIC32MZ EF front image hardware assembly
Thermo 28 Click front image hardware assembly
Prog-cut hardware assembly
Curiosity PIC32 MZ EF MB 1 - upright/background hardware assembly
Necto image step 2 hardware assembly
Necto image step 3 hardware assembly
Necto image step 4 hardware assembly
Necto image step 5 hardware assembly
Necto image step 6 hardware assembly
Curiosity PIC32 MZ EF MCU Step hardware assembly
Necto No Display image step 8 hardware assembly
Necto image step 9 hardware assembly
Necto image step 10 hardware assembly
Debug Image Necto Step hardware assembly

Track your results in real time

Application Output

1. Application Output - In Debug mode, the 'Application Output' window enables real-time data monitoring, offering direct insight into execution results. Ensure proper data display by configuring the environment correctly using the provided tutorial.

2. UART Terminal - Use the UART Terminal to monitor data transmission via a USB to UART converter, allowing direct communication between the Click board™ and your development system. Configure the baud rate and other serial settings according to your project's requirements to ensure proper functionality. For step-by-step setup instructions, refer to the provided tutorial.

3. Plot Output - The Plot feature offers a powerful way to visualize real-time sensor data, enabling trend analysis, debugging, and comparison of multiple data points. To set it up correctly, follow the provided tutorial, which includes a step-by-step example of using the Plot feature to display Click board™ readings. To use the Plot feature in your code, use the function: plot(*insert_graph_name*, variable_name);. This is a general format, and it is up to the user to replace 'insert_graph_name' with the actual graph name and 'variable_name' with the parameter to be displayed.

Software Support

Library Description

This library contains API for Flash Click driver.

Key functions:

  • flash_write_page - Page Write function

  • flash_read_page - Page Read function

  • flash_erase_sector - Sector Erase function

Open Source

Code example

The complete application code and a ready-to-use project are available through the NECTO Studio Package Manager for direct installation in the NECTO Studio. The application code can also be found on the MIKROE GitHub account.

/*!
 * \file main.c
 * \brief Flash Click example
 *
 * # Description
 * This example demonstrates the use (control) of the FLASH memory.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 *
 * ## Application Init
 * Initializes all necessary peripherals and pins used by Flash click and also
 * initializes uart logger to show results.
 *
 * ## Application Task
 * Executes memory data writing, reading from the memory to verify data writing
 * operation and sector erasing to clear memory.
 *
 * ## Additional Functions
 * - Enter Data / Allows user to enter a desired data.
 * - Process Wait / Makes a delay to wait while some process be done.
 *
 * \author Nemanja Medakovic
 *
 */
// ------------------------------------------------------------------- INCLUDES

#include <string.h>
#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "flash.h"

// ------------------------------------------------------------------ VARIABLES

static flash_t flash;
static log_t logger;
static uint8_t data_buf[ 30 ];
static uint8_t n_data;

// ------------------------------------------------------- ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS

void enter_data( unsigned char *buffer )
{
    uint8_t data_size;

    data_size = sizeof( data_buf );

    memset( data_buf, 0, data_size );
    n_data = 0;
    data_size--;

    while ( ( *buffer != 0 ) && ( data_size > 0 ) )
    {
        data_buf[ n_data ] = *buffer;
        buffer++;
        n_data++;
        data_size--;
    }
}

void process_wait( void )
{
    uint8_t cnt;

    for ( cnt = 0; cnt < 9; cnt++ )
    {
        Delay_ms( 400 );
        log_printf( &logger, "****" );
    }

    log_printf( &logger, "\r\n" );
    Delay_ms( 400 );
}

// ------------------------------------------------------ APPLICATION FUNCTIONS

void application_init( void )
{
    flash_cfg_t flash_cfg;
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;

    /** 
     * Logger initialization.
     * Default baud rate: 115200
     * Default log level: LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG
     * @note If USB_UART_RX and USB_UART_TX 
     * are defined as HAL_PIN_NC, you will 
     * need to define them manually for log to work. 
     * See @b LOG_MAP_USB_UART macro definition for detailed explanation.
     */
    LOG_MAP_USB_UART( log_cfg );
    log_init( &logger, &log_cfg );
    log_info( &logger, "---- Application Init ----" );
    
    //  Click initialization.
    flash_cfg_setup( &flash_cfg );
    FLASH_MAP_MIKROBUS( flash_cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    flash_init( &flash, &flash_cfg );

    //  Click reset and default configuration.
    flash_reset( &flash );
    flash_default_cfg( &flash );

    log_printf( &logger, "***  Flash Initialization Done.  ***\r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, "************************************\r\n" );
}

void application_task( void )
{
    enter_data( "Mikroelektronika (MikroE)" );

    log_printf( &logger, "> Data content to be written: %s\r\n", data_buf );
    log_printf( &logger, "> Data writing to memory...\r\n" );
    flash_write_page( &flash, FLASH_MEM_ADDR_FIRST_PAGE_START, data_buf, n_data );
    log_printf( &logger, "> Done.\r\n" );

    memset( data_buf, 0, sizeof( data_buf ) );
    process_wait( );

    log_printf( &logger, "> Data reading from memory...\r\n" );
    flash_read_page( &flash, FLASH_MEM_ADDR_FIRST_PAGE_START, data_buf, n_data );
    log_printf( &logger, "> Done.\r\n> Read data content: %s\r\n", data_buf );

    process_wait( );

    log_printf( &logger, "> Sector erasing...\r\n" );
    flash_erase_sector( &flash, FLASH_MEM_ADDR_FIRST_SECTOR_START );
    log_printf( &logger, "> Done.\r\n" );

    process_wait( );
}

void main( void )
{
    application_init( );

    for ( ; ; )
    {
        application_task( );
    }
}


// ------------------------------------------------------------------------ END

Additional Support

Resources

Love this project?

'Buy This Kit' button takes you directly to the shopping cart where you can easily add or remove products.